Woven Textile Designer, Handweaver
I will be at the Open Day with a loom or two, to give visitors a taste of the courses I teach for The Kings Foundation at Barley Court, the home of Highgrove Traditional Crafts.
The courses teach the traditional hand craft skills of weaving, giving students the opportunity to work with a diverse range of British Wools and plant dyed colour.
The next course I am teaching for The Prince’s Foundation at Highgrove, Tetbury, Gloucestershire in October 2023, is now available for booking via the Highgrove Traditional Crafts Eventbrite page.
Gather Wool based in Somerset, UK have recently launched their first range of British Wool textiles for the home. I created four designs for them, all using the two natural colours of the breed without the need for dyed colour.
We collaborated on the first project of this newly established business, which was to use the wool from their own Pedigree Ryeland sheep to produce premium blankets with provenance.
To be able to process their wool cost effectively in bigger batches, they offered to purchase wool of the same breed and quality from other local farms. The wool was processed into yarn by an Artisan Spinning Mill in Cornwall, then handed to me to develop designs for blankets using extensive hand-woven sampling.
Two Yorkshire mills were commissioned to weave the fabric to my specifications in the quantity required for each design, then complete the transition from woven cloth to blankets by specialist ‘finishing’.
The Gather Wool blankets are available directly via their website and through their carefully chosen outlets.
As a member of Southwest England Fibreshed I have collaborated with the curation team at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester, on their Exhibition to show the circular journey of locally produced natural fibres – from regeneratively farmed sheep’s wool to woven cloth (in my case) via sustainable plant dyes. I’ve provided a weaving loom, a spinning wheel and woven samples to help illustrate the story.
I returned to West Dean College nr Chichester, last week to teach a 2 day course ‘Weaving on a Body-tensioned Loom’. The 8 students wove on two prepared warps- the first all white wool to master the basic techniques and the second Black Welsh Mountain and White Ryeland wools to start their experimentations with pattern and colour. For their third warp, students chose yarns and colours then wound their own warps and threaded their looms. The diverse outcomes from these beginner weavers was amazing – some wove in just one yarn and colour, others incorporated material they had brought with them.
If you would like to attend the opening event on the evening of Tuesday 14th June please get in touch and I will send you a link to the Eventbrite page.
Pound Arts, Corsham, Wiltshire. From 15 April 2022 to 28 May 2022.
“An exhibtion exploring multi-sensory rhythms of making and composing art through diverse media including, light, sound, ceramics, drawing, typography and woven textiles”
Featuring a diverse range of my woven work including a room screen with woven paper panel, also works from five other participant artist/makers.
i will be teaching a 4 hour Weaving workshop on 7th May as part of this event (info under Tuition tab). Also a ”Live Art Event” will be taking place on Friday 20th May, featuring “experimental live art and music collaboration”
I have been invited by the organisers of Stitchfest Southwest to run weaving taster workshops at FibreQuest, a new venture for 2022. Fernhill Farm in the Mendip Hills has a well established Blade Shearing Farm Open Day, which has been expanded to include other fibre related exhibitors and workshops co-ordinated by Stitchfest, for whom I’ve taught before.
I have managed to squeeze in 4 sessions of 1 hour 15mins during Saturday, with space for 4 participants in each. Using a Body-tensioned loom, setup ready to go with local rare-breed Ryeland wool, you will have an hour to weave a sampler in un-dyed coloured wools and natural dyed yarns. What you weave is yours to take home.
Click here for link to FibreQuest for information and to book a workshop.
I have been invited by Gloucestershire Guild to bring a loom (or two) to their showcase event at Rodmarton Manor on Wednesday 8th September 2021, to demonstrate the craft skill of hand-weaving. I’m just there for the first day but there is an extensive offering of activities over the 5 days.
From 17 May 2021 I will be pleased to welcome you back to my studio near Cirencester for mentoring, individual tuition or workshops.
The monthly ‘casual’ group weaving sessions are on hold for the present time, however in its place I am offering workshop sessions of 3 hours for individuals or two friends comfortable with each other’s proximity! A morning session can be extended after lunch is you want to stay all day. These sessions can be arranged on any weekday or saturday. For more details see under the COURSES tab.
rebecca connolly design 