Storytelling and Weaving the Century

Last week we were in Scotland and we went into Edinburgh for the day, we have a couple of places we always visit. One of them is the Scottish Story Telling Centre  on the Royal Mile. Its aim is to preserve and promote the spoken tradition of storytelling in Scottish culture. Incidentally the cafe serves very good food and has some lovely furniture designed by Tim Stead.

The other place is the Dovecot Studios. This year is the centenary year of  the tapestry workshop and  to celebrate the event they have an exhibition called "Weaving the Century 1912-2012". The show begins with work heavily influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Gradually you can see the scope of work broadening and the collaboration between contemporary artist and weaver developing. Artist include Elizabeth Blackadder, Peter Blake, David Hockney, Eduado Paolozzi, Edward Wadsworth, Graham Sutherland and John Bellany. An added bonus to visiting the gallery is that you can stand on a viewing floor and watch the weavers working below.

Ruth, Katherine and Magnus outside the Dovecot Studios