Vines
A residency, following the materials, and book news
I’ve just returned from a residency at Layer House, an arts and cultural centre in Kranj, Slovenia, invited by BIEN, the Textile Art Biennial. Over two weeks I exhibited durational work in an exhibition, Stitching Praxis, delivered talks and an in-conversation about my books as part of their ReThread programme1. I also worked with participants from all over Europe (and beyond) delivering a version of my site specific workshop Making Place, something I’ve taught since 2017 at locations as varied as along the Rochdale Canal, coastal Denmark in Tversted, and on my doorstep from my home studio.
My visit also included the beginning of a new project, a commission for 2027 that is set within the complex historical context of the Ljubelj/Loibl concentration camp (1943-45) on the border between Slovenia and Austria. The project engages with difficult heritage through textile practice as a space for reflection, material thinking, and embodied storytelling. Working with a group of artists from across Europe we will explore themes of labour, displacement, power, and collective memory - and how they can be translated into contemporary artistic language. I’ll write more about this as the project develops.
Arriving to work in a new context is always exciting but also nerve-racking. I travel with options when teaching, a fully detailed plan with enough flexibility in the materials and ideas I bring to alter it on arrival. Making Place uses site-specific textile methods as a way of engaging with an environment and for me this flexibility is always found in the green spaces around the venue.
Tim Ingold in The Textility of Making2 talks about ‘following the materials’ - I use this as a prompt and we take it from there. In Kranj I worked in the garden around the exhibition venue and in a space managed by a local Horticultural Association. Participants were encouraged to use my toolbox of methods and apply them to places where they live and work after the workshop.
Arriving at Layer after midnight, following a delayed flight, I saw a grapevine growing along a fence and the first inspiration for my teaching. Vine leaves create a rich yellows when used as a contact print or solar dye. We used cuttings from the vine to create colour on silk fabric and thread which were later added to another exhibition of work by participants. The vigorous tendrils of the plant reach out to the light during the growing season, these were echoed in the couched journeys the participants later stitched. A visit to the horticultural garden revealed scented roses, a huge Cotinus (smoke bush), berberis, yellow flag iris and a herb bed - an opportunity to collect another sensory reminder of place.
Returning home this weekend I visited my allotment with some trepidation - the two weeks I was away featured both very hot and very wet weather. Along with knee high grass in places, the grape vine I grow over the front of the shed had sprung into life in my absence. Propagated from a cutting from a neighbouring plot holder (he used his extensive vine to make very potent Hungarian-style wine) this plant now appears all over our allotment site. It winds around the security fences, up through the branches of a pear tree on an abandoned plot, over an old football goal post and leads to vivid dyes and excellent jam when I harvest the grapes in the autumn.
Stitching Praxis is coming to London Textile Month opening at the Batsford Gallery Wednesday 9th September until Sunday 13th (11-6pm). The work exhibited is included in my third book for Batsford, Reflective Stitch: Time and Place in Textile Art published 3rd September and available to pre-order now.
The next Stitch With Me for paid subscribers is on Monday 15th June 7-8pm UK time. Look out for an email with the zoom link.
ReThread is devised by Jasmina Ferček and BIEN. The handbook from their 2025 edition can be viewed here.
The Textility of Making - Tim Ingold (2010, Cambridge Journal of Economics)
Looking forward to your new book Claire. Best wishes from down under x
What a wonderful adventure and how amazing that the vine took root in your allotment, a beautiful reminder of the people you have met and the places you have been. I am excited for your next book.