Folk Art

Barber Swindells (Claire Barber and Steve Swindells collaboration) present a prototype sleeping bag liner and pouch as a gift for people without a home in Bradford. We recently became aware of a project to recycle discarded sleeping bags, left over from music festivals. The sleeping bags are recycled and given to people that have no home; the project is critical during the winter months. In such problematic and sensitive circumstances we became interested in how we could recycle textiles to make sleeping bag liners as a special crafted 'gift', to provide dignity and warmth through trapped air. Each liner is ironed and folded in a unique way, speaking of individuality. We take the word 'folk art', (sometimes referred to as peoples art, or working class art) and reverse and overlay it upon itself; embroidered onto the liners pouch. The mirroring of 'folk art' and the image of the ancient earth-work of the 'Long Man of Wilmington' captures our thinking; it intimates the body in a secure frame, possibly at rest and hopefully in peace. We are also interested in developing the idea further to increased production levels; textile art being flexible and open to new possibilities to enter someone's life in a direct way.