The Limerick Museum in collaboration with Friends of Lace would like to invite you to the Amazing Lace symposium that will take place in the Absolute Hotel in Limerick on Saturday, 17 November 2018, from 10am to 5pm.
Friends of Lace are a local group of lace makers formed in 2017 in Limerick with the mission to bring Limerick lace to public attention by contributing to the preservation, documentation and research on existing artefacts in museum and private collections, creating teaching resources and supporting novel interpretations and uses of Limerick lace.
The theme of the symposium will be Lace Making in the Modern World – Tradition and Interpretation.
The symposium will include presentations from invited speakers Fiona Harrington and Sara Robertson, discussions on the topic of lace preservation, promoting lace making as a living craft, teaching lace making, and lace commercialisation.
Lace makers are invited to bring finished pieces or work-in-progress for a small ad-hoc exhibition.
Attendance is free and everybody is welcome, but registration is compulsory.
You can register via Eventbrite.
Programme
9:30 Registration and coffee; Exhibition set up
10:00 Opening talk: Matthew Potter – Remembering Limerick Lace Makers
10:15 Invited talk: Fiona Harrington – Irish Lace: Influence, Innovation and Education
10:45 Invited talk: Sara Robertson – Lit Lace for Performance
11:15 Break; Exhibition open
11:30 Gabriela Avram – Friends of Lace
11:45 Updates from lace groups, lace projects and teachers
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Exhibition open
14:30 Panel discussion: Restoration and conservation of lace
15:15 Coffee/tea break; Exhibition open
15:45 Panel discussion: Teaching and promoting lace
16:30 Closing address; taking apart exhibition
Invited talks:
Fiona Harrington – Irish Lace: Influence, Innovation and Education
Artist Fiona Harrington will discuss her studio practice and detail her journey from paint to Lace. Looking at what’s happening on the international art scene, Fiona will consider the importance of tradition, technique and innovation in lacemaking.Fiona Harrington has been working as a professional artist for almost 20 years. Following her studies in Fine Art at Crawford College, she spent a decade painting and exhibiting on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork and New Zealand. She became interested in Lace while later studying for a degree in Textile Design at the National College of Art in Dublin and completed a period of lace training at the Kenmare Lace and Design Centre in Co. Kerry in 2012.She received the RDS Graduate prize in 2013 for her lace work and went on to receive a National Craft Award for Lacemaking, the Eleanor De La Branchardiere Prize and the Traditional Lacemakers of Ireland Award.In 2014 she was awarded a percent for art commission for a permanent artwork that combined handmade lace with plexiglass and computer controlled engraving. She has taken part in numerous exhibitions in Ireland and abroad and has been involved in a number of collaborative projects exploring how lace can be positioned within the contect of contemporary art and design.Fiona has produced 4 collections of comtemporary Irish lace design, which combines her love of painting with her skills as a lacemaker.Most recently, she was invited to present her work and the story of Irish Lace at the Textile Arts Centre in New York.She is currently based in Dublin where she continues to develop her lace practice.
Sara Robertson – Lit Lace for Performance
Sara Robertson and Sarah Taylor have been working together for 4 years on craft-based artistic approaches to exploring smart textiles through a deep understanding of material properties and the combination of traditional textile processes with new technologies. They have recently formed a business Sara + Sarah – Smart Textile Design offering a bespoke service to enable the textile industry to innovate in the area of smart textiles and continue to work on collaborative projects that explore the creative application and artistic potential of smart textiles in different contexts. Sara and Sarah also work in part-time academic roles.
Dr Sara Robertson is Tutor (Research) for Smart Textiles and leads the new specialism Soft Systems: Smart Textiles as part of the MA Textiles Programme at the Royal College of Art, London. Previous to that she was Programme Director for Textiles and Researcher in Craft Innovation and Smart Materials at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee. Sara has extensively explored thermochromics dye systems over the last 14 years and the design potential of chromic material and digital function. Recent work, Digital Lace (Robertson & Taylor) won the International Symposium of Wearable Computers 2014 Design Exhibition Jury Award: Fibre Arts, showcasing at the EMP building and Microsoft Research Labs, Seattle.
Sarah Taylor is Senior Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University. She has worked as an academic and research practitioner in the field of smart textiles for over 20 years and is specialised in light-emitting textiles. Sarah completed her research degree in 1995 which explored the visual potential of fibre optic technology within textiles. She has particular interest in the aesthetics of light within cloth and in using different technologies to enhance or activate visual effects or interaction for example. Sarah has exhibited craft-based design work at major national and international exhibitions over the years and has worked in collaboration with experts from other design and technology disciplines and enjoys the diversity of working on a range of cross-disciplinary projects.
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