Kay & I visited the Museum in the Park yesterday to see the Tracing the Blueprint exhibition, a fascinating insight into resist printed indigo fabric of Hungary and how these patterns and techniques made their way to Africa via Manchester printers.
The story was told through photographs illustrating the past & present production methods and how the cloth is worn both in Hungary. The second half of the exhibition illustrated how the fabrics are produced, used and worn in Africa today. It was reassuring to read that the fabrics are being produced in Africa. The sad news is that the Manchester printers are now closed but many of their patterns have been shipped to Africa, meaning these fabrics are still being produced, plus new contemporary designs.
Lots of beautiful lengths of fabric displayed in interesting ways, added to our enjoyment of the exhibition.It's well worth a visit, and is on for another 10 days.
We ended our day with a trip to Gallery Pangolin, which is situated in the Pangolin Editions art Foundry, they describe it as one of Gloucestershire's best kept secrets, and we'd agree, as well hidden, thank goodness for the directions on their website, which made it easier to find. The gallery space was stunning and full of drawings by sculptors who use the foundry to cast their pieces, plus small pieces of sculpture, my favourites by Terence Coventry & Peter Randall Page. Our favourite drawings were 6 small unframed pieces hanging from metal strips by Ann Christopher.
An amazing setting, with lots of activity as you would expect in a working Foundry, we caught glimpses of people making moulds for new pieces, as we drove thought the site to the gallery. Two impressive sculptures greeted us, Vulcan by E. Paolozzi and Reach for the Stars by Kenneth Armitage, with other smaller sculptures along the river bank outside the gallery by Terence Coventry.
