Warp & Weft is an arts, crafts and heritage initiative celebrating diverse lives & voices.
Jenny White is an community activist, researcher & history grad who loves celebrating all things feminist and queer. Jenny was one of nine Community Curators who created the Never Going Underground exhibition at People’s History Museum exploring the fight for LGBT+ rights. Check out Jenny’s celebration of queer suffragists Esther Roper and Eva Gore Booth and her research on Harry Stokes 1799 – 1859, a gender variant Victorian in Manchester. Jenny contributed to BBC Sounds Gaychester podcasts on Harry Stokes, and Manchester’s 1880 ‘drag’ ball.
Helen Davies is an artist and activist specialising in needlecrafts. Helen loves exploring the social history of craft and women & subverting the link between needlework and femininity. Helen has exhibited work at a number of festivals and exhibitions, including Cut Cloth: Contemporary Textiles and Feminism at the Portico. Spot Helen’s Venus of Custard in Bob & Roberta Smith’s Art Party film, and her DON’T STITCH US UP community banner at a demo near you. Helen also makes monsters & knitted necklaces, check them out on Etsy.
Email: hellowarpweft(at)gmail.com
We set up this site to promote our 2014 craftivist Stature project.
Frustrated that Manchester’s public spaces were bulging with bronzes of men with no statue celebrating the achievements of a local woman, February – March 2014 we yarnbombed man busts in Manchester Town Hall transforming them into celebrations of eight local women of achievement. Helen crocheted fabulous masks, while Jenny researched the women’s lives and got the Town Hall on side. We were chuffed when, part inspired by our installation, Councillor Andrew Simcock contacted us about plans for a statue of a woman in Manchester.
Warp & Weft 