Working with a super group of women today at DASH (The Hive) as part of Shropshire Women’s response to the Processions project. Having done a brief recap, for the benefit of new group members, we got stuck in and the project became real as we cut into the green felt fabric which will represent our Shropshire hills and which will be the central panel of the banner. To get to that stage a to scale paper pattern was made which was good for visual thinkers like myself as the theoretical measurements became real spaces. It’s going to be a big banner !
Throughout the session we were adding to our list of women of Shropshire whose names, achievements/role/jobs/location we want to include in our design. Each group member has taken a ‘hill’ home and has been randomly allocated a name/names of women who they will incorporate into their hill in whatever fashion they choose to use. This means that as part of the making process we are researching women and sharing their stories with one another. We are including historical and current women and are asking all people to please send in names to the project so that we have a really diverse group of women included in our banner.
It was interesting to see people naturally ‘falling’ into roles that played to their strengths without any formal allocation – women working together with a common goal. I think all of us felt a sense of importance and pride in creating this banner and including women who have contributed/contribute to our county. Many thanks to Genevieve Tudor from Radio Shropshire came along to interview us and listen in on our thoughts and ideas and will be getting our voices out there and promoting our project.
The project goes out to Quatt next week (Wednesday 14th March – 11-2.00pm) where we will be working on the surrounding section for the central panel. This will be made up of individual squares of fabric and I look forward to the discussions with that group about how we want to design this area and what we want to say.
Finally we want to invite women across Shropshire to make an individual fabric strip that will be made into a long fabric chain – symbolising the bonds and unity of Shropshire women across our large and diverse county. It is hoped that those who couldn’t get to the workshops will feel they can contribute to the project by doing this. We are asking for a strip of fabric measuring approx 3 inches by 10 inches (when completed) be sent to us at DASH – The Hive, 5 Belmont, Shrewsbury SY1 1TE with where you live and a word/words about being a woman today in Shropshire – you may want to include your role/occupation. If the fabric you use is flimsy or frays a lot you may want to double in by folding a larger piece in half and sticking/hemming together)
The Banners Processions on June 10th that are taking place throughout the country commemorating/celebrating #100years is really going to be a historic and proud moment for many of us as Shropshire Women proclaim – WE ARE HERE !
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