Wandle Industrial Museum
As part of the Print stage of River & Cloth, we shall be bringing Merton school children from ten schools based in the East of the borough to visit Wandle Industrial Museum. The aim of the visit is to give them the opportunity to learn more about the history of printing textiles in the Wandle Valley area. Pupils will also have the opportunity to make their own block print using traditional wooden printing blocks.
Victoria & Albert Museum
In September and October 2009, River & Cloth brought over 300 school children from Merton Schools to visit the textiles collections and the Arts & Craft gallery at the V&A. The children and their teachers were taken on an informative and stimulating tour led by our very own William Morris expert, Brian Daubney. Brian explained the stories behind various textiles and objects in the collection which are relevant to our project. Such as the Ardabil Carpet, an amazing piece of craftmanship, which took ten years and many small hands to make, and which William Morris advised the Museum to purchase back in the late 19th century. The children also had the opportunity to view works created by Morris during his time at Merton Abbey. We hope to have an audio recording of Brian's commentary uploaded on to the website very soon. In the meantime, take a look in our School Visits to V&A Image Gallery to see the children's creative response when they were asked to design their own wallpaper influenced by the patterns and motifs they viewed in the V&A's collections.
Merton Abbey Mills
In April 2009 we brought ten primary schools from the East of the borough to Merton Abbey Mills to learn more about the history of the buildings there such as the Colour House Theatre and The Wheel House, and the role these played in Merton's textile industry. Pupils also had the opportunity to produce an indigo dyed design inspired by the ebb and flow of the River Wandle.
