Association Summer School 2021


In August we attended the Association Summer School, this year held at Writtle Agricultural College, just outside Chelmsford. Even though the gardens were full of weeds due to Covid neglect, we could appreciate the thoughtfully planned and often exotic plantings, and cosy nooks.

We both  took the tapestry weaving course with Alastair Duncan.  There were 15 in the group of mixed abilities including beginners.  The course was aimed at translating sound to a design.

Most of Monday was spent viewing examples of Alastair's tapestries working with sound and listening to sounds he had recorded together with pieces of music.  Firstly he asked us to write down on paper the thoughts that came into our heads while listening, and then to think of how we could translate that into a piece of tapestry.  We then warped up our frames.  At the end of the day a few decided this wasn’t for them, so they did their own thing with help and advice from Alastair.
It was interesting to see how each person interpreted the brief and how Alastair had pushed us out of our comfort zones.  We were encouraged to experiment with different materials which he had provided including weird and wonderful plastics and steel wire etc.  Great fun.
It was a full on week with work and entertainment in the form of fashion show, an outing, trade fair, lectures etc. Good food and wonderful company with plenty of old acquaintances as well as new.

Valarie Merrett & Madeline Gutteridge












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