From Fibre to Decorated Textiles in the Early North Atlantic: Making, Methods, and Meanings

From Fibre to Decorated Textiles in the Early North Atlantic: Making, Methods, Meanings (Workshop/Seminar)
Harbour Centre 1510
Organizer: Alexandra Makin (Independent Scholar)

From fibre to decorated textiles in the Early North Atlantic: making, methods, and meanings is a unique interdisciplinary and experimental session that will run throughout the IONA conference. The first slot brings together teachers, artists and researchers who make and decorate textiles using early medieval techniques. Participants will have an opportunity to take part in two 45-minute taster or show-and-tell sessions, covering skills from weaving and embroidery to making fish leather. The second and third sessions will bring together papers from practitioners, students and established scholars. Their focus is the interpretation of early medieval textiles and identity in the North Atlantic from archaeological evidence, experimental work and literary sources. A second strand will
explore how surviving practical skills can be kept alive and passed on to others. The final session will close with a round table discussion where participants are invited to contribute their insights of making through practice and research, and how these can work in tandem to influence future studies and interpretation.

Day 1 Workshops

Ann Asplund (Independent Scholar), “Tablet-Weaving”

Carol James (Independent Scholar), “Sprang”

Liselotte Öhrling (Lödöse Museum) and Anna Josefsson (Teacher & Artist), “Needle-binding”

Barbara Klessig (Humboldt State University), “Weaving with spinning and carding”

Lotta Rahme (Independent Scholar), “Fish leather – demonstration”

Day 2

Barbara Klessig, “Textile Tools from Viking Age Graves: Ritual burial items or everyday tools?”

Mary A. Valante (Appalachian State University), “Women's Work and Women's Identities in Viking- Age Ireland”

Rachel Evans (University of Leicester), “The Literary Function of Cloaks in the Íslendinga sögur”

Alexandra Makin, “Sensory Encounters with Viking Age Textiles and Textile-Making”

Day 3

Elisa Palomino (Lödöse Museum), “Preservation of Early Medieval Fish Leather Tradition through Higher Education”

Stephanie Bunn (University of St. Andrews), “Woven Communities: Scottish Vernacular Basketry”

Liselotte Öhrling & Anna Josefsson (Lödöse Museum), “Approaches to Teaching and Learning about Nalbinding in Early Medieval Lödöse, Sweden”

Liselotte Öhrling, “Early Medieval Textiles from Lödöse, Sweden”

Roundtable Discussion