The Community Shawl is my response to The Red Dress (created by Kirsty MacLeod), for which I was very fortunate to have been able to arrange exhibitions and presentations twice in Wales, the most recent in Abergavenny in October 2022. Previously the Dress had its first visit to Wales when I curated its exhibition at the Bleddfa Centre in the winter of 2021.

Here, you can follow the journey of the Shawl:

I have been curating the Shawl project since the summer of 2022, when the seed of the idea appeared in my imagination!
In the autumn, I was joined by Ginevra from The Wool Croft, who generously offered both some free materials, and her time, in helping me manage the project.

I invited members of the public to join us in creating a fabric square, in any medium, for the creation of the Community Shawl; each square to have an element of red.

My aim is for everyone’s work to unite our communities, and for the completed Shawl to then be taken to exhibitions and events, celebrating our traditions of tales, community, and friendship.
The Shawl also symbolises being held in a safe space by your community.

I am delighted, grateful, and bowled over, to have received over 120 squares!
Each one, intricate and beautiful, tells its own story and is a little symbol of love and connection. They range from knitted to embroidered, lace to felted.
The residents at Penpergym care home crocheted a very generous 50 squares, and they will be the first audience to see the completed Shawl when we take it to visit them.

I have also been invited to take the Shawl to Hereford College of Art, where I am curently studying my MA in Contemporty Crafts, and give a talk about the project, which is really exciting. One of the visitors to my exhibition of The Red Dress in Abergavenny works at HCA, and was able to organise Kirstie taking The Red Dress there for a talk, so this will be a fabulous follow-up!

The next stage? To now have each square carefully stitched onto the background material…

We had thought we may purchase some woollen flannel or maybe a vintage shawl for this, but, out of the blue, my mother donated my grandmother’s vintage, handmade, woollen nurse’s cape!

My Nana was for many years, Sister of the wards at Pen Y Fal hospital in Abergavenny, retiring in 1977. Her cape was made by Doreen Rice, in the huge sewing room at the hospital.

I can’t think of a better addition to the provenance of this Community shawl, and we are hearing all kinds of wonderful anecdotes from those who remember Pen Y Fal.
It also ensures the history of the cape lives on, and the communities are linked together further.

Cathie, who also works at The Wool Croft has been stitching the amazing pieces of work onto the cape, to transform it into the Shawl.
What we would love to do is pay her a fair fee, and we wondered if you would consider donating towards this, please?
ALSO, any funds donated will now help me have information boards printed up so that the Shawl will always have a professional display when it is on display, or during talks, womens’ meetings, exhibitions, for example!
https://gogetfunding.com/community-shawl-project/

Ginevra and I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved so far, and to thank you, the reader, and anyone else who has shared this project!

Any share, or donation, is greatly appreciated, thank you! Please see the button below for more information.

And if you, or a venue you know, would like us to bring the Community Shawl Project for an exhibition, talk or presentation, once it is ready to travel, then please do get in touch here: wovenearthstudiocymru@gmail.com

With love and gratitude…

EDIT JULY 2023

The cape is not long enough for the amount of squares we have received!

In looking around for material (black exterior and red interior preferrably, to match the cape) to add to the length, in particular wool flannel, I was offered a very generous donation by Elin Sian Blake, a local artist, and her mother, Sian Blake.

A 100 year old, unpicked Welsh petticoat, in black, and red wool flannel, which had been made into a skirt by Sian for Elin to wear for a school event when she was a child, and again used by a model for one of Elin's paintings, and which we allowed to unpick.

I am again overwhelmed by the generosity, and really excited by the added provenance these pieces of cloth add to the project as a whole!

Elin once asked my youngest daughter to be a model for one of her paintings, and Sian has been to one of my workshops previously, so the connections bring added warmth to the soul of the project.

Very very many thanks to Elin & Siân xx

Update September 2023:

Due to several unexpected health issues and various surgeries I have had this year, the project has been delayed for a few months, but we very much look forward to launching it in Spring 2024!

Update May 2024:

THRILLED that the launch/unveiling of The Community Shawl can be at the amazing, (and free!) Abergavenny Arts Festival in June this year! Join us on the 15th up at the Castle…

I have also been discussing other projects leading from the Shawl, including dance, so watch this space…

July 2024:

The response to the Shawl at the AAF was wonderful, and I met some of the textile square donors for the first time, which was so lovely!
Thanks to the crowdfunder, there were enough funds to have story boards printed to display too, which visitors found very useful, so thanks again for everyone’s generosity.

Mid-July, the Shawl and the boards were on display again, at the first anniverary celerbrations at The Makers crafts gallery, with some visitors not having any prior knowledge of the project, so it was great fun introducing it to them!

We are now preparing for the month long exhibition at The Wool Croft in Abergavenny, during August.

September 2024:

The Open Evening at The Wool Croft was amazing - more donors were able to see their work on the Shawl for the first time, which resulted in various emotional repsonses, and several guests have said they would like to see the Shawl at the Senedd too - how amazing would that be!
One of our very strong supporters and donor, Julie Long, took notes that evening, and has recently given me her poem; this is a very touching and moving piece of work, which we will display soon - and it was a perfect moment to launch the next stage of the project, which is collecting the stories, memories, and responses to and about the Shawl, both in writing and recording.

In the time between June and September, I have had several meetings with the Red Art project, who exhibited their version of a red Dress alongside the Shawl in May - their project was inspired by the Red Dress and the Shawl, and we agreed displaying them rogether at the AAF made perfect sense.
Their project emcompasses telling the stories of women, and raising awareness of femicide, as well as empowering women through dance and creativity, so we both felt our projects had a ‘runing thread’ that connected them, and have now decided to collaborate ‘officially’ , with the project name of ‘threads’.
This collaboration is really uplifting and inspirational!

I approached Punch at the Found gallery in Brecon, and we will be exhibiting there as ‘threads’ for March 2025, as part of the Brecon Womens Festival, which runs a festival around International Womens Day for the month of March - this is very exciting an gives us a focus - and a deadline! - for creating more work around the joint projects.
Found is an extraordinary gallery, beautifully curated by Punch, and we are very grateful for this opportunity.

We met with Alistair who hosts the Talks at Art Shop Chapel and Gallery in Abergavenny, and we will be able to share a date and who the creative person will be, very soon!

We are also organising a series of workshops - some of these will be during the March exhibition at Found.

I decided to approach Kirstie Mcleod again, as we had half-joked about how wonderful it would be to exhibit ‘threads’ alongside the Red Dress.
To my delight, Kirstie said yes and has offered us a week in September 2025!
What an incredible opportunity…