When I submitted a paper to Extreme Making – the Glasgow hub of the
five day European Academy of Design Conference 2023 (EAD 2023), one of my reviewers thought it was an exhibition submission. The work was accepted, and I was able to exhibit the 171 snowdrops by the 42 stitchers in the Reid Building, Glasgow School of Art for the exhibition running alongside the conference. This meant I went up one week earlier to set up before the October 14th opening, and then the next week to attend the conference and deinstall the work. It was fabulous to both show the snowdrops in such a lovely gallery, alongside other researchers
work and experience all the care and attention of the dedicated exhibition
team.
When I returned the following week and popped my head in before the
conference to check the work, I was surprised to feel a little jolt as I saw
the work, I was so familiar with, in a new way. A colleague David, on the opposite wall had music as part of his installation (Debussy Arabesque No1) and this gentle music and his grid presentation matched the aesthetics of the snowdrops. I wrote about and investigated music and textiles for my masters, so this curatorial combination was particularly pleasing.
On returning home with the snowdrops, I sorted them into packets and am in the process of retuning them to their stitchers. We had thought to have a
charity auction, but as I am very busy with my two case study projects of rural place, I decided to return them all so the stitches can decide their future.
The gallery team have had photographs taken for their archive and have said they will send me some images. To have the snowdrops documented in the GSA archive is truly a wonderful final ending to the Lugg Embroideries project!
The Lugg Embroideries 