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Is
this genuine research?November 2000
Perhaps City & Guilds tutors should think again before they recommend their students to write asking embroiderers for information. I sometimes get as many as three letters at a time from students, each with a long list of questions presumably for details not available from articles in The World of Embroidery or other magazines. While quite willing to offer reasonable help, the lists of questions often differ from each other, so an information sheet would not serve the purpose.
I know that the C&G Part 2 syllabus asks the students to research current embroiderers. Perhaps the tutors do not realise that some of the questions asked are so searching, and require such detail and thought, that answering each one of these letters would take at least a day. I am also asked for any cards or slides that I may have. These cards can often be bought from the Embroiderers' Guild bookshop, or from the embroiderer in question at an exhibition, or shows such as the Knitting & Stitching Show.
I understand how difficult it must be to find out enough about many current embroiderers, and I think it perfectly fair to be asked for a resumé or CV (with ssae enclosed) but perhaps the research should be limited to those embroiderers whose work and attitudes are known to the student already, from exhibitions, shows, books they have written and articles about them. Could this be an opportunity for the Guild to put together fact packs on leading embroiderers?
Valerie Campbell-Harding
Andover, Hants
Requests
from StudentsI wonder if I am the only person saddened by Valerie Campbell-Harding's letter (The World of Embroidery, November 2000)? I appreciate that answering letters takes time and that some people go too far but I feel that Valerie should be appreciative of the fact that students are interested in her and her work - the price of fame? What is to prevent her sending only a resumé or a CV in reply to intrusive questioning?
I personally am fortunate as, though disabled, I have a long-suffering but supporting husband and enthusiastic friends who are always willing to put themselves out and push me around exhibitions and shows. This has enabled me to complete my research from visits, articles, books, etc. There are, however, many students without recourse to such facilities as exhibitions, and shows are few and far between in some areas. Added to this the exorbitant cost of travel and the effort required for a couple of hours is often too much to overcome. I know Val herself will appreciate this.
The final comment about fact packs by the Guild really disappointed me and I felt that this would be 'passing the buck' and would also possibly lead to restrictions in both the quality and the variety of subjects for research.
Come on Val - teaching is about encouraging and not discouraging students, as well as not handing everything to them on a very neatly packed plate.
Sandra Goddard
Eckington, Sheffield
Ed. I rather think Val was trying to be helpful to students. The point she was making was that at certain times of the year, students are instructed to 'pick' an embroiderer and examine their work in detail. Quite clearly, as Val said in her letter, 'an information sheet would not serve the purpose'. You would be amazed to see the lists of detailed questions we receive. I know Val sends a CV, etc. Perhaps tutors should encourage students to be more wide-ranging in their research and, in this way, they are more likely to get an answer.
...
and ...Both ways!
Reading the letters of Valerie Campbell-Harding and Sandra Goddard I just want to add one thing. Sometimes when I really respond elaborately to questions on how I look at certain issues I ask the student to inform me about the result of her work and if my answer helped her along, but generally this question is not answered.
Why? Do tutors and students have different obligations?
Tilleke Schwarz,
The Netherlands
Requests
from studentsI can understand Val's feelings on this matter. I have been receiving a growing number of similar requests from C&G patchwork students. As they have gone to the effort to write to me in Australia, I always feel that I should make every effort to reply to them and send them as much information as possible. However, the cost of all those photocopies and postage, whilst it is individually too small for me to accept any offers for repayment of my expenses, does mount up, and the time involved in dealing with these queries would be quite intrusive for someone approached as often as I'm sure Val is.
I have found a solution to this quandary by directing students to my own website and others that contain information about or interviews with me. I tell them to seek answers to their queries from these sources, which means that they themselves are doing the research, rather than simply asking me to provide all the answers for them on a plate. I encourage them to contact me again with any further queries not answered from these sources. Whilst my site is still under development, its design has been guided largely by my desire to provide the sort of information which researchers are looking for, which makes my life easier as well as theirs.
However, when I think of the number of photocopies I still send out to supplement the information on my website, I do think there is merit in Val's suggestion of kits. What difference does it make for study purposes whether this information comes direct from the artist or from a kit available on request to those who seek it? It seems to me to be a very convenient means of disseminating the information. In fact, similar artist kits have occasionally been put together here in Australia, specifically for student research.
I do suggest to students who approach me for assistance that they might like to send me a copy of the finished project, or at least let me know how their project went, and to their credit they frequently do so.
Wendy Lugg
wendy@wendylugg.com