Contemporary Community Textile Artist Derbyshire UK
Collaboration Kindness Carbon Sensitivity
Riddings Contemporary Community
Textile Artist Flax Project
Writer, Cartoonist, Songwriter & Musician
'If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in! Come in!'
Introduction To Community Flax Growing In Riddings, Derbyshire & Brief
The Riddings Community Flax Project is a contemporary textile art initiative in Derbyshire, UK, located in a village once globally significant in the Industrial Revolution. Led by me, contemporary community textile artist, Amanda Haran, this trial phase of the project looks at how I can connect the community with local history and promote wellbeing through Nature and textile creativity. I will learn how to grow, process, and create art using flax alongside exploring this fibre's regional industrial significance and then share this knowledge with the people that I live alongside.
Inspired by a walk through Waingroves Community Woodland and its ropewalk in 2024, the project will culminate with the creation of an 'intentional flax land.' Through the growing of flax in community gardens, pots, buckets and shared or neglected spaces, we will daily recognise our industrial heritage, foster a sense of belonging, greater well-being and connectedness, and celebrate textile arts. It draws from Derby University's concept of Nature Connectedness: For A New Relationship With Nature,'...a measurable psychological construct that moves beyond contact with Nature to an individual's sense of their relationship with the natural world.' A course I have taken in preparation.
This page chronicles the flax adventure, milestones, musings, and mistakes and is updated regularly to act as a record and generate the final community project.
Community Flax Project Inspiration
On a bright day, my partner and I ambled through a local country park. I was new to the area and was trying to get my bearings (a feat difficult for a directionally geographically challenged individual.) He is a mining engineer who has worked not only in Derbyshire but also in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, the North East, and Wales, and was keen to share his industrial knowledge and heritage. I hailed from generations of weavers in Lancashire and had studied a textile manufacturing degree, so our Venn diagrams overlapped pleasantly. Whilst listening to a commentary on all things mining, we walked to the 'Ropewalk.' As I contemporary community textile artist my textile detector is always on, and I asked about the significance of this spot.
'They probably made ropes here for the pit,' came the reply and the journey direction was set.
I dove back into my textile teachings, remembering flax and hemp had been used to make rope, and thought, 'Ummm...flax or hemp? I've always fancied growing flax. I wonder if I can do this in the front garden where the soil is heavy clay and you can find the odd bit of coal?'
Once home, I Googled 'Ropewalk Waingroves' and an entry came up from The Ripley & District Heritage Trust where from an adaptated version of 'Frank Mansey's Guide To Ripley's Heritage Part Two: South' a rope making walk was described where James and Thomas Roberts had manufactured ropes using a line of posts and a windlass. Rope making had taken place here from the mid-19th to the 20th centuries. I thought this account concerned where I'd walked, but a deeper investigation showed this was a second site...woo hoo, even more to get my teeth into!
'A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench...'
Isaiah 42:3
Flax Has Been Around 'Since Jesus Was A Lad' As My Mum Would Say
Flax is a plant that communities have used for a very long time, nearly 30,000 years. It was first grown in a region called the Fertile Crescent. People used flax to make linen, a type of cloth, in ancient cultures like Mesopotamia and Egypt (think about how the Egyptians were dressed in their tomb paintings, and you'll have the right picture in mind.) In fact, the above quote is taken from the Bible; flax was such an important commodity in those times that it was worth using as a metaphor. Later, during the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution, flax was produced in large factories rather than just at home, and this is where we start our story in Riddings, Derbyshire.
Contemporary Community Textile Artist Flax Growing Updates
As I take on this flax adventure to build my knowledge, skills and network, I will update this page with my mingling, mastery, mistakes and memories. Please come back regularly if you are a fellow flax traveller for updates. I'd love to hear from you. We're stronger together.