‘On the Map’ is an international touring exhibition of contemporary felt using local fleece by members of the International Feltmakers Association.  The exhibition is reviewed for craftscotland by Tina Rose.

The storytelling yurt stands magnificently at the heart of this exhibition which contains as many ideas and stories as you would be likely to hear if you entered the tent. 

The show features work by feltmakers from 12 countries across the world all inspired by different traditions, fleeces and techniques.  Each of the feltmakers used wool from different sheep and in many cases this not only inspired but also asserted its own dominance, as shown in ‘A Life of its Own’ by Trish Coady Clements from England, where the unruly Gotland fleece controlled the texture of the wall hanging, and led to the title.

A torso created in one piece from natural black wool by Merja Markkula of Finland floats in the air beside dappled snowflakes by Christina Zofall-Wilson from France.

The A-Z of London was the spring board for ‘..a river runs through…’ by Region 4, a group of 12 feltmakers who each created a strip expressing the history, geography and cultural landmarks within a section of the map using wool sourced from local city farms. 

Scottish feltmaking is well represented.  There are two atmospheric pieces inspired by cave paintings in Blue Texel wool by Jennifer Alexander.  Ann Ross expresses her return to using local fleece and her reaction to the physicality of her surroundings in a wall hanging in Jacobs fleece using natural dyes – bog myrtle, brambles, lichen, rhubarb root and onion skins.

The sheep once again make their presence known in ‘North Ronaldsy’ by Christina Sargent from Orkney.  On close inspection the abstract shapes in her wall hanging transform into animals leaping and cavorting around.  The fleece used is from Shetland/Blue faced Leicester sheep and she has perfectly captured their ‘manic, individual natures’ which was her inspiration.

‘Bhlaranridge’ by Jenny Mackay is a series of four hanging panels expressing her 40 years of involvement with North Country Cheviot fleeces.  It begins with a blanket produced by a local mill from fleeces from the croft where her husband was brought up, through her own first steps in feltmaking to the way she is using fleece today – thin and combined with other fibres.  On the floor below there is a panel with piles of fleece on it giving the impression that elements of these delicate cream panels are dripping onto the stone.

But the exhibition is not all hanging on the walls. There is the quirky ‘Valenki for a Holiday’ footwear by Alexanda Pilin in Russia, an ostrich egg nestling a fluffy nest by Inge Evers of the Netherlands and ‘Topiary Series’, a little forest of brightly coloured rings in bright blues, pinks and yellows with coloured beads by American Candie Cooper to inspire the wearer to dream of fantasy gardens.

‘I made my Song a Coat’ by Sharon Williams takes the 18th century Welsh practice of ‘woolgathering’, where women would comb the hedgerows for wool, and reverses it in a contemporary manner by creating textured wool shawls with little bits of barbed wire caught in them.

Another maker taking the past as inspiration is Yuli Somme from England.  In the 17th century the dead were buried in woollen shrouds in an effort to boost the declining wool industry.  Most communities had one coffin that was used as a conveyance and the body itself was buried in a woollen shroud.  Her piece ‘Burial Shroud’ is made from a mixture of Dartmoor long wool and a ‘mule’ cross breed from near her Dartmoor home and combined with textile fragments gathered over her own lifetime.  This ecological concept is being explored by her along with Anne Belgrave and they encourage us to think of them as a kind of ‘travelling rug’ or ‘security blanket’ particular to its owner keeping us warm as wool has done for centuries.

The storytelling yurt at the centre of the exhibition was made to mark the millennium by feltmakers and children from across Scotland, a Scottish answer to the Millennium Dome, and has an environmental theme with a river running through all the pieces.  It is a wild explosion of images with little and large creatures of all sizes running or swimming across the landscape.  Since its creation it has travelled widely giving hours of enjoyment and inspiration to children as they hear stories in this wonderfully creative environment.

The final element of the exhibition is a film by Jeannette Sendler and Eveline Nicolette made last year during a visit to Mongolia by a group of Scottish feltmakers which explains the techniques and traditions of making a yurt. 

The exhibition is both a celebration of the versatility of wool and the imagination and skill of the feltmakers.

‘On the Map’ is on in the Exhibition Hall at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh from 2 November until 22 January 2006.  Opening hours 10.00am to 3.30pm.  Admission free.

There is a smaller exhibition of similar work by the five Scottish feltmakers in this exhibition at the Bonhoga Gallery, Weisdale Mill, Shetland from 7 to 29 January 2006.

‘On the Map’ visits the Costume Museum, Terrassa, nr Barcelona from 2 February to 30 April 2006 and will travel to Cutigliano in Italy in May (dates to be confirmed).