We’re very excited to announce that Jamie Holman has been commissioned to make a new work exploring the politics of fabric through the collections at the Harris Museum, Preston & Blackburn Museum. The work that will be shown in progress at this year’s Lancashire Encounter festival (Sept 21-23) and as a finished piece of work at Fabrications 2019, the British Textile Biennial, produced by Super Slow Way for Autumn next year.
Jamie is a Blackburn based artist, writer and lecturer who creates multi-disciplinary work in a collaborative approach to making that embraces industrial technologies alongside what he describes as the “small memories trivia”of local working class communities, particularly in Lancashire.
For the Politics of Fabric commission Jamie will begin by creating a banner for a procession during Lancashire Encounters Festival (21 – 23 September), made in response to the protest banners held in the museum collections in Blackburn and Preston. The focus of his banner however, will be the impetus and legacy of the acid house music scene which began as a very distinct and powerful political and cultural expression in the abandoned warehouses of Blackburn and other Lancashire towns almost thirty years ago, against the backdrop of a Britain in the grip of recession
Talking about the commission Laurie Peake, Director of Super Slow Way said “This commission has been developed through an important partnership that will allow Jamie’s work to be presented within 2 major new festivals in the county and highlight its fantastic collections. Both Fabrications and Lancashire Encounter demonstrate the ambition we are developing in Lancashire for our cultural future and how pan-Lancashire partnerships reinforce the importance of art and culture as drivers for regeneration in this very special place, drawing on its important industrial past and vibrant contemporary offer”.
Tim Joel from Lancashire Encounter said “We are delighted to be co-commissioning a new piece of art work with Super Slow Way, making creative links to the East of the County and celebrating Lancashire’s rich textile heritage. Working closely with Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and the Harris in Preston this is an exciting collaboration to feature at Lancashire Encounter Festival in September and Fabrications 2019”
Fabrications 2019 invites artists, designers and makers to explore the politics of cloth in performances, artworks and events across Pennine Lancashire against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure that supported the cotton industry; from Blackburn Cotton Exchange to Brierfield Mill in Pendle, from Mr. Gatty’s Experiment Shed in Accrington to the world-class textile collection at Gawthorpe Hall in Burnley, all following the great waterway that supported it, the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
Jamie’s work will first be shown as part of Lancashire Encounters 2018. Taking place over the weekend of 21 – 23 September, the festival will be an authentic voice for Lancashire, celebrating the breadth of the counties diverse cultural offer with a high quality, high profile arts festival.
