In honor of Kuwait being
chosen an International Cultural Capital in 2016, the Sadu House/ Beit AlSadu
was invited to do something special to honor the occasion. Inspired by the
traditional Bedouin tent divider, we created a 12 meter long panoramic woven
wall, based on 6 themes: Sadu, Desert, Sea, Islamic, Traditional Kuwait, and
Modern Kuwait. More than 30 international artists contributed a total of 72
panels. 10 of these panels were made by students of Lesli Robertson, our
consulting textile professor from the US as part of a cultural exchange. The
techniques used to make the panels ranged from weaving to crochet, knitting,
quilting, hand and machine embroidery, needlepoint, fabric painting, macramé,
and 3-D printing. The panels were joined together to create a sculpture telling
the artists’ stories of Kuwait.
After a year of solid work on this project, we were so thrilled for the opening night to arrive! This past Monday, November 7th, we had the great pleasure to open the exhibition in the Multi-Purpose Hall at the beautiful Al Shaheed Park. The Secretary General of the
National Council of Arts and Letters, Mr. Ali Al Youha, and Ambassadors from
the US, UK, and Lebanon, in addition to close to 400 guests attended the
opening night of the Weaving Stories exhibition.
It was a great celebration of Textiles and it has inspired the public to see the beauty of a combined collection of diverse artwork. In future posts, I will talk about the wall in more depth, as well as what went into making the individual panels.
I was especially proud of my daughter (you can see her in the photo above) who was in charge of teaching weaving to the guests on our specially designed interactive community loom, that was made by my husband Emad Allaho, (@eWood_q8). She got to teach the ambassadors and their wives how to weave, and even convinced one of them to come to our Woven Paintings modern weaving workshop last night. Our goal is to get everyone in Kuwait Weaving!
It was a fabulous idea and I'm glad it all came together so well. It was nice to see Lesli again and to meet Amanda. Now put your feet up and take a break. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Tammy! I am so glad you were able to come to the exhibition! I can't wait to get back to designing!
ReplyDeleteHey Shelby, I saw you as a guest on Knitting Daily with Vickie Howell. OMG, I go to Kuwait twice a year to visit my son, daughter in law and grandson. So interested to find a yarn store in Kuwait. My kids currntly live in Sabah Al Salim. Would love to chat with you about yarn shopping in Kuwait. email me at cahibbs517@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteloved your writing style. your blog is amazing. Have been going through some of your posts, will def. recommend to others.Happy Independence Day Wishes And Images 2018
ReplyDelete