Interview with Tanya Liddle

Tanya Liddle

Knitter and Maker

17^th October, 2012, Bentham

 My socks being created!

Tanya grew up around a philosophy of ‘if you can make it, you do!’ She grew up in a household of thrifty mentality, with all hands on deck. When Dad decided to make a fireplace, Tanya was an able assistant and when Dad decided to build a garage all the kids helped. When Tanya was growing up they were the only household that had a homemade record player! The inspiration to collect in case it would be useful one day was very much prevalent and the desire to restore, rescue and make was the thrust of her upbringing. Parents and grandparents modelled making working alongside one another and Tanya thoroughly enjoyed the involvement.  School did not bring out the best with regard to needlework as it was to structured and restrictive. She would come home and dress her doll beautifully but a D in her O’level sewing!

Tanya is a mum to seven children and a grandmother too. She is married to Tony, ironically he is an area manager for a large DIY superstore!

The high regard with which her upbringing gave her for making is still very much maintained by Tanya as she loves to put thought into creating something and giving part of herself. It is also important to Tanya to pass on her skills and interests and she goes into to school to demonstrate, knitting, weaving and other making. She loves to get every child involved in some way to suit them and sees making as an excellent outlet and good therapy.

Tanya takes her inspiration from the countryside, the tones and hues of the hedgerows, heathers and woods captivate and are captured in her work. She sources her wool and yarns locally and distances herself from the ‘throw away’ mentality of society. Tanya expressed art as being one’s own perception.

As I sit in her cosy kitchen sharing a warm cuppa and home baking we are surrounded by crafted pots, jugs and many signs of wonderful home making.  

Interview with Phillipa Troutman

Phillipa Troutman

Pioneer Projects, The looking Well, Bentham

Thursday 22^nd November 2012

I met Phillipa who is the Programme Manager for the ‘Own Now’ dementia care programme which operates in Skipton, Settle and Bentham.

 http://www.pioneerprojects.org.uk/our-approach/healthy-communities.php

Phillipa’s art specialism lies in printmaking. She has a Social Science Degree and is Group Work  trained. She has worked as a  Social Worker and has experience of working with homeless people, in the addictions field and with mental illness.

The ‘Own  Now’ Project grew out of the recognition of need within the local communities. Phillipa has personal family experience of dementia and a very deep and insightful knowledge. An encounter at conference with Carey McGee from Moma linked in well with the inception of the programme and a pilot project established in Settle was very positive and made a great difference to the community.

Phillipa explained that dementia sufferers begin to loose cognitive function and experience cognitive blocks. This causes them to begin to mistrust their knowledge. Processing information and sequencing information becomes very difficult and dialogue becomes internal. The ‘Own Now’ group operates as a safe protected environment in which the trained volunteers and staff are happy to work with emotions, understanding that there are no right or wrong responses and to follow carefully what is said. The staff are full of care and integrity and create a powerful environment through which the veils of difficult communication can be lifted and individuals find space to thrive.

I asked how they establish how they are effectively communicating and working with individuals. The team follow a process of outcome measurement and record changes in a Group Work Summary that is completed by each delivery team. As the culture of the groups is so full of care the atmosphere is one which engenders relaxation and agitation dissipates.experienced in adapting and learn how to manage distress. All observable change is noted and reflected on and Causation is considered with sensitive judgement looking at positive and negative indicators.

Phillipa supports the voluntary groups and artists involved, trains them and links in with all adult agencies, sorts out venues for delivery and links in with referrals and handles waiting lists.

It was both inspiring and encouraging to encounter Phillipa’s obvious passion and integrity for this hugely valued service.

Interview with Joyce Knapp

Joyce Knapp

Thursday 11^th October 2012

Rag Rugger

Joyce grew up at Lack Fell House, an isolated farmhouse situated on a wild fellside below Gregareth and the three counties cairns or Three Men as they are locally known. This beautiful setting .

Saw the development of rugging as a natural process of need and recycling of old worn items into warm and welcoming rugs beginning their lives in the first position at the bedside and gradually as wearing set in being moved from least posh room in stages!

Joyce is related to the famous “Terrible  Knitter’s” of Dent who knitted as they worked on the land. Joyce explained that they wore specially adapted belts which held their needles and wool so that as they needed to they would be able to release their hands and it would still hold the knitting in place.  Tizzer, Elizabeth Middleton, her Dad’s cousin was one of the last two “Terrible Knitter’s” of Dent.

  

Joyce’s mother taught her husband to rug. As her first duty was to make the family clothes it was left to Dad to then show Joyce, aged eight how to cut up material and make a ‘proddy’ or ‘pegged’ mat. Dad demonstrated a small section and Joyce followed using old corduroy, tweed and heavy cotton twill clothing with an old hessian sack put to new use as the prepared pieces were pushed through this backing. Joyce explained that her Dad used to say “by the ‘gegg’ of my eye” when he incorporated the different colourways of fabrics to best effect and to keep the pile even a thicker fabric could be cut narrower though the same length to ensure an even depth.

When Joyce returned to rugging to make her son a bedroom rug he took the rug into school to show his teacher and class and the teacher requested that Joyce taught all the class this technique for a Victorian themed project that was being studied. This led to their parents asking to be taught the technique too and Joyce became a rag rug instructor! Joyce studied other techniques and attended workshops herself by an accomplished rugger in Reeth, Heather Richie and in all developed approximately ten different techniques.

Joyce has used natural dying methods such as using daffodil heads, onion skin and red cabbage to plain woollen blankets and only ever uses pure wool out of choice for natural authenticity and its hard wearing nature without attracting the dirt as man made fibres tend to do.

Joyce was kind enough to show me all her frames, tools, yarns and fabrics and explain the main processes of hooky and proddy rugging giving me her workshop handouts to enable me to learn the techniques. 

Tools of the trade!

Interviews with Bentham Crafters

Bentham Crafters

Meet every Tuesday 10am-12noon

Bentham Town Hall

The Bentham Crafters are a group of keen Makers that have extended out of the Women’s Institute to meet to create in many different ways. The group were immensely warm and welcoming and hugely willing to show me their pieces and talk about their work. It was really a great shame that I was not able to spend more time with the ladies as I often had to rush off to work or was unable to join them. They have so much expertise between them. The group gives them real focus to produce, is a sociable and skill sharing space.

They are involved in Knit for Peace http://knitforpeace.org.uk/about/ knitting patches from ends of balls of wool or re-wound jumpers etc to make up into blankets for elderly people’s homes or other charitable causes. As well as being a sociable and therapeutic this enables the ladies to help those in need. Anne explained to me that  Knit  for Peace are very good at communicating directly with Bentham Crafters which makes them feel close to the sources of their help and more personally involved.

My Grandma had taught me to crochet as a youngster and though I remember enjoying it I did not sustain the practice and over the years I have forgotten how to do it. Ruby very kindly took me ‘under her wing’ and got me going in the basics and also showed me how to crochet a ‘granny square’. In the true spirit of ‘make do and mend’ I began by making a dish cloth and I’m sure it will be the best one I have ever had! I am looking forward to advancing my skills!

Ruby told me of growing up as the youngest of five farmer’s daughters at Crag Hall Farm, of enjoying collecting wood with her mother and of ‘mucking in’ with tasks around the farm.

I very much enjoyed seeing the variety of work the ladies were tackling. Anne told me about her family’s ‘homemade christmas’ were every gift exchanged was homemade and as such was truly memorable and special.

Sue demonstrated making crochet icicles for Christmas tree decorations and also how to use a ‘crochet dolly’, something I loved to do as a girl.

                                                   

Interviews with Ali Clough, The Looking Well and Fran Coates

Creative Communication

In part this whole journey into my local creative community is a way of looking back in acknowledgementand homage to the manifold skills of my Mum, who died in June this year, and my Grandma. In particular my Grandma performed a huge cultural link to the pre-war cultural skills quite literally of "make do and mend." Grandma arrived, Mary Poppins-like with mending bag in tow whilst we, as a household, in the meantime, had built up a neat pile of darning, mending and altering waiting for her  arrival!Both, however were significant in terms of their creative home making skills which included rag rugging, plaiting rugs, making lampshades, draft excluders, mosaicing with broken crockery, crocheting bedspreads etc, knitting, tapestry to name but a few of the skills they would turn their hands to.



Meeting and forming creative relationships within my local rural community of High Bentham in the Yorkshire Dales I am researching and exploring the:-

* social context in which we share and communicate
* skill of makers. New skills to learn and re-interpret
* empowering nature of making
* instinct to create



Making?

Why?

* survival
* way of learning
* enjoying life
* solving problems
* Fulfilling a need
* Expression

I want to look at the distance between the maker and the user. Today fewer people know how to make things they  use, need or want. 

But are we experiencing a craft renaisssance? Growing numbers of people are increasingly interested in where their food, clothing, furniture building materials and cultural products are coming from, how they are made and by whom.....