Central West Integration Network
A thread is a journey
The Glasgow School of Art and Central and West Integration Network 2021 www.gsa.ac.uk www.cwin.org.uk Edition of 100 Prnted on recycled paper Photography: Participants, Christopher McEvoy and Harriet Simms Design: christine-jones.com
Introduction Central and West Integration Network (CWIN) and The Glasgow School of Art partnered on a 10-week creative project with the aim of supporting refugees and asylum seekers to explore and learn skills in textiles, fabric and patterns, as well as making new connections during the pandemic. The group was made up of 15 people coming from over 10 countries including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Zimbabwe, Libya and Pakistan. Working with designer and weaver Christopher McEvoy, the group learnt skills in creating different textiles, printing, weaving and embroidery. Inspired by each others’ cultures, the group developed their own fabric designs, co-created a group banner and developed a CWIN tartan. The co-designed banner is made up of squares designed and decorated by our participants, reflecting their home countries and their relationship to Glasgow.
delivered to their homes for the upcoming session. It has been great to see how well the group took to learning virtually and also the new connections that were made through the 10 weeks. This booklet showcases the fantastic artwork created by the group each week as well as the final outputs of the group banner and CWIN tartan. We would like to say a big thank you to Florence, Firdaus and Christopher for partnering with us on this project and to all the participants for your energy and creativity! Harriet Simms GSA Community Engagement Jenny Brownrigg GSA Exhibitions
Due to Covid restrictions all the sessions were held remotely over Zoom which has brought both interesting challenges and fun experiences. Each week the group collected or had materials
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About CWIN and GSA partnership Central and West Integration Network is a charity and a voluntary network of groups and individuals, established in 2009. We aim to support asylum seekers and refugees, migrant workers and black and minority ethnic people, and work with all communities to promote integration, in the City Centre and West End of Glasgow, across the city and beyond. Many of our activities take place in the Garnethill Multicultural Community Centre, others in Townhead Village Hall, Whiteinch Neighbourhood Centre and other venues. CWIN and GSA Community Engagement have collaborated for the past three years on a series of creative projects including holiday programmes for children and adult workshops. Using the experience of CWIN supporting asylum seekers and refugees and the experience of the GSA with creative learning, our projects aim to develop skills and provide positive opportunities for creativity and play.
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“This project has enabled CWIN to continue to empower asylum seekers and refugees and BME community. Participants on the project were able to gain valuable skills in the process of designing textiles including painting, printing, sewing, weaving and embroidery. The participants were asking for more of these types of activities for the future.” Florence Dioka Development Manager at CWIN
GSA graduate Christopher McEvoy founded his woven studio in 2017 after graduating from the Royal College of Art, London. Being a born and bred Glaswegian, with the backing of Deutsche Bank’s DBACE award he returned to the city and opened “McEvoy Textiles”, becoming the first hand-weaving mill in the city for over a century. Being based in Scotland was always important to Christopher as his heritage and cultural identity has often informed much of his work. A firm believer in the beauty and breadth of Scottish textiles, the studio has made these techniques central to its collections which have been sold all over the world. christophermcevoy.com
Photo: VEVAR
Christopher McEvoy
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Week 1 _ _ _ Colour Theory
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Dorcas
Paul
Geetha
For the first workshop with Christopher, the group learnt about colour theory and colour mixing using watercolours. This led to discussions around colours of each person’s home and country, exploring what kind of palettes these contexts and places would create.
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Antoinette
Week 2 _ _ _ Drawing Exercise
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Valerie
Sara
Geetha
In week two the group had fun experimenting with drawing. Everyone drew with opposite hands, with eyes closed and portraits using different types of mark making. The group then starting drawing traditional clothing from both their home countries and in Scotland.
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Paul
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Attending the course gave me the opportunity to learn more about mixing primary colours to get secondary colours. I learnt using both hands to draw perfectly well. Also, I learnt how to draw and designs on cloth and making stitches and great patterns. Special thanks to the entire CWIN and our art teacher. It’s great to be part of this project. Olusola
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Geetha
Week 3 _ _ _ Embroidery
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Syeda
Geetha
Aman
Christopher shared embroidery techniques with the group and they played around with different designs and patterns. It was a quiet session as everyone was focusing on their needlework, but great to have some time to relax together over a creative activity.
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Valerie
Week 4 _ _ _ Weaving
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Dorcas Evoque
Mary Onerious
Valerie
In the fourth week the group learnt about weaving techniques using a cardboard loom. They tried out making tassels and fringing, combining different colours of thread. Now halfway through the project, the group focused on discussing the final outputs of the project.
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Geetha
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A friend helped me to access this wonderful group. I enjoyed a lot with them and learned a lot of things, the most important of which was embroidery. This was something new to me and I enjoyed it a lot. Yamamah
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Yamamah
Week 5 _ _ _ Fabric Printing
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Syeda
Esther
Zainab
This week the group printed and painted fabrics using foam sheets and embroidery hoops with acrylic paint. Christopher showed everyone how to create repeat patterns using different processes and the group experimented with layering colours and using cut outs.
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Paul
Week 6 _ _ _ Tartan
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Mary
Valerie
Geetha
The sixth session focused on tartan, with Christopher sharing the history of the fabric and how it is designed and made. The group created their own designs using the base tartan pattern and watercolours. Their designs used colour palettes inspired by the first week and it was fantastic to see the unique and colourful designs created!
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Yamamah
Paul
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I learned to draw with different techniques on paper and fabric. I learned how to make fabrics that I can use my imagination from and create a custom design. Paul
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Week 7 & 8 _ _ _ Panel Designs
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Evoque
Esther
Valerie
The last two weeks were focused on creating the final group artwork of the project, a cocreated banner. Each participant designed and decorated two panels of fabric using the new textile skills they had learnt over the past six weeks. One of the panels based around each person’s home country and the other on their experiences of Scotland and Glasgow. The panels were then sewn together by Christopher to create one large banner to be exhibited in the final week of the project. Each participant brought their own style to the panels and created something personal to include on the banner.
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Syeda
Exhibition & Group Banner This project concluded with an exhibition of the group banner outside the Garnethill Multicultural Centre as part of Refugee Festival Scotland in June 2021. Alongside the banner Christopher led some weaving on the railings outside the building with visitors able to create their own designs. It was the first opportunity to meet the group in person as we had only met virtually over Zoom and a fantastic way to celebrate their beautiful artwork and this project.
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Tartan Design & Fabric Christopher worked with the CWIN team and project group to develop a CWIN tartan as part of the project, inspired by the colours used during the tartan workshop and participants’ colour palettes. He has woven a sample of the tartan and the design will be registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans as CWIN’s official tartan. Alongside this, we have also printed two fabric designs with the Centre for Advanced Textiles at the GSA which CWIN will be using for their social enterprise initiative.
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Syeda
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Every week new skill, very nice. Thank you very much for teaching us and supporting us we appreciate that. Eyerusalem
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Eyerusalem
Printed on Arcoprint
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