Whitby Museum is a treasure-trove of fascinating objects. It's a 'proper' museum; none of this 'interactive' stuff here! Above is a photo of a woven/knitted outfit on display, taken on a visit years ago now. It seems fitting to include it here, as I'm working on a City & Guilds qualification in creative textiles. Nothing as elaborate as this, thankfully! We're creating mostly samples. It's taking up a lot of my time though, so I expect my blogging will lessen over the term/s.
And of course, my socks knitting continues. Still not near to turning the heel, which is where I'll need some help.
There's the upcoming exhibition to prepare for too; 'Woolgathering', at Westgate Studios, in November. So I'm kept pretty busy at the moment.
I've been out tidying up some of the garden; had baked apple tonight from my apple tree. A bad harvest this year, hardly any apples; but then everywhere has had bad harvests, with the weird weather.
Sitting in my home studio over the weekend, I spotted a squirrel lolloping along the fence outside. S/he did a stop-over at my birdtable, to collect anything the birds hadn't taken. Unlike some people, I don't mind squirrels on my birdtable. I don't have gangs of them. And there's plenty of berries around at the moment for birds and squirrels alike. Good harvests there then!
At Scarborough Museum is an exhibition called 'fears, foes & faeries', which is on until the 30th September.
Anyone with any interest in folklore, and charms and amulets, would find this a fascinating looksee.
It uses the Museum's collection which came from William James Clarke, who was collecting between 1900-1945, and lived in Scarborough.
The photographs are of one of the exhibition cases in the 'Charmacy & Health' room.
Below is a close-up of 2 of the exhibits; on the left is the throat of a goose; on the right is a fabric bag, which held a charm for health.
Animal parts were used by cunning men and women, and witches, as part of healing rituals, and the philosophy of 'sympathetic magic'. To twenty-first century eyes, this can seem uncomfortable and even cruel.....the kingfisher nailed to the mast of a boat, which came from Guernsey, as recently as 1913, was one which struck me particularly. It was supposed to bring a good catch to the fishermen. And possessing a kingfisher feather was thought to bring protection from lightning.
Life was tough for ordinary people in the early years of the twentieth century, and they needed any help they could get.
More information can be found here.
'Flotsam & Jetsum'
Today I've been over to Spurn Point; where the River Humber meets the North Sea. I've not been for a few years, and it felt time to visit the sea-side again!
I went with Tracey and Charlie; we had a great walk along the beach, which blew all our cobwebs away!
The batteries had gone on my digital camera; so I dug out my 35mm compact, and took some photos using that. It felt odd how used I've become to digi-cameras when for years I used 35mm with rolls of film.....I have to get the film developed now....which is weird, because the film was half-way through. And I have NO idea what's on it!
As Tracey said, 'you'll have a lovely surprise when you get the photos back'!
We saw lots of kestrels on our way over there; and a deer was in the long grass as we drove down to the point of Spurn.
I've often seen deer when I've visited Spurn. They are such secretive creatures, it always feels special when I see them. This time was no different.
'The Larkin Trail'
You can see Alice Fox's artist-in-residence work at Spurn Point here
