The Feminist Lecture Program is excited to announce their Summer term of amazing online weekly feminist lectures!
We welcome guest lecturer Kate Robinson to explore the feminist history of textile art forms.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
In myths and fairytales weaving and spinning are often performed by women. The Greek Metis, and the Morai, the Roman Texere and the Hindu Maya are amongst many female personifications connected to weaving the cloth of the world, along with the archetypal old crone, who is often depicted as being bent over her spinning wheel deep in the forest, meting out fates.
But the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin exemplifies the sometimes complex relationship between weaving and feminism, for it is not the girl in the tower but an impish little man who spins the straw into gold. And in fact, in many cottage industries, it is not traditionally women but men who weave cloth. In both rural and urban centres, weaving was often the domain of men. And now, new digital printing and weaving techniques mean that most weaving is done by machine. Whose domain is it now? Has AI taken the place of the crone?
Contemporary textiles are the ground of exciting visual art that bridges the
gaps between craft and fine art, digital and human-made, theory and practice,
including 2D and 3D work. This lecture will look at the background and
history of textiles from a mythic, as well as from a practical, point of view
before moving on to examine some of the exciting visual art being made now
across the globe from Australia, to the Far East and Europe. Be prepared to
dive into the past, as well as to learn about artists practising now, you're
in for a feminist tour through the rich history of textiles.
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
Dr Kate Robinson is a visual artist and writer working in sculpture, theatre and performance. With commissions from the National Theatre of Scotland, BBC and LUX and arts residencies at, amongst others, Inverclyde, Govan Cross, the University of Glasgow and the Yermilov Centre in Kharkiv, Ukraine, her topics of research span archaeology, environment, language, science and art history.
Working in permanent as well as transient materials, Kates public sculpture
is sited nationally and internationally. She has won awards for writing and
for visual art, including the John Keppie Award for Sculpture, a
Guardian/Modern Painters Award for Writing on Art and the Robert Graves
Poetry prize shortlist. Her PhD focussed on Renaissance philosopher, Giulio
Camillo and resulted in a solo exhibition at the Collins Gallery, Glasgow,
and the book of her thesis, A Search for Source of the Whirlpool of Artifice,
published by Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh.
Current projects include being UNESCO virtual Writer in Residence, working
with the Australian Tapestry Workshop in Melbourne, and international arts
project evaluator, working with Izolyatsia, an arts organisation in Kyiv,
Ukraine. Meanwhile she's working towards an exhibition inspired by archives
going back to 1876 from the Western Baths, in Glasgow, where she has been
appointed as the new Artist and Writer in Residence.
Banner image credit: Sheila Hicks, Palitos con Bolas, 2008-2015, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Gift by Itaka Martignoni and Cristobal Zaartu in 2017, Centre Pompidou, 2017 ADAGP, Paris
UPCOMING SESSIONS WITH THE FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM
Monday 20th May
Lucy Brownson (she/her) and Matilde Manicardi (she/her)
Building It Ourselves, Building It Together: A History of Queer and Feminist
Community-Building Through Housing Activism
Monday 27th Mat
Jasmine Reimer (she/her)
Feminist Monsters: Transformation and the New Weird Divine
Monday 3rd June
Nicola Hill (she/her)
Visions, Veils And Virgins: A Short History of Epilepsy Through the Lives of
Extraordinary Women
Monday 10th June
Kate Robinson (she/her)
An Introduction to Textiles as a Feminist Discourse
Monday 17th June
Joanna Sperryn-Jones (she/her)
Breaking As Making: Women Artists Employing Breaking, Violence and
Destruction
Monday 24th June
Hettie Judah (she/her)
On Art And Motherhood: The Construction of Perfection and its Feminist
Subversion
Monday 1st July
Luisa-Maria MacCormack (she/her)
Ana Mendieta: Soil, Dirt and the Body as Art
Monday 8th July
Janine Francois (she/her/they/them)
Oppositional Gaze: Black Feminist Photography as Feminist Resistance
Stay tuned in to be the first to hear about our Autumn term!
RECORDING
A recording of the lecture will be sent out by The Feminist Lecture Program after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. This email will also contain any resources/reading list the lecturer shares.
Please add [email protected] to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.
Please note that the recording will expire 7 days after sending.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of 20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
MORE FLP
Cant get enough? The Feminist Lecture Program has our very own digital archive, where you can find some of the best past lectures from our back catalogue to rent and watch ON DEMAND. Check out our ever growing collection here: https://thefeministlectureprogram.vhx.tv/
Follow us on Instagram @thefeministlectureprogram
And check out our sustainable merch from FLP Studio at https://feministlectureprogram.com/shop
& @flp__studio
And that's it!
We're really looking forward to you joining us x
