Suffolk

pattern and textiles spotting

/ katefarley / Leave a comment

A weekend walk in the search of headspace following a busy week in academia led me to the Suffolk coast and a beautiful 13km walk, down and back, along the beach. Always with an eye on the hunt for pattern, colour and cloth I found all three, relating to the topics of my teaching. Of course I also had a handful of stones and other ‘precious’ detritus.

Having spent the week talking textiles, including pattern structures and repeating designs I was amused to connect the patterns on the beach made from the waves running back across the sand being echoed in the fishing nets on the boats higher up the beach.

I have also been discussing with the students the broad application of textiles in the everyday world around us beyond fashion and interior applications and our walk gave me good examples to illustrate my point. We use traditional textile techniques including knitting, crochet, printing or weaving, with the addition of a coating or finish to create materials for practical applications.

Summer gold

/ katefarley / Leave a comment

As the weather turns I always feel a sense of sadness for the summer that is over. The start of term arrives and soon it is coat weather, and lights on to read in the evening.

I have taken many photos over the summer, some for projects that are taking shape and some for my archive, waiting for their turn. These two photographs go rather well together to remind me of the warmth of summer and the beauty that is East Anglia.

KateFarley_summergold17_100

Top image is from inside the light house at Southwold, Suffolk, and the second one is a view across the marshes at Stiffkey in Norfolk. Each a special place in my heart.

Words of Walberswick, Suffolk

/ katefarley / Leave a comment

For some reason my first visit to Walberswick has been etched on my mind as a perfect summer holiday, long in length, filled with sunny days on the bridge crabbing, playing in the dunes, and on one day, huddling round a small, borrowed tv set to watch ‘The Royal Wedding’. This was in 1981, with memory’s thick rose-tinted spectacles on. I gather we stayed for a weekend!

Fast forward a few years and we have spent a fabulous week back in the small Suffolk, coastal village this summer, showing the next generation how to crab, and to play in the dunes, with no royal wedding to distract us.

One vivid memory I have of our 1981 visit was of the ferry, the ferryman and his dog. We were confused quite why he seemed to make heavy weather of it, not rowing straight across – which seemed sensible, but instead rowing high up stream, before steering for the jetty on the Southwold bank. It was a real delight to be back on the ferry this time, with knowledge of the tidal waters, and for the small fee of 90 pence, taken across the water. There is pleasure in this simple transaction. If there was a queue, you waited. If it was only you, and not the maximum cargo, he rowed for you. Now that is service!

Image

I doubt the signage originated from the 80s but I really liked the straight forward communications around the jetties. Around the banks of the Blyth the boats and black wooden huts featured many hand-rendered signs, some more formal than others, so I’m sharing them here, hopefully for your pleasure.

Image