Textile Artist appointed to create Olympic Art Installation

Textile artist Lone Helliwell has been appointed to work with community groups in Barnard Castle and Teesdale to create a textile art installation for the Winning Words project.

Lone, whose mother was a tailoress and father a costume master for the Royal Danish ballet, will involve local people in converting Anne Dauber’s winning poem The Great Grey Barn into a picture style wall hanging.

Lone has many years of experience as a facilitating artist, working on large community textile projects as well as gaining a reputation for designing bespoke soft furnishings for both hotels and country houses.

The finished piece will be about 20″ square and made up of smaller sections.  Each square will depict part of the poem using different textile techniques such as knitting, felting, applique, weaving, clippy/hook rug methods and embroidery.

Lone will source locally spun wool for the project and dye it to the colours required.  Woodworker and husban Chris is providing large hand-turned knitting needles for the occasion.

Hand-turned needles

A greater number of pieces will be made and the sixteen most appropriate ones will be assembled to create the art installation.  This will be launched at NeST gallery in Barnard Castle on National Poetry Day before going on tour around local village halls, businesses and community spaces.

Drop-in sessions at NeST gallery, 25 Newgate, Barnard Castle, DL12 8NG will be held on Tuesday 12th June 1.30-3.30p.m., Friday 15th June and 13th July from 2-4p.m.

These sessions are free of charge and open to all ages and abilities.

Individuals and groups wishing to take part in the project, either to learn new skills or practice existing ones should contact project lead Judith Lesley Marshall via judith@barnardcastlenest.org.uk or mobile 07413 101014.

Winning Words Project Steering Group

NeST has a history of working with local poets to promote the gallery as a ‘surprising space’ for poetry.  We currently have a selection of pamphlets from Mudfog press which complement the theme of the current exhibition and Felicity Manning will give a reading from her new collection Long Held Notes on Sunday 4th March at 3p.m.

In the meantime the project steering group have been busy formulating plans for delivering the Winning Words project through NeST.  Members of the group include representatives from local schools, media and youth groups.

Barnard Castle is participating in level 2 of the national project which encourages members of the local community to celebrate 2012 by creating a local poetry installation.

Written material for this artwork will be gathered through poetry workshops and a local competition.  Winning entries will be exhibited as window vinyls in town centre shops and the overall winner will be incorporated into a textile installation.

As mentioned previously the idea is to use a poetry code to knit the winning poem into a textile picture which can be displayed in village halls, school and business receptions etc.  People will be able to buy into the legacy by purchasing postcards of the finished piece.

Earlier this week I visited Buttons & Bows shop in Barnard Castle to discuss sourcing local wool in rainbow colours.  As we need a heavy weight wool in order to knit on extreme needles I have hit my first hurdle.

Owner Sally Nicholls tells me that orange and yellow wools are rare so we may have to consider dyeing our own.  Sally was very helpful, gave me  a list of knitters, weavers and suppliers to contact.

If you know of anyone who has a spare fleece or two or balls of wool in requisite colours, please get in touch.  You can e-mail me on judith@barnardcastlenest.org.uk or tel: 07413 101014.

Mudfog poetry at NeST