McBurney and Black
News and Events
February 14th, 2022, 6.30pm - Talk at the F E McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge
"A Tale of Designing Women - the textile design revolution of the 1950s and 60s and the women who contributed to it.'
The post war years saw many changes in the world of textile design and designers such as Lucienne Day and Jacqueline Groag were at the forefront of the profession. As well as introducing them and others and showing slides of their designs, I will also show a selection of linens from my own collection which feature their work.
The talk will start at 6.30pm on the evening of February 14th at the gallery and places can be booked by telephoning the gallery on 028 40623322. Tickets will cost £6 for Members and Students and £8 for Guests.
Cloth Cultures Podcast with Amber Butchart
As part of the British Textile Biennial 2021 fashion historian Amber Butchart has curated the Cloth Cultures exhibition and associated podcast in which she explores movement, migration and making through cloth, speaking to artists, historians, makers, and scientists to shed light on our textile history.
Focussing on four fabrics – silk, linen, wool and cotton - Amber investigates the global strands of local stories that link Lancashire, at the heart of the textile industry in Britain, to areas throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
I am delighted to have taken part in Episode 3, the first of 2 'Linen' episodes.
To listen to this fascinating series of podcasts click on the link below:
https://play.acast.com/s/cloth-cultures-with-amber-butchart/ep-3-linen-1
"A Life in Linen" - In Conversation with Irvine Devitt
I was recently asked to conduct an interview for the Belfast Community tv station NVTV. I had the opportunity to meet and chat to Irvine Devitt, a former director of William Ewart & Sons Ltd, at one time the foremost linen producer in Northern Ireland.
After studying French and German at Queen's University Belfast, Irvine joined the company as a clerical assistant in the sales department. In our conversation he describes how he was quickly thrown into the deep end of the sales industry experiencing a life of travelling the world in the 1950s and 60s.
Here is a link to the programme:
https://www.nvtv.co.uk/shows/a-life-in-linen-in-conversation-with-irvine-devitt/
