Flag + Banner Workshop
Friday 6th March, 7pm – 10pm
Dulwich Hamlet Clubhouse, Champion Hill, SE22 8BD
Free (Limited spaces available, please RSVP by filling out the form on this page or emailing j.dent4@newcastle.ac.uk)
Join us for a relaxed, practical session in the Clubhouse where we’ll be making flags/banners to take to St Albans away the following day (and/or any future games or gatherings!)
The workshop is open to any experience levels, no prior knowledge of textile design or making is necessary, just your enthusiasm and willingness to have a go. There’ll be some chatting about ideas for future collaborative workshops, so if you have any thoughts about things we could make together, please bring those ideas along too!
If you wish to attend, please RSVP using this form:
Who & Why?
If we haven’t met yet - I am Jayne, an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in Newcastle upon Tyne, primarily working in electronic composition and performance, hand crafted electronic-textiles and immersive audio-visual installation. My work explores contemporary folk culture, community traditions and the role of new technologies within these practices. I am interested in the motifs that reoccur and the themes that bind us together, how they are shaped by history, how they reflect the present and how they may change in future. You might have seen me around at occasional Dulwich games the last couple of years, as well as at Altona in the summer and more recently in Paris on the Red Star terrace.
The workshop will form part of my PhD research at Open Lab in Newcastle University School of Computing. This research is exploring collaborative grassroots cultural production in communities that have been brought together by shared passions and interests. I am interested in how community-created traditions and participation in things such as football fan communities can contribute to a sense of belonging and wellbeing.
Through technology we are more “connected” than ever before, however these technologies often do the opposite, contributing to the increasing isolation many people feel in day-to-day life. This is due, in large part, to that technology overwhelmingly being used as a tool for maximising corporate interests, profit, and productivity instead of addressing the needs of communities. The aim of the research is to build an alternative approach to the design and use of technology that centres meaningful human connection, creativity and wellbeing, inspired by the principles, methods and priorities of contemporary folk culture, such as football fan communities.
I specifically wanted to work with a community I feel a part of, and that’s why I’ve chosen to do these workshops with the Curva Carwash and wider community at Dulwich Hamlet. An emphasis of my research is that the culture should be made by the community, for the community and should remain in the hands of the community, so I hope we can make some really lush and exciting things together, and contribute a little something to it through these workshops and conversations.
If you have any questions about the workshop or research, please drop me an email at j.dent4@newcastle.ac.uk !
What to Expect:
We’ll cover the basics of banner/flag construction, techniques for planning and making fabric collage designs. We’ll use iron-on, hand stitch and machine stitch methods.
Materials will be provided, however if you have sewing tools or material you would like to work with, please bring them along.
The bar will be open for refreshments and snacks will be provided.
The workshop will be documented in audio/visual formats, however participants will have the opportunity to opt out of this and choose to what extent their involvement/contribution is anonymised in the research. A detailed information sheet and permission form will be provided at the workshop.
Future Planning:
The workshop will also be an opportunity to shape some future sessions that will take place over the summer, which could include things such as: hand-making patches for battle jackets, costume/mascot design, sound and song. We’ll start to think about how we might integrate experiments with new alternative technologies into the process. There will be the chance to interact with some electronic textile instruments as an example of the kinds of things we can try and build together.
There is potential for the workshop series to culminate in a sharing event/exhibition at the end of the summer, but this is dependent on the group’s interest and priorities.
