Travelling Lines
A residential summer school tutored by Textile Study Group members and open to everyone.
Jane McKeating
Polly Pollock
Dorothy Tucker
Hillscourt Hotel and Venue, Rose Hill, Rednal, Birmingham B45 8RS
Monday 15 – Thursday 18 July 2024
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Travelling, based on a journey or made with marks, lines, stitch and by interweaving materials, is the starting point for our exciting Summer School in the comfortable surroundings of Hillscourt.
Immerse yourself and explore form with Polly Pollock’s exquisitely simple stitched and woven structures, tell stories of your travels with Jane McKeating or work with Dorothy Tucker as she leads you on a journey with stitch.
Your enthusiastic and experienced tutors will encourage and support you on your journey as you travel together.
Summer School booking details, terms and conditions (PDF)
Online booking form. You will be asked to confirm that you have read and agree to all terms and conditions when you complete the booking form online.
Narrating Personal Journeys, with Jane McKeating
Together we will explore journeys and map these through drawing, collage, applique and stitch.
Your personal journeys might be from daily life: a trip to the bottom of the garden, the school run, downstairs to make a cup of tea; or long ones, perhaps to dramatic or inspiring places. They might be journeys you hope to make, or imaginary journeys. The ordinary or the extraordinary. What do you notice, what inspires you?
We will look at examples of historic and contemporary artists who work with these themes. We will create individual responses, using imagery you might want to bring along, together with remembered images, combining these to create imaginative, experimental surfaces and narratives.The approach will be playful, looking at methods and materials which help us express our own stories, to create a series of small-scale works on both cloth and paper.
Jane works with stitch and print to create visual stories in both cloth and paper. Having taught at Manchester School of Art for 30 years, heading the BA(Hons) Embroidery Course and as Associate Head of Design, Jane now works from her studio in Stockport. She is a member of the 62 Group.
Shape – Form – Basket, with Polly Pollock
Lines joined up form shapes. Shape and lines intersecting in space create form. Form becomes basket.
After considering the qualities of lines through drawing and mark-making, you will explore how materials can represent these. Baskets are created by linear materials interweaving. You will experiment with materials, colour, scale, density, surface, stitch… Your work might be materials/technique led, or informed by a more personal theme, like tracing the steps of a familiar walk.
Basketry is a slow and meditative craft, allowing time for contemplation and experimentation; it is rooted in ancient traditions, with enormous potential for experimentation and innovation. You may focus on a single piece, or a small collection of exploratory samples to develop further in your own time.
Polly has been making and teaching basketry for many years. Her long basketry journey began with an interest in textiles, her work having gone through many transitions. For the past 15 years Polly has worked increasingly with paper, exploring more personal themes, most recently in her work “Kitchen Drawer: Emergency Home Repairs” for the TSG Making 50 exhibition.
Tracks, Tracings and Trails, with Dorothy Tucker
Come to enjoy working with tools and materials, and with care and attention to detail respond to what happens in an easy, on-going and open-ended way.
Don’t be daunted, together we will explore travelling lines made with unconventional tools, follow tracings on paper and cloth with needle and thread, and make tracks along and across patched and pieced backgrounds. We will make changes by cutting away or adding fragments of colour and contrasts in texture.
What we discover along the way about combining paper and cloth, connections between hand stitching with drawing, and what we choose to keep, will evolve into a reference collection and/or small freely worked textile pieces.
Dorothy now lives in Holt, Norfolk. On a free-lance basis she gives talks and tutors workshops in the UK and abroad. In January 2020 she travelled with a group to West Bengal and Odisha in search of kantha, the soft embroidered quilts traditionally made from recycled saris, which inform the way she makes her contemporary stitched textiles.
More about Jane McKeating, Polly Pollock and Dorothy Tucker on the members pages
The Venue
Hillscourt is a delightful venue set in 25 acres of beautiful grounds and gardens. The Victorian house dates back to 1897 and retains many of its original features. It is located in leafy South Birmingham, near to Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and close to the Lickey Hills.
The venue is easily accessible by road being a 5 minute drive from the M5 Junction 4 and 5 minutes from the M42 Junction 1. The nearest station is at Longbridge and the nearest airport is Birmingham International Airport.
There is ample free parking available.
More Details
The summer school begins at 2.00pm on Monday 15 July, and ends after afternoon tea on Thursday 18 July 2024
All bedrooms are to be vacated by 9.30am on the Thursday morning.
Booking
Booking, payment and cancellation information is on the accompanying Summer School booking details, terms and conditions (PDF). Please use our online booking form to make your booking once you have read through the booking details.
Terms and Conditions
The booking details include important Terms and Conditions in line with our liabilities to the centre. Please ensure you read these carefully. You will be asked to confirm your acceptance of the T&C on booking.
Costs
All bedrooms are ensuite.
Full board, course fee, accommodation £735
International students £756
Non resident day delegate and course fee £578, which includes lunch, evening meal and workshops in the evenings.
The course fee does not include lunch on Monday 15 July.
If you are making a long journey, bed and breakfast for Sunday and/ or Thursday night can be arranged by you directly with the centre, not through the TSG. This also applies to partners who wish to stay there.
Those receiving in-service grants from colleges should send the Textile Study Group the course fee and claim back a refund from their college.
Contact
For any queries about the Summer School please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required
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