1 St. Paul’s Square, Bedford, UK
Commissioned by Bedford Creative Arts, funded by Arts Council England
An unoccupied Grade II listed Georgian building in Bedford’s St. Paul’s Square served as the canvas for Lace in Place, a site-specific installation realised through socially engaged practices. The work transformed the building’s 14 windows with large-scale lace panels, echoing the stitches and motifs of Bedfordshire’s historic lace-making traditions.
These panels, crafted from polyester rope, were handmade by a team of 27 volunteers, including members of The Aragon Lacemakers and individuals new to the craft. This collaboration was initiated by Conversations in Lace, a callout session inviting people from Bedfordshire to bring examples of lace treasured within their families – before a series of lace-making workshops that brought the panels to life. This cooperative approach mirrored the cottage industry roots of Bedfordshire lace-making, blending historical techniques with contemporary artistic intervention.
The Lace in Place project also included Large Lace: A Choreography of People and Pattern, a performance exploring the physicality of lace-making; and Laced Words, a collaboration with audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde to create a repetitive pattern of words made out of light.
2012-2013
Site-specific Installation. Nylon rope. 1St Paul’s Square. Bedford. UK.
Commissioned by Bedford Creative Arts.
Lace in Place is a set of handmade lace panels made of nylon rope, cladded on 14 windows of an unoccupied Georgian building at No1 St Paul’s Square in Bedford. The crisp lace windows are appropriated from a traditional Bedford pattern: the central spider, with a branch of the river flowing around it on either side (reference to the river Great Ouse nearby Bedford), held together by a network of connected leaves.
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2012
Performed at Bunyan Hall. Bedford.
A collaborative performance to explore the challenging leap in physical scale of site-specific installation Lace in Place. Participants who co-created the artwork got involved by moving around the space as the pins and bobbins of the lace-making process, and lengths of fabric instead of thread. Read more…
2013
Audiovisual work. In collaboration with Kathy Hinde.
No1 St Paul’s Square, Alamanac Festival, Bedford, 2013. Commissioned by Bedford Creative Arts.
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