Footprints of Blue – new exhibition at Devon Guild, 24.02-26.03

From empires to everyday life, Tracing the Blueprint at the Guild’s Riverside gallery follows the path of indigo-printed textiles - from the Hapsburg Empire into Hungarian village life and from Europe, via colonisation and assimilation, to Xhosa and other peoples of Southern Africa.

The show is curated by Devon Guild Member Hilary Burns, a basketmaker trained in textiles with childhood links to the Eastern Cape, and Jacqueline Sarsby, who is an anthropologist, photographer and oral historian. They will also present a fascinating talk on 15 March about the convergence of their travels and discoveries in South Africa and Hungary while in pursuit of this blue print and its history.

Using photographs, words, cloth samples and clothing, Tracing the Blueprint describes the resist printed indigo fabric of Eastern Europe, which has a fascinating social history. The exhibition shows its historic and current craft production in Hungary and how these small white on blue patterns made their way via trade, settlers and the Manchester printers to Southern Africa. It is enlightning to see the ceremonial blaudruck dresses worn by women in rural Hungary, and how shweshwe fabric is used for formal wear and as a symbol of cultural identity for Africans.

To compliment this show, a new exhibition exploring how the colour blue is used by contemporary artists opens in the main Guild gallery on 10 March. (‘BLUE’ a flow gallery touring exhibition runs til 22 April.) Visit our website for more information.

This exhibition has been kindly sponsored by THE ELMGRANT TRUST
Free, open daily 10am-5.30pm. 24 Feb. - 26 March 2012.

Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon TQ13 9AF
devonguild@crafts.org.uk

For more information visit http://www.crafts.org.uk/