St Barnabas Dalston
July Make Good Event: A workshop and talk with textile artist Alexandra Lucas
Save the Date for our July Make Good Event. This special evening before we break for summer will be a workshop and talk with textile artist Alexandra Lucas
7pm for food, 7.30pm for the talk and workshop.
Dinner is included in the price of the ticket.
Weaving is incredibly physical. As the weaver works arduously, each row connects them to their ancestors. Even more so with backstrap weaving; the weaver sits in the loom, the loom relies on the body of the weaver. The loom moves with you. You become a machine.
Alexandra Lucas is currently working on a piece called Textile Cyborg. She uses a backstrap loom and threads as tools that connect her to the earth, to dust; simultaneously linking the past, present and future.
As Donna Haraway says in The Cyborg Manifesto: “the cyborg would not recognise the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust.”
As we increasingly rely on automation, how do we keep hold of the fleshy, the messy, the tactile? How do we balance the “organic vs technological?”
Join Alex as she tries to unravel some of her thoughts on this topic.
The evening will also include a chance for everyone to take part in a backstrap weaving workshop.
You’ll learn:
Due to numbers, a loom may have to be shared between two or three people. Either way, it will be a great way for everyone to try out backstrap weaving!
All materials will be provided. You may want to bring a cushion.
Alexandra Lucas studied Textile Design at Central Saint Martins and now runs her own weaving practice in North East London.
Alexandra weaves tapestries and rugs on an ancient backstrap loom which is strapped onto her body. Whenever the weaver moves forward or backwards, the loom changes and morphs into what she needs it to be. It is labour intensive, tedious but surprisingly meditative.
Her work often touches on the themes of nostalgia, be it through abstracting family albums or weaving crisp packets as an ode to her ultimate childhood comfort food. She’s fascinated with the fact that weaving is a practice that connects us all as humans across history and cultures. Each piece is made with traditional techniques for the modern context, made to last and be cherished for years to come.
@alexandralucasweave
