Art created by 15 members of the community depicting aspects of local life is now on permanent display in the town hall.
The Community Quilt’s patches, painstakingly embroidered over a few months, were sewn together by tutor Kiara-Isabella Mackenzie at the request of Forres Town Hall custodians Forres Area Community Trust (FACT).
The Community Quilt (left) is on display at Forres Town Hall.
Kiara explained that FACT initially reached out to the charity she works with – M:ADE (Moray Arts Development Engagement) – to ask for any artists who work in heritage who would run hand-stitching workshops in the town hall.
She said: “I proposed that we run a workshop for attendees to embroider a square each displaying a local building or landmark, then I would quilt them before gifting the quilt back.
“Fourteen women and a man embroidered at least one image, letter or number each. I also embroidered a square on which each wrote their name.”
During the initial workshop, Kiara taught basic stitches., encouraging the participants to get used to working with needle and thread. Then each chose what they wanted to embroider and set to work.
“As a mostly self-taught textile artist, I see arts and crafts differently to most,” said Kiara, “especially those taught by strict rules of perfection.
The patches before Kiara stitched them together for the quilt.
“The magic of this kind of work is in not in doing every bit as perfectly as possible – each of us has our own style which should be allowed to flourish. I didn’t over-teach the sessions as I wanted each square to authentically reflect its embroiderer.”
The group met for two hours-a-week for a month in the town hall, then the participants took their squares and materials away to continue for another month.
Once Kiara gathered the finished squares, she spent another seven hours quilting them.
The patches depict sights in Forres including the Falconer Museum, Seuno’s Stone, the floral butterfly at Grant Park, the Tolbooth and others.
Kiara said: “The participants chose their own colours and stitches before helping and discussing things with each other. I answered questions and gave suggestions but I also encouraged them to follow their own ideas of what is ‘right’.
“It’s a very simple quilt, allowing their work to shine. The quilt now hangs on a beautiful gold fitting in the town hall foyer, above the door to the lesser hall so it will be seen by anyone who enters.”
Kiara is currently working on a project called ‘I Wish Somebody Told Me’ with M:ADE, centred on experiences of menstruation, menopause and pregnancy or fertility.
She is also working with young people in Forres and is about to start researching craft heritage with the Rural Lab, part of Glasgow School of Art’s campus at the Altyre Estate.
She finished: “I hope to return to the town hall to run more community-led projects. I have a few ideas which we discussed while creating the quilt which may come to being in the future.
“I’m so proud of the participants who worked on this quilt. They did an incredible job and their hard work is evident in the beautiful embroidery.
“The workshops gave people a chance to contribute to a building that provides so much for the community, and to see something of themselves displayed.”
For more information visit https://forresarea.org/