Maindee Stories
Maindee Stories The Fabric of Our Lives is my participatory textile art project which was funded by Maindee New Paths – part of the Arts Council of Wales strand ‘ Ideas, People, Place (IPP). It was awarded the Voluntary Arts Epic Award for Wales in 2018 and selected for Abergavenny Museum’s exhibition Monmouthshire Women Making Change.
Maindee Stories involved women from diverse backgrounds – Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK and Iran who are part of an interfaith group (known as ‘Coffee ‘n’ Laughs) to share the wealth of textile skills inspired by their heritage. A triptych textile work was created to embed ideas about place through storytelling and explores historical aspects of the area. It is on permanent display at Community House, Eton Road where it was designed and created.
The project began in 2015. I set up a focus group to gather participants’ interests and after a short consultation period with Aled Singleton, led 25 weekly workshops ran from April – October 2016. A celebratory event took place at Maindee Library, opened by Jessica Morden MP and John Hallam, (Programme Lead).
To inspire participants of the storytelling potential within textiles, I arranged a group visit to see Grayson Perry’s The Vanities of Small Differences at the Victoria Gallery, Bath. Participants were also inspired by visiting artist and illustrator Cath Cains. Sandra Fowler, a member of Beechwood Stitchers shared over 30 years expertise in embroidery skills inspired by Indian textiles. Their collective, creative voices created something innovative and unique.
“‘The process of the project has been great, with skills workshops and plenty of creative input from the participants. Marion has had a clear vision of what she wants but at the same time has been willing to accept lots of ideas. That must be difficult for an artist: I really admire the way she has controlled the project with such light hand and we can all be very proud of the finished article’
– Susan Lewis”
'It was a real thrill to show women from many different cultures, who had not sewn at all or not for a long time a few basic embroidery stitches and to see their enjoyment in creating their own pieces of work. The process of making the artwork was organic and true to the people who took part.'
— Sandra Fowler, participant
Streets of Maindee
The centre-piece was designed with an innovative process borrowed from Webber Design Ltd, a graphic design studio run by my husband Rhys. We digitally designed the street map of the area, and used a laser cutter to produce the design onto vinyl. It was carefully positioned onto the fabric to enable participants to follow the design in couch stitch accurately.
It was a joy to see everyone gathered around the centerpiece, sparking conversation, and being immersed within the activity.
Installation at Maindee Library
Maindee Stories is a triptych made up of 3 panels threaded onto a scaffold structure measuring 2.5m wide x 0.8m x 2.0m tall. It is currently on display at Community House, Eton Road where it was made.
It depicts aspects of Newport life, past and present.
A row of typical Newport houses (lower central panel) double up as pockets into which hand-crafted story books are inside.
'Maindee Stories' invites viewers to explore and discover its hidden stories and designs. The 2 outer panels are inspired by the Peace Garden at Community House and Indian ‘Toran’ which reveal hidden embroideries and poems.
The Maindee Stories legacy
Maindee Stories was selected for ‘Monmouthshire Women Making Change’ exhibition at Abergavenny Museum. The exhibition won the Women’s History Network Community Award in 2017.
In 2018, Maindee Stories and participants won the Voluntary Arts Epic Award for Wales and were runners up in the Diversity Award. This raised profile and recognition inspired the group’s confidence and wellbeing, attracting funding by Peoples Health Trust and new collaborations – (‘Lost Connections’ based on experiences of Lockdown with artist Naz Syed (Ziba Creative). The poetry skills of founding member Susan Lewis were uncovered during the project - she has gone on to write more poems, performing them at events such as International Women’s Day and Maindee Festival.
New members joined and have stayed – continuing their textile work in an atmosphere of sharing and equanimity. They have created textile crafts to fundraise for Alice Foundation, Light for Life and Community House, Eton Road taking part in Arts Council Wales ‘Noson Allan’ (Night Out) scheme – hosting live theatre in partnership with Fusion.
Maindee Stories led to my role as Project Co-ordinator and creative lead (2016-18) A Thousand Voices, the history and story of Community House (funded by Heritage lottery and Newport Community Endowment Fund).