Museum of North Craven Life at The Folly, Settle
Temporary Exhibition 2009: Sheep - From Lamb to Loom
Sheep: From Lamb to loom
- Paintings and drawings by Kate Lynch
- with sound installation by Alastair Goolden
This exhibition is the result of three years' field work by artist Kate Lynch
and sound designer Alastair Goolden who have travelled through the seasons with
a group of sheep farmers high on the Mendip Hills and Exmoor and down on the
Somerset flood plains and salt marshes. Their journey then continued off the
farms in Somerset and Devon as they followed the sheep to the livestock markets,
and the wool into workshops, studios and sitting-rooms. Many of the people featured
can trace their relationships with sheep back through generations and the farming
traditions, trades, skills and crafts celebrated still bear a close resemblance
to the work of their ancestors.
"This exhibition is a chronicle of our visits to just a few of many
farmers and artisans in the country whose livelihoods depend on sheep and is
a celebration of their, and our, age-old relationship with sheep".
Kate Lynch.
There is a full-colour hard-back book by Kate Lynch which accompanies the exhibition,
containing journal entries and extracts from interviews with the people.
"Sheep were always there.... In words and pictures this exhibition
brings an ancient story up to date, travelling through the seasons with sheep
farmers, evoking their lives and work, and tracing the story of the sheep and
their wool 'from lamb to loom'". Tom Mayberry, Somerset County Heritage
Officer
- Alastair Goolden has kindly provided a sample of the sound from the exhibition
which can be found at: goolden_audio.wav
(WAV file format, 20Mb, approximately 4 minutes duration, the whole track
is about an hour). The recording may be playing already in the background
when you loaded this page if your browser will allow/permit and is able. The
sound recording is © Alastair Goolden.
- Kate Lynch's website is at www.katelynch.co.uk
Paul Ashton auctions fat lambs at Highbridge Market
© Kate Lynch
Ron Fouracres rounds up sheep with his dog (Willow charcoal drawing)
© Kate Lynch
Books, postcards, and prints are for sale at the Museum.
There is also a feltwork display by Vicki Mulligan (015242 61167 http://www.nvmdigital.com/)
on the first floor in the Parkinson Room. Vicki is a textile designer and artist
from Bentham. A local spinner has also provided a display of fleece and yarn
on the top floor of the Museum.
For a review of the exhibition by the British Wool Marketing Board (http://www.britishwool.org.uk/),
please see their press release
The "Sheep - from Lamb to Loom" exhibition visits:
- The Brewhouse Gallery, Taunton, Somerset 14th March-25th April; http://www.thebrewhouse.net/
- New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, Gloucestershire 9th May - 21st June; http://www.newbreweryarts.org.uk/
- Museum of North Craven Life, Settle, .Yorkshire 27th June - 4th August;
http://www.ncbpt.org.uk/folly
- Black Swan Arts, Frome, Somerset 22nd August - 3rd October; http://www.blackswan.org.uk/
- Guildhall Heritage and Arts Centre, Dulverton, Exmoor 5th-17 October 2009.
http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/
The project has been supported by:
and galleries hosting the exhibition
Book: "Sheep: From Lamb to Loom"
- Title: "Sheep: From Lamb to Loom"
- An illustrated journey by Kate Lynch
- 40 colour and 13 black and white illustrations
- Full colour hard-back book, case-bound 96 pages
- Published 2009 Furlong Fields Publishing
- ISBN 978-0-9544394-2-2
- Signed copies £18
The paintings and drawings depict the seasonal life of shepherds in the West
Country - raddling the rams in autumn, lambing in spring, summer shearing and
the livestock market. The journey continues with visits to cheesemakers, the
wool grading depot, sheepskin tannery and the workshops of spinners, weavers
and knitters. The descriptive text includes conversations with thirty farmers
and craftspeople.
Reviews of the exhibition appear in the following magazines:
Temporary Exhibitions for other years may be found by clicking on the relevant
links below:
- 2018 (Farms,Flags,Forges; Challenge and Change; Voices from the Land; 1918:The Long Last Mile; Life and Tradition in the Yorkshire Dales)
- 2017 (200 Years of Zion Chapel; Back in Settle:Pastimes in Past Times; Settle Captured in Wool; 1917:Mud and Misery; Tom Twistleton 100)
- 2016 (1916 Chronicles of Courage; Back in Settle; Zion Chapel)
- 2015 (Burton-in-Lonsdale's Potteries; 1915: Reality Hits Home; Textil/Juvel: Swedish Craft)
Nichols; Yorkshire Archaeological Society)
- 2014 (Journeys; The Great War)
- 2013 (Victoria Cave; Judith Bromley and Robert
- 2012 (Dalesman; Sam Dalby; Victoria Cave; Jubilee, 3xNorber)
- 2011 (Challenge and Change: 350 Years in the Life of A House and its Region)
- 2010 (Malham Family of Painters, Landscapes of the Ribble)
- 2009
(Archive Alive; Sheep - Kate Lynch; Craven FA
Centenary)
- 2008 (Annie Farrer; Forest of Bowland; Horner Collection Photographs)
- 2007
(Elgar's 150th birthday; Settle College centenary; Settle Orchestra 40th anniversary)
- 2006 ('Connections: artists and writers in North Craven'; Nov/Dec: Philippa Troutman)
- 2005 ('On the Home Front: North Craven in Wartime', Stitching the Story: Art Connections)
- 2004
(A Century of Service, Education in Malhamdale)
- 2003 (Reginald Farrer, Celia King & Ruth Pavla Davey, Lillian Clark)
- 2002 (Jubilee celebrations, Settle Primary School; details unavailable for
this on this website at present)
- 2001 (Burton-in-Lonsdale Pottery, 1927 Eclipse; details unavailable for this
on this website at present)
Last modified:
Friday, 17-Jul-2009 10:17:51 BST
