A happy New Year to you! As 2010 gets underway, we bring you news and previews of the most promising exhibitions and events taking place this year. Heading the lineup is Alice Kettle’s solo show, Allegory (p20 of the magazine), which opened in November and continues its tour around the country this year. It is well worth a visit if only to marvel at how this artist continues to reinvent the medium of embroidery. Don't miss it.
For those of you who long for the warm days of summer, we recommend a visit to Puglia in southern Italy (p42) where a range of creative textile holidays is on offer. Set amidst fields of ripening olive groves, the Masseria della Zingara hosts courses by well-known textile tutors - a week of creativity under pure blue skies is guaranteed to rejuvenate the parts that a bleak winter has unfortunately reached.
Coincidentally, just as Italy produced the slow food movement, so Britain is currently witnessing a growing interest in slow textiles. The move towards hand crafting is part and parcel of a greater reaction to decades of mass produced, uniform design. However, unlike previous incarnations, makers are embracing technology as part of the design process (p16) and helping craft to shed its wholemeal image. There are several references to slow textiles throughout this issue and it's a phenomenon we will be watching with interest.
Jo Hall