Weaving Workshop with Christabel Balfour

To coincide with the opening of Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art in the Art Gallery, Christabel will be leading a series of tapestry weaving workshops inspired by the Barbican. These four-hour classes cover the basics of hand-weaving before building up to more advanced techniques. Participants will learn how to set up and warp their looms, create a fringe for their wall-hanging, and start weaving. They will then move on to building shapes, blending colours and creating texture with soumak and rya knotting.

Throughout the class participants will be encouraged to draw on the Barbican itself for inspiration, from the texture of the concrete, the geometric motifs of the architecture and even the light, sound and qualities of the space around them.