Cultures of Place

Depth/Gauge invited members of the public to participate in a drawing workshop exploring the canal space as a site of interaction. The workshop focused on the process of collecting and interpreting graphite rubbings from Huddersfield Narrow Canal.  

An important artery for the industrial development of the region, Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs between Huddersfield in West Yorkshire and Ashton under Lyne in Greater Manchester. At the turn of the 19th century the narrow canal linked the Huddersfield Broad Canal with the Ashton Canal, creating a more direct link between the industrial cities of Manchester and Leeds.  

After an introduction to the history of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, workshop participants explored the topography of the canal directly by taking graphite rubbings from the surfaces and textures of the canal. This creative exploration of the canal was accompanied by selected readings on waterways performed by Jodie Matthews, opening up new ways of relating to, or thinking about, the canal space. The rubbings were relocated to Parlour in The Piazza Shopping Centre, where they were laid out and interpreted together. These rubbings were curated into a large-scale collective and collaborative artwork displayed at Parlour over the Cultures of Place festival period. 

Research approach to place (Cultures of Making): using collaborative drawing as a methodology to uncover new ways of connecting with the local canal and waterways. 

Contributors: 

Simon Woolham is a Lecturer in Contemporary Art in the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Huddersfield.  

https://insearchoftheshortcuts.com/  

Jodie Matthews is Professor in English Literature in the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Huddersfield.  

Further information: 

The Huddersfield Canal Society was formed in 1974 by a group of enthusiasts with the ambitious aim of restoring the then derelict Huddersfield Narrow Canal to through navigation and improving the Broad Canal  

https://huddersfieldcanal.com/  

Parlour is a test space for everyone to enjoy, a place for arts and cultural conversation, connection, learning and development. Parlour is a project by Parley. https://www.byparley.co.uk/   

Further reading: 

Matthews, J. (2020). Canals in Nineteenth-Century Literary History. In D. Turner (Ed.), Transport and its Place in History: Making the Connections (Routledge Studies in Modern British History). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351186636-10  

Woolham, S. (2020) In Search of the Shortcuts: Engaging with Sites of History and Narrative. [Practice Research Folio] https://research.hud.ac.uk/media/assets/document/research/ceada/SimonWoolham-InSearchoftheShortcuts-web.pdf  

The University Colour Garden was developed by postgraduate researchers Kayleigh Davis and Elnaz Yazdani, in partnership with WOVEN in Kirklees textiles festival.  Growing Colour Together is a WOVEN project and has ambitions to create district-wide natural dye colour gardens. Davis and Yazdani have established a colour garden allotment on the University of Huddersfield campus; as a place of respite and wellbeing the University Colour Garden also offers itself up as a resource and incubator for research and practice.   

For Cultures of Place Davis and Yazdani brought examples of their work to display inside Queensgate Indoor market garden and explored different techniques of natural dyeing and embroidery with members of the community through a series of public workshops. Members of the public were introduced to textile techniques and created a sense of place through the sharing of knowledge and skills.   

Research approach to place (Cultures of Making): learning about natural dyeing and communities of practice through growing and making.  

Contributors: 

Kayleigh Davis is a natural dye textile artist and doctoral candidate in the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield. 

www.craftscouncil.org.uk/directory/ocre   

Elnaz Yazdani is an embroidery artist and educator undertaking a Masters by Research in the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield.  

https://www.elnazyazdani.com/   

Further Information:  

WOVEN in Kirklees is a biannual textiles festival that celebrates innovation in textiles across Kirklees. 

https://woveninkirklees.co.uk/   

Growing Colour Together 

https://woveninkirklees.co.uk/projects/growing-colour-together/   

Further Reading: 

Bailey, R. & Walton, N. (2022) The Big Rainbow Knit: Revisiting Craftivist Practices through Place-Based Making, TEXTILE, DOI: 10.1080/14759756.2022.2102731 

Welcome to Rat Catcher's School for Good Dogs Tennis Club by Dale Holmes was an exhibition of new works created for a solo presentation at Huddersfield Art Gallery as part of Cultures of Place. It included an editioned suite of 13 Riso prints of felt pen drawings, a site-specific painting measuring 1000cm x 300cm, rugs, a floor based sculptural drawing, tracksuits and sweatshirts, and a commissioned text from writer Jamie Sutcliffe. 

The works are discrete entry points into themes as wide ranging as psylocibin fungus, drystone walls, Folk Horror, medieval myths - The Pied Piper of Hamlyn in particular - and the graphic language of anthropomorphised animals in manuscript marginalia. The phenomenon of dance plagues across Northern Europe and a potential mythopoesis of sportswear in the contemporary streetwear cultures of Northern towns is brought together through hybridising approaches to materials, forms and making processes.  

Research approach to place (Cultures of Making): presenting different ways of understanding the rural and vernacular through new cultural formations.  

Further reading: 

Sutcliffe, J. (2022) Obscure Rodent Manifestations: On Dale Holmes https://www.daleholmes.co.uk/on-dale-holmes 

Holmes, D (2020) Material Conjectures presents Abandoned Temporary Crisis Facility [Practice Research Folio] https://research.hud.ac.uk/media/assets/document/research/ceada/DaleHolmes-MaterialConjectures-web.pdf 

Holmes, D (2020) The New Aspidistra (3,715 Minutes/1,488.94 Kilometres/39,680 Calories) [Practice Research Folio]  https://research.hud.ac.uk/media/assets/document/research/ceada/DaleHolmes-TheNewAspidistra-web.pdf