Lace unravelled is a series of events in Nottingham
celebrating the history and contemporary uses of lace. I’ve previously blogged
about the Lace unarchived exhibition at Bonington Gallery which runs until the
end of the month (see blog of 1 March). The day at Wollaton Hall was the first
day of the symposium and is also the venue for my contemporary response to the
Battle of Britain commemorative lace panel. The day started with a keynote talk
by Sheila Mason about the history of the machine lace industry, followed by Ann
Inscker and Judith Edgar discussing the mentoring sessions they have been
running during which they have discovered some interesting lace history hidden
within the Nottingham lace collection. Dr Amanda Briggs-Goode then spoke about
the importance of the Lace Archive at Nottingham Trent University and it’s use
within the School of Art and Design.
All the delegates were then taken to the Prospect Room to
see my new lace panels and a facsimile of the original Battle of Britain lace
panel. I talked about the genesis and production of the original panel and then
discussed how I had designed and produced my own panels. After that we had a tour
of the Nottingham Industrial Museum and were shown a working Leavers lace
machine.
After lunch, Anne-Claire Laronde and Sophie Henwood talked
about the lace held in the Calais Lace Museum and the uses of lace in
contemporary fashion. They were followed by Professor David Hopkin discussing
the use of lace tells (songs which the lacemakers sang as they worked) and the
often dark stories they revealed. Lindsey Bristow, finished the day with a talk
about the manufacture of plain net or bobbinet and its varied uses today such
as conductive lace and in parachutes. I’m looking forward to another
interesting day of talks tomorrow.
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