Education Exhibition. Beyond the Weave: Crafting Tradition, Sparking Play
30 July – 2 August 2025
The exhibition will explore the intersection of art and craft. Each work provides a playful response to tradition through experimental making that engages the senses. Tapping into the histories of traditional crafts framed within a contemporary context, these pieces reveal a synergy between the individual and the collective.
The concept of ‘Beyond the Weave’ will be central to the exhibition, visually manifesting as a wooden pole around which visitors can strap-weave recycled fabric strips, working alone or in pairs. As the show unfolds, these strips will build into ever-growing braids, offering a living exploration of connection, materiality and communal play that mirrors the exhibition’s theme. The work playfully nods to the European maypole, where communities celebrate spring by dancing round a tall pole.
ZOUBIDA, established by Sophia Kacimi, reimagines Moroccan craftsmanship through close collaboration with local artisans. Large-format photographs documenting the creation of an embroidered chess piece will illuminate Kacimi’s process of material experimentation and collective making.
The OG Youth Collective will present a collaborative mixed-media cloth piece adorned with sculptural and textile elements. Created during drop-in sessions around a communal table, the cloth captures the flux and flow of many gatherings.
Beyond the Weave: Crafting Tradition, Sparking Play further draws on the idea of storytelling through fabrics and objects to explore oral histories and traditions. School groups working with OG Education will create a ‘listening tent’, made from hand-printed fabrics and recorded stories. The tent will form an imaginative, intimate space blending sound, textiles and personal narratives.
‘Emoji – An Ode to Moji’, created by the Coram Fields girls’ group, layers a shared canvas with paint and threaded string beneath a ceiling projection of their favourite emojis. A soundscape of voices and ambient textures accompanies the piece, expressing what the Coram Fields Youth Centre means to them.
Works on display will include a collaborative canvas by William Ellis Year 12 students with artist educator Lilo Amaral, and a printed fabric hanging made by Year 9 students from Acland Burghley School with artist educator, Kelly Franks as part of the Creative Youth Project. Investigating the relationship between materials and forms of expression, the students present pieces inspired by October Gallery artists that explore journeys and patterns in nature.
October Gallery’s Education Department aims to reflect the diversity of global and UK cultures through exhibitions and workshops with schools, families, community groups and artist educators. OG Education strives to establish a model for best practice in participatory arts and develops projects with a variety of schools and communities, offering art expertise, excellent teaching and high-quality results.
This exhibition and the work of the October Gallery Education Department are kindly supported by John Lyon’s Charity, Camden Council and St Andrew Holborn Charities.