Next week two celebrations will be held in Dublin’s inner city, the Age & Opportunity Bealtaine Festival and Mansion House 300th Anniversary. The Mansion House will be celebrating its 300th Anniversary since the deeds of sale was agreed on in 1715 and ladies from the south west of Dublin will be exhibiting their art at the Mansion House on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 19th and 20th.
The ladies who are based in Rialto are part of a group called ‘Stitch and Bitch’ and will present knitted, stitched, and embroidered art creations inspired by their community, city and memories from 11am to 3pm at the Dawson Street house. The group who worked on this project are called the Kitted Together Project and were assisted by Fatima Groups United artist-in-residence, Sadbh Lawlor and supported by Dublin City Council and Age & Opportunity.
“As part of the Bealtaine Festival and the celebration of the 300 year anniversary of the Mansion House, the Knitted Together Project team have a remarkable creation of their own personal Dublin in a wonderful three-dimensional form. I invite everyone to come along to the Mansion House to watch and admire the work of these talented knitters,” Christy Burke, Lord Mayor of Dublin said.
The women created textile sculptures weaved with colourful threads and wool motivated by buildings from their environments, imaginations and from their personal histories; some of these creations include a model of Blocks H and J of the old Fatima Mansions, which will invoke memories for many people who visit the exhibition.
Sadhbh Lawlor, an artist and leader of the Knitted Together Project team had this to say of the project. “Every member of the group has knit or stitched a part of a textile sculpture of the Mansion House which we will be presented to the Lord Mayor in acknowledgement of the 300 year anniversary. It will be taking centre stage in our creative, crafted cityscape. We invite you to join us at the Mansion House for knitting, art work and a cup of tea with chat.”
Knitting is an ancient way of creating clothes out of yarn or wool and was born from the idea that we need warm clothes and garments to protect us against the elements. The sock is considered to be the oldest artefact found made from knitting. Research has revealed that the technique used was multiple knots with a single needle and thread. According to historical evidence knitting started somewhere in the Middle East and the earliest relics of knitted artefacts were found in Egypt.
“We’ve been supporting Kitted Together from the beginning and we’re delighted that the rest of Dublin will now be able to enjoy this soft city that is emerging from Rialto. It’s not often that a knitting project tweaks the interest of planners, architects, historians and community activists in the way that this has, and we are delighted to showcase it as part of our Bealtaine Festival,” the Head of Arts & culture at Age & Opportunity, Ciarán McKinney said.
