Weaving Yarns at the Museum of Carpet with artist Heather Wastie

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 11 April – Immediate Release

Weaving Yarns at the Museum of Carpet with artist Heather Wastie

We are very pleased to announce that local writer, humorist and musician Heather Wastie will be our Writer in Residence beginning this month.

Heather approached the Museum with this wonderful idea of writing intertwined with workshops. She succeeded in getting Arts Council Lottery funding for the project as well as a grant from Worcestershire Arts Partnership. We at the Museum will be working alongside Heather to make this happen and believe we will have some exciting times coming up.

In her role as Writer in Residence, Heather will be organising a number of workshops for adults and young people. No previous experience is necessary as Heather is an experienced facilitator and will be able to lead our participants into creating their own written and verbal yarns.

Workshops for adults will encourage participants to reflect on what they have experienced at the Museum and record their responses through poetry, prose or song. Workshops for young people will cater for all abilities and they will be able to respond in both written and oral form.

Heather explains “When I first came into the Museum and saw the looms, I was taken aback at the size of them, and once they began to run, the noise was incredible, so loud! And to think there is just one running at a time in the Museum. The galleries themselves are bright and the displays informative. It’s great that we have the Museum as the carpet industry was the life blood of the community for so long. I want to meet people and write about their experiences for my blog as Writer in Residence, and with the workshops we want people to have the opportunity to give their own interpretations.”

Paula Kovacs the Museum Manager says, “We are so excited to be able to work with Heather; she has done some great work researching the carpet industry and this will be another piece in the jigsaw of the heritage of Kidderminster. I’m looking forward to the intergenerational workshops and the swapping stories between young and old.”

At the end of the series of workshops the Museum will hold an event where the participants will have the opportunity to perform their work. And of course there is Heather’s blog that will be a lasting legacy to the project.

To find out more about the Weaving Yarns project go to Heather’s blog www.weavingyarns1.wordpress.com

ENDS

The Museum of Carpet

The Museum of Carpet is located in Stour Vale Mill, a Grade 2 listed building along Green Street. The Mill was constructed in 1855 as a factory for carpet making. Until recently it formed part of the premises of Woodward Grosvenor, carpet manufacturers. They sold the building and the surround land to Wm. Morrisons plc. for the development of a superstore which lies alongside the Museum.

We are the only museum in the country that is devoted to carpets and carpet making. Kidderminster has had close association with the carpet industry from the 1700s.

The Carpet Museum Trust was established in 1981. As the industry contracted, the Trust began to collect machinery, artefacts, archives and libraries from the numerous firms in the town. The Trust now has a good collection of machinery showing the important stages in the technical development of carpet making as well as ancillary equipment. There are collections of archives in a variety of forms, ledgers, board minutes, deeds, accounts that have also been acquired from many of the companies around the town. There is also a collection of around 3000 carpet designs, many by significant designers such as Charles Voysey, Edouard Glorget and Bernat Klein. The samples of rugs and carpets illustrate most of the types of carpets, the different fibres and dyes, and the changing styles of design.

Heather Wastie

Originally from the Black Country, Heather Wastie moved to Kidderminster in 2006.

Heather is a poet and singer and accompanies herself on keyboard and accordion.

She is co-director of performance poetry company Brewers’ Troupe.

She was short-listed for Poet Laureate in both Birmingham and Worcestershire.

Her published work includes 3 illustrated poetry collections, her most recent being The Page-Turner’s Dilemma (2010)

Adult Workshop Schedule

Prose - Poetry - Songs

Workshops take place at the Museum of Carpet

Thursday 25 April 12.15pm - 1.45pm Cost £5.00 payable on the day

This workshop follows the free Museum event Focus on Collections 11.00am - 12.00pm

(If you wish to visit the Museum, usual admission prices also apply)

Friday 17 May 11.45am -1.15pm  Cost £5.00 payable on the day

This follows the free Museum event Reel Stories 10.30am -11.30am

(If you wish to visit the Museum, usual admission prices also apply)

Thursday 6 June 12.00pm - 1.30pm Workshop Cost £5.00 payable on the day

This follows the Museum event Meet Melvyn 11.00am - 11.45am

Meet Melvyn is priced at the usual Museum admission - see below

Sunday 9 June 12.00pm -4.00pm  Workshop Cost £10.00 payable on the day

Writing a life - How to reflect true life stories, your own or those of other people, in prose, poetry or song

This includes a tour of the Museum (usual Museum admission charges apply - see below)

Thursday 13 June 11.00am - 1.00pm Cost £5.00

(If you wish to visit the Museum, usual admission prices also apply)

Museum Admission

Adults £4.50
Children (5-18 years) £2.00
Concessions £2.50
Family (up to 4 children) £10

Museum Opening Times

Closed Mondays, except Bank holidays

Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am – 4.30pm

Sunday 12pm – 4pm

Contact Details

www.museumofcarpet.org.uk

t. 01562 69028