We sat down yesterday with our book and circled the studios we wanted to visit. For an 8 year old he is quite opinionated about the trail! We chose a mix of textile artists and ceramists - he loves all things pottery!
We also plotted the best places to stop of cake and lunch - a major highlight of the day for him!
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We started at Ruskin Mill in Nailsworth with Helen Taylor and Clare Herrington. Their fabulous studio is full of amazing felted scarves, owls and bags! It was a great place to start.
Then we went to Stroud to visit Matthew Harris. His work is really inspiring and I was so excited to see his work in black and white. His studio was an amazing space with an grass roof!
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| Echo no IIII by Matthew Harris |
Also on the same path were a couple of Ceramists, including Noah's favourite of the day Tara Davidson.
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| By Tara Davidson |
We then went to visit Alice Fox's exhibition, Tide Marks.
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| Tide Marks by Alice Fox |
This morning Noah made the decision that we needed to have lunch at the Lavender Bakehouse in Chalford. They have the most amazing panini's with huge salads!
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| Opportunity for more cake. |
Our final stop of the day was the amazing Polly Lyster and her husband. Polly is an amazing dyer, using indigo and other natural dyes to create amazing fabric.
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| Dyeworks |
They had an indigo dye vat set up in the garden and Noah had the opportunity to dye a cotton scarf. I think he dyed most of himself too!
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He was so proud of his first attempt at dyeing and I was drooling over the amazing colours that natural dyes can produce!
We drove home inspired and very excited about all the textiles we had seen! Noah now has a list of things he would like to felt and dye!
If you live near it is worth watching out for the trail details next year. It is already in our diary for next year!
Hi There Anna, Just dropped by your blog and loved your work. I live near Bristol and I too love ALL things fabriccy/quilty/knitty in fact if Fabric Yarn or Thread is involved then I am interested!!!
ReplyDeleteWill add you to the blogs I follow.
Lorraine
AKA Monkey Business and Quilts.