Don’t forget the opening of 77º North at the Harbour Gallery Kirkcudbright

3rd April 10.00 am to Saturday 22nd April.

 

Check out what’s on at the Dovecot https://dovecotstudios.com/

Plan your next few weeks of culture and creativity at Dovecot Studios, with our programme of talks, workshops and exhibitions.

Check out our new look online shop, grab yourself something from the Morris & Co. pop-up shop and get your last minute Mother’s Day gifts here.  Plus celebrate the launch of The Art of Wallpaper book.

 

Off the Rails Art House

Spring News

Dear Friends,
Well spring was very nice while it lasted! Hopefully it makes a return trip before too long.

A quick update as our programme as the year rolls on. First, we have a couple of spaces available on the Joy of Pastels weekend workshop with Lyn Evans on the 9/10 April. A great opportunity to develop good technique and also to experiment with this lovely medium, with guidance from an expert. A great start to your spring and summer sketching perhaps?

Later in April, on Saturday 23rd, the Textile Wearables workshop with Syrah Jay has some spaces left. This promises to be a really fast and furious day, with opportunities to experiment with all kinds of materials and be as inventive as you like. Great for teachers or young people or anyone who is interested in recycling, repurposing and recreating! Guess that is most of us.

A couple of new ventures to tell you about too. We are delighted to welcome Mick Kitson, a renowned Scottish writer who is offering an eight week evening course in fiction writing, beginning on Monday 18 April. Called The Blank Page, this is for anyone who is interested in creating short stories, a novel or a piece of drama, but would welcome help to get started. Have a look at our website to see what is involved and book up if this appeals. It will be really rewarding to work with a group and let ideas develop over a period of time. This is the first of what we hope will be a series of writing workshops so if this field is of interest to you, keep an eye on our website.

Finally, in another new initiative, the Arthouse is open every Thursday evening from 7 till 9 for our Art Cafe.  This is a drop-in session for anyone who would like to meet other artists or designers to talk about work, explore ideas or just have a coffee and a wee moment with other like-minded folk. £5 payable on the spot and just turn up – no need to book.

More news on the way in a wee whiley.

Best wishes,
Off The Rails Arthouse
www.offtherailsarthouse.com
offtherails.arthouse@nullgmail.com

Textile Research Centre, Leiden

April 2022

Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW, Leiden
email
website
+31 (0)71-5134144
+31 (0)6-28830428

– For the Dutch text, see above –

Today, 29 March, we received the more than 1200 textiles that were donated to the TRC by David and Bonnie Smith in Arizona, USA, with the help of the Tracing Patterns Foundation in Berkeley. Most of the garments and other pieces of cloth originate from Central and Southeastern Europe. Volunteers, interns and other staff of the TRC will be very busy the next few months to process the pieces, tagging, describing, photographing, deep-freezing, and finally storing.

But that is only the beginning: we will be busy with showing the textiles to the public at exhibitions, at workshops and lectures, but also online via digital exhibitions, blogs and other means. They will also be a welcome source for the upcoming volume of the Bloomsbury World Encyclopedia of Embroidery, specially dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe and edited within the context of the TRC.

Tuesday 29 March 2022. Transport of c. 1200 garments and other textiles from Central and Southeast Europe arrives from Arizona at the TRC in Leiden..
This month we have been busy with processing the Amsel collection of some 500 pieces (mainly from various ethnic groups in Hungary and Romania) that arrived in late February from Paris and has now been fully catalogued. If you go to the TRC online catalogue, and use the search term ‘Amsel,’ you will find all the objects described and photographed.

We catalogued and photographed another collection that was recently donated to the TRC by the Zant family in Amsterdam, namely a large group of well-documented textiles from Indonesia. If you type in: ‘Zant’ in the TRC Collection catalogue you will find all the objects.

And finally, we received a charuga, a hand embroidered garment that is characteristic for the Christian community in northern Iraq. A separate blog on this garment was published on 29 March (see below).

A hand-embroidered charuga from a Christian community in northern Iraq, made especially for the TRC  (TRC 2022.0914d).
*****
May we once again draw your attention to the possibility to support us financially via IDeal? You only have to press the IDeal button, fill in the amount you want to donate and select your bank. Many thanks!
You may also transfer an amount of your choice to our TRC account NL39 INGB 000 298 2359, in the name of the Textile Research Centre, Leiden (international donations will also need our BIC/SWIFT code: INGBNL2A). For American sponsors, the so-called 501(c)(3) regulations for tax reduction apply.
*****
Please also have a look at our Textile Moments, a series of blogs that we publish a few times each week. You can also find them on TRC Facebook. In March we published the following blogs

AGENDA


Friday 1 April: Workshop Appliqué tulips

Date: Friday, 1 April 2022. Time: 10.00 – 13.00 pm. Location: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, The Netherlands. Instructor: Beverley Bennett. Language: English. Costs: 35 euros (to be paid at the start of the workshop). Equipment / coffee / tea are provided.  Pre-registration is appreciated.


4-8 April: TRC Intensive Textile Course

The next TRC Intensive Textile Course will be held from 4 to 8 April. Other editions in 2022 are from 23 to 27 May, from 22 to 26 August, from 10 to 14 October, and from 21 to 25 November.


Wednesday 13 April: Workshop (Pre-) historic sewing stitches

Date: Wednesday, 13 April 2022. Time: 10.00 – 13.00 pm. Location: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, The Netherlands. Instructor: Dorothee Olthof. Language: Dutch. Costs: 35 euros (to be paid at the start of the workshop). Equipment / coffee / tea are provided.  Pre-registration is appreciated.


Tuesday 19 April: Study day Quilts and quilting

Date: Tuesday 19 April 2022. Time: 10.00 – 16.00. Location: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, The Netherlands. Lecturer: Beverley Bennett. Language: English. Fees: 60 euro. Materials/coffee/tea provided.  Pre-registration is appreciated..


Study day 23 April: Ancient Egyptian textiles and dress

Date: Saturday 23 April 2022. Time: 10.oo – 16.00. Location: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, The Netherlands. Lecturer: Gillian Vogelsang. Language: Dutch and English. Fees: 60 euro. Materials/coffee/tea provided.  Pre-registration is appreciated..


Sunday afternoon meeting, 24 April: Welcoming the new collections for the TRC

The TRC recently received two large donations of textiles and clothing from Central Europe (mainly from different ethnic groups in Albania, Hungary and Romania), and many other places around the world. They were collected by experts in Paris and Arizona, and were recently transferred to the TRC.

Date: Sunday, April 24, 2022. Time: 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM. The programme starts at 1.30 pm, but visitors are welcome all afternoon. Location: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden. Languages: Dutch and English. Coffee/tea is provided. Pre-registration is appreciated.


Thursday, 28 April: First workshop of the second series of guipure bobbin lace making

From February 3 to June 9, the TRC organises two series of three workshops each for guipure lace making. The workshops are led by Gon Homburg, a recognized lace-making expert. The first of the second series is on 28 April. Participants are expected to master the basic principles of the guipure technique.

The other workshops are on 12 May and 9 June. All sessions take place on a Thursday, from 10 am to 1 pm. The costs are 35 euros per session, to be paid on the day itself. The language is Dutch. Material is provided.  Pre-registration is appreciated..


Monday, 9 May: Special day about European regional dress

As part of the Leiden European City of Science 2022 programme, Monday 9 May has been declared ‘Europe day’. To celebrate this day, the TRC is organising a special programme on all kinds of European forms of regional dress. The detailed schedule for the day will be announced shortly.

Opening of 77º North, and other bits and pieces