TALES provides space for lengthy pieces which elaborate IMAGINATIVE ACTION
THE RED THREAD PROJECT
Sladebank Woods Open Day, the beginning of the Red Thread installation project
Warm womb of a place
Red tapestries hung richly
in a forest green
Red Thread stitches
The Red Thread Project is a stitching together of many women and girls voices and stories who have spent time on the land at Sladebank Woods, Stroud.
Red Thread stitches help
stories of all kinds to warm
us through winter nights
It began for me as a practical task to insulate the roundhouse when I was donated a huge bale of many pieces of woolen felt. The idea was daunting to tackle alone.
Patricia Brien and daughter stitching in the woods
When Patricia Brien (see her website Liminessence for latest projects) approached me in the summer of 2017 to work on a project with the Red Hearth community for her PhD focusing on Stroud ‘scarlet’ textiles, I suggested the woollen panels and the Red Thread Project was conceived. It started on the Sladebank Woods Open Day in October.
From the sheep came fleece
Factory felted scarlet
Warming the house round
Embroidered panels
Woven to the land
Red Threads trail through the tall trees
Weaving in and out
Red Thread stitches
Practical, tactile
Red Threads connected village
touching dear hearts deep
We estimate that 40 women and girls have participated, in total 5 beautiful and lush hangings have been created. The panels have been mainly stitched together at Atelier Stroud on Monday evenings during the winter months by Patricia and myself.
Kesty stitching panels together
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed.
Leonie stitching her story
The Red Hearth well wrapped
round in red threads gathered in
Sister’s stories heard.
Women with their wool and red thread story panels
Spinning together
yarns, their fingers threaded red
wild stories are told
I am grateful too for the reflective process of sewing, sparking my imagination over the winter months. It has coincided with a sense of completion, of the end of a phase in the life of the Red Hearth House for me. My imagination so sparked that I wrote 14 Haikus about the Red Hearth and Red Thread. I now begin a new phase in my own personal journey.
Felt on felt, a pelt
Wool wrapped around with foot prints
Wild red running through
Red Thread stitching
By a hot hearth fire
the Red Threads were woven through
O women’s wise blood.
The stitching begins in the Red Hearth House
Like cave paintings red
ochre face painted warrior
women create art
Red Hearth House set in woodland, Stroud
Their precious dwelling
Cocooned in wool hung there rich
as any tapestry
The beginning of the Red Thread Project
The hearts embroidered
industriously they weaved
their piece to the whole
First panel completed
The panels were part of a Woman’s Day Celebration and exhibition at Lansdown Hall in Stroud in March 2018.
Red embellishments
the women dressed with beauty
their sacred temple
Women’s Circle
The Moon waxed and waned.
Winter days spent sewing red
til brighter days shone
Wool Panels hung in Roundhouse
ALSO TO READ MORE ABOUT –
Ten years ago Kesty founded the Red Hearth House, a retreat for women and girls each summer. Many local women were deeply nourished by the time spent in solitude, and at workshops and ceremonies that took place at the dedicated roundhouse. SEE HERE – Red Hearth House,
Kesty initiated three Girls Circles that continue to meet on the land each month. The Moon Daughters, Wolf Sisters and Storm Sisters Circles are now organised by mums. SEE HERE – Girls Circles
Kesty Jakes
March 2019