Rhythm and Ritual in Cloth and Song

A development opportunity funded by Arts Council England with a ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ award working from May - October 2021

A timely opportunity to pick up threads, to develop and extend my skills in flax preparation and spinning, to explore rhythm and ritual associated with craft gesture and attempt to translate these into sound and music. 

I plan to work on a flax hoard acquired from one of the last working scutchers* in Ireland. This scutched flax is in a raw state and requires several transformative steps to bring out its natural qualities of lustre and strength. I will take time to explore and discover the materiality of this precious store to get acquainted with the fibres and tease out their inherent properties.  To extend and build on received craft gestures used to prepare the fibre for spinning and to create yarns, tapping into muscle memory and tacit knowledge.  

Repeated craft gestures are like beats in music.  Spinning and weaving has traditionally gone hand in hand with the singing voice providing a steady rhythmical background to the work in progress. I have a unique opportunity to work with Tiwkilin a Berber/Amazigh performance duo (voice and percussion). Berber culture is rich in rhythm in both song and weaving. Together we will explore the rituals and sounds inherent in material processes and create melody and song in response to the associated rhythms - creating a layer of sound that reverberates with the making of cloth. 

*Scutching is a process whereby flax fibres are separated from the woody tissue of the flax plant.

Please click on menu tab ‘Rhythm and Ritual in Cloth and Song’ for full report.