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The Kathleen Whyte
Memorial Lecture 2004
Professor Anne Morrell
On Saturday 27 November 2004 members of edge
were delighted to welcome Professor
Anne Morrell as guest speaker of
the Kath Whyte Memorial Lecture, the first of what will hopefully
become an annual event. Anne Morrell
was born in India and has written
a number of texts on embroidery
techniques and held exhibitions
of her work in many countries. As
Professor and former Head of Embroidery
at the Manchester Metropolitan University,
Anne Morrell has taught for more
than 30 years and has published
extensively. Her work was most recently
seen at the 11th Triennial in Lodz
during 2004 and the New International
Quilts exhibition at The Shipley
Gallery in England.
Since 1994 she has been a Consultant at the Calico
Museum of Textiles, Sarabhai Foundation,
Ahmedabad, in India and it was the
work she does there that was the
subject of her illustrated talk.
Entitled Indian Textiles from
the Calico Museum to the Whitework
of Lucknow Anne's love and enthusiasm
for the fabulous textiles produced
all over the sub-continent was evident
with their influence and her early
life in India defining her own work.
Her examples of some of the many
techniques were exquisite and her
talk gave the audience a sense of
the place and the valuable work
that is done there. However she
also gave an idea of the ingenuity
of the people and their ability
to produce delicate and detailed
work of great finesse. Her talk
covered many techniques, mirror
making, block printing, kantha,
phulkari, badla plus many more and
Anne drew parallels with the whitework
done in parts of India and the Scottish
traditional technique known to us
all.
Kath Whyte was the influential Head of Embroidery
and Weaving at Glasgow Art School
and like Anne had an Indian childhood.
She and Anne became friendly through
their work at the two institutions
and, like Anne, she never lost her love
of India, the country of their birth,
or her commitment to the practice
of embroidery and stitched textiles.
Professor Anne Morrell's talk was
a fitting start to our Kath Whyte
Memorial Lectures.
links
Scottish
Textiles Heritage Online
Textile
Society of Hong Kong newsletter,
Sep - Oct 1996 Vol. 4 Issue 5: Calico
Museum, Ahmedabad (India)
The
Hindu Folio, June 20, 1999:
An enchanted world, by Aditi Ranjan
Read about the second Kathleen Whyte Memorial Lecture, given by Jan Miller at the edge AGM 2005, 5 November 2005 |
