We’re marking the start of the 2017 season with an exhibition by a talented textiles student from Catterick Garrison.
‘Tommy Bodkins – military materials then and now’ is the first external exhibition ever secured by a first year student from the college, and the first time the museum has co-curated with a student exhibitor.
Rachel Fraser is studying at Cleveland College of Art and Design in Hartlepool.
“We first met Rachel when she started her project; she wanted to look at the collection and our archives to help inspire her,” says museum Director, Lynda Powell. “As her work developed and she came back to see us, we realised that between us we had the makings of an exhibition which could feature rarely see textiles and fabric objects from the museum collection, as well as original work created by Rachel herself.”
The museum has changed its pricing policy for the 2017 season, with admission now securing unlimited repeat entry for 12 months. With three special exhibitions planned this year, it means visitors will get great value for money.
“The pieces in my collection are all related in some way to the museum and the army, where I’ve used jackets, weapons, badges, and the warning signs seen on the perimeter walls of the barracks themselves.
My work is either screen printed, digitally made, embroidered or a combination of the three. I wanted to look at traditional sewing and print techniques as well as using a sewing machines and software such as Photoshop and Illustrator.”
The Tommy Bodkins of the exhibition title was inspired by combining the slang name for a British soldier, with a blunt needle used to draw cord through a hem. The exhibition runs until 31 March 2017.
To find out exactly what we get up to in January, while the museum is closed – watch our film …