It’s the floors . . .

. . . that get me every time. 

I have been to Farfield Mill many times over the years. I have been to see exhibitions, to look round studios, to watch artists at work, to take part in workshops or just to take friends and family to look round. But it is always the old machinery and the floors that impress me. It’s the same in Salts Mill. I think, being brought up in Bradford when there were still working mills and then finding through research that I have ancestors who were deeply involved with the woollen industry at all levels, gives me an affinity with these places where there are still the memories and links with the past. 

And this is the theme of the exhibition that I went to see today: Telling a Yarn - Remember, React, Re-tell. It is a splendid exhibition of the work of a group of artists - Threadmill Textile Artists. Through their very varied work, they aimed to remember and respect the history and heritage of the local woollen trade and I think they have done this so well. In the perfect mill context, as just outside the gallery is the old machinery and the history of the mill . . . and the floors!

I loved the work of all of the artists, but I was particularly taken with the work of Jane Hadfield where she has been inspired by the essence of wool and the history of the industry. She has used old bits of machinery and pages from ledger books and combined these with knit, stitch and haberdashery. The first extra is her main work, then there is a page from her sketch book and lastly there is the small piece of hers that I bought . . . because I love it.