I suspect that we have all collected items/things/stuff from being children. maybe it’s the beginning of honing ones eye, discovering our style, experiencing a little bit of control, it’s part of our human development. I could write a thesis, but I’m not going to!
For the past 30 years I have collected fragments of antique textiles, for various reasons, teaching aids, intrinsic beauty, the joy of study or for a particular project, to name but a few.
The current world situation has made collecting somewhat difficult, I like to feel the textile, turn it over and consider its history before adding it to my collection. However this restriction has allowed me the opportunity to spend more time with the pieces that I have.
I have thought of time periods, techniques, geography, politics, people, journeys, trade, design influences etc and their integration with each other. Somehow I feel that many of these elements are magnified by my location, on the Lancashire/Yorkshire borders where I am surrounded by pre-industrial revolution and industrial revolution reminders of bobbin mills, wool and cotton weaving and thread manufacture, not to mention the long Leeds Liverpool canal, two fields away, which sourced the raw materials and took away the completed textiles.
These ideas have lead me to consider the idea of ‘The Collection’, something that I have dabbled with before. I have the time to consider the whole, something that has sustained me in my artistic endeavours over the years. There have been artists’ books, now I have turned my attention to postcards from the Collection, small glimpses and reminders of what the collection holds.
These are the three lace postcards, I’ll be moving on to woven next.
I liked these books of postcards, probably from the 1950’s, they are smaller than today being 14cm x 9cm. Ive always had them, presumably from my parents house.
And I haven’t read many books, the weather has been good and I’ve been gardening
Annwyn Dean 