Fabulous Fibres exhibition featuring objects conserved by TCC students

Fabulous Fibres – an ethnobotanical exhibition at Haslemere Museum 

1 December 2009 - 9 January 2010

A fascinating range of objects that have benefited from conservation treatment by students at the Textile Conservation Centre is now on display at Haslemere Educational Museum.

2009 is both the International Year of Natural Fibres, and the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This exhibition marks both with a display of beautiful and unusual fibre artefacts – including textiles, basketry and a toothbrush - from around the world. These are drawn from the Economic Botany Collection at Kew Gardens, and highlight a wide range of fibre plants, particularly rarer plants used by indigenous cultures. This is a rare opportunity to see such diverse and historic material outside a major museum.

Forty objects have been chosen from the Kew collection, made of fibres from twenty six plant species. Many objects date back to the nineteenth century, and document indigenous cultures that are threatened or have disappeared. Some objects have benefited from conservation treatment by students at the Textile Conservation Centre and Camberwell College of Arts, and this is the first time for the public to see the results of their work. There is also an emphasis in the exhibition on connecting plant raw material to product.

Exhibits include varied footwear, a remarkable lacebark bonnet from Jamaica, textiles from India, barkcloth from the Pacific, paper from Japan, baskets from Europe, as well as artefacts from the Americas and Australia. This truly global exhibition also includes a handling table with a wide range of natural fibres and a display of novel natural fibre use, and is aimed both at families and those with a special interest in textiles or conservation.
You can find out more at:

www.kew.org/science/ecbot  and   http://www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk/exhib.html

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Haslemere Educational Museum

78 High Street  Haslemere Surrey GU27 2LA

 Opening hours:        Tuesday-Saturday 10am to 5pm

Christmas/New Year    Museum closes at 1pm on 24th and 31st Dec, and is shut on 25th-26th December and 1st January

Admission is free but donations to the museum appreciated.
 

TCC Graduate, Luba Dovgan Nurse, with an object from the exhibition