Weave in a visit to The Beacon Museum

An exhibition showcasing the work of local textile artists will go on show at The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven later this month.

A group from the Western Lake District Fells known as Fabricate will be displaying their textiles as part of their Second Thoughts exhibition which opens on Saturday 27 April.

A Fabricate spokesperson said:

“As a cooperative of textile artists, we are incredibly pleased to be working with The Beacon Museum to showcase our work. The Beacon’s ethos of promoting the rich history of West Cumbria fits well with our traditional craft-based textile art.

“Our ‘Second Thoughts’ exhibition supports the growing trend of sustainability and environmental consciousness in today’s world. The exhibition will be a blend of traditional and innovative textile art pieces demonstrating the creativity and skills of the Fabricate artists.

“Our creative processes will involve reusing waste or unwanted textiles from wool to cloth, and other materials. Demonstrating how old textiles and clothing can be transformed into one-of-a-kind pieces.”

The group hopes that their exhibition encourages people to create their own textile art using recycled materials.

“It’s a fantastic way for people to express themselves artistically by giving old textiles a second life, whilst also making a positive impact on the environment by reducing the amount we send to landfill.

“We’re looking forward to chatting to people about our art on our ‘Meet the Makers’ weekends where we will be demonstrating a wide range of traditional crafts including peg loom weaving, sewing, embellishing, spinning, embroidery etc.

“By us all giving a ‘Second Thought’ and rethinking our approach to textile waste we can all play our small part in environmental conservation.”

Meet the Maker sessions will be held between 10.30am and 3.30pm on Saturday 27 April, Saturday 18 May, Sunday 19 May, Saturday 15 June, Sunday 16 June, where members of Fabricate will be in the gallery, demonstrating the techniques used in the artworks. These techniques will include weaving, spinning, machine embroidery and embellishing, hand stitching, fabric painting, sketchbook-making, rag-rug making and peg loom weaving.