International Exhibit Comes to Rhode Island
Slater Mill and Community Guild Studios partners with Rowan Yarns to bring world renowned exhibit to Rhode Island. Rowan is known as the U.K.’s leading premium yarn company. This Exhibition showcases vintage designer garments tracing three decades of design in the hand knitting industry. This touring exhibition has already appeared in several European countries as well as Australia.
The Exhibition features a selection of iconic designs and profiles the key designers who have helped create the individuality that is the Rowan brand, designers like Kaffe Fassett, Kim Hargreaves, Annabel Fox, Louisa Harding, Jean Moss, Brandon Mably, Marion Foale, Erika Knight, Sarah Dallas, Sasha Kagan, Martin Storey and Marie Wallin. The exhibit showcases a wide range of garment styles for women and men: cardigans, jackets, sweaters, coats, dresses, vests and shawls. The work involved in the exhibit garments is evident. An outstanding knitted garment on view in the show will be Kaffe Fassett’s Long Leaf Coat with some knit rows requiring over 30 color changes. This amazing coat is made from over 70,000 stitches and is a testament to what hand knitters can achieve. In all the exhibit’s thirty-three garments span the years from 1983 to 2008.
Rowan Yarns started in 1978 as Rowan Weaver's in Yorkshire, England. A small company that produced hand woven rugs and weaving kits for the hobby market. In the 80's there was a boom in British knitwear and Rowan realized that their DK yarns and huge palette of 96 colors was perfect for the hand knitter. Their first major success came in 1983 when the Super Triangles Jacket designed by Kaffe Fassett was featured on the cover of a British magazine. They expected to sell 400 kits, but ended up selling a staggering 7000. And thus, Rowan Weaver's became Rowan Yarns and the rest is history.
A National Historic Landmark and Rhode Island Icon, Slater Mill has established the Community Guild Studios (CGS), the first fiber arts center in Rhode Island. Through the CGS, Slater Mill provides quality education in a range of craft media for youth and adult learners through workshops and ongoing classes including spinning, weaving, chair caning, and quilting.
The opening reception will be held at the Slater Mill Gallery on Thursday, May 6, 2010 from 5:30-7PM. The gallery is located in the Visitor Center at 175 Main Street, downtown Pawtucket across from Slater Mill. Guests are invited to wear or bring garments that they have knit from Rowan patterns.
For information, contact Bernadette Vaughan, Coordinator, Community Guild Studios at Bernadette@slatermill.org.