Banners/Symbolism - 5th June, 2019

Carlisle Cotton Spinner's Banner - Tullie House Museum
We shall be designing and making two banners, one for each class for display in Carlisle Library and today Jac and Katie told us about banners.

We learned that banners are a form of communication.  Whether it is today or 150 years ago, groups or organisations with a marching tradition have made banners to identify themselves and what they stand for.

Stephen White, historian from Carlisle Library had told us that before 1832 being a member of a trade society and meeting together was illegal.  Those that did - the Chartists - all had banners to identify who they were and what they stood for.  These may have started as a small wall hanging then sewn onto a bigger piece of material, then painted.  Thousands of Chartists banners were made yet none survive.

These banners can contain a lot of information and can be 'read' by historians in much the same way as documents.

We then went onto look in more detail at the banner produced by the Carlisle Association of Cotton Spinners seen above- the centre piece being originally an apron worn by a local cotton spinner who celebrated the passing of the 1832 reform act in a procession through Carlisle.

We looked in more detail at the apron on the banner and the various components thereon and what they symbolised especially.

These were covered in more detail in the session but briefly for the blog and relevant to our project, we can see a cotton tree and ship.  These relate to the trade triangle and the slave trade - Alan from the Beacon Museum had told us that this was the import of raw cotton from the slave plantations of the southern United States and the export of finished cotton around the world, in particular in Carlisle's case the export of plain dyed fabrics being sent back to the plantations and being worn by the slaves.  (Please see earlier post on the Beacon visit for more information on the slave trade).

Also there is a spinning machine,  which converted raw cotton into yarn for the hand loom weavers,
a child - a little girl - a reminder that many of the workers were children.  Her hand being held by a male figure - this gesture reflecting the hierarchical way workforce was organised, many of children being children of adult workers or even as we now know orphans.

There is also the coat of arms.  This we learned refers to the shield within the coat of arms but might also refer to the surcoat worn over armour - used to identify the wearer in battle or identify the dead on battlefields.

Symbolism again is contained within the shield and the coat of arms, for example the colours silver or white may mean peace and sincerity, blue - truth and loyalty.  Animals represented may indicate courage for example a lion.

Carlisle Coat of Arms

Katie then told us about logos and how they communicate an identity. 

She did a quiz showing us parts of well known logos and we were so quick and knew them all, Katie said she would make it a lot harder next time!



Katie then showed us examples of banners where she had worked with different groups to communicate who they were and how the message had been simplified to basic shapes and colours.

(Images to follow)

For our activity we thought about ourselves -  who we are, what we like, what is important to us .....then.......the difficult part.....show this by making simple shapes and drawings. 


There wasn't really a right or wrong way to do this - it was really just a case of putting our ideas about ourselves - our likes - food - exercise - sport - whatever in a sketch or words and there were lots of really good outcomes....and different ways we communicate our messages....who we are and what is important to us as individuals









 Great examples - communicating our message

Personal logo design

Some of the many great examples - well done everyone.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stead McAlpin, Print Works, Cummersdale

Image
Stead McAlpin, Cummersdale This week 30th January,  Ros Downing was due to visit us and give us a talk on the history of Stead McAlpin printworks in Cummersdale but unfortunately had to cancel due to illness. Although not in as much detail as Ros could have told us, we looked at the history of Stead McAlpin who have had a factory at Cummersdale since 1835 and is the only surviving print works in Carlisle and the most versatile print maker in the UK, using rotary, flatbed and digital printmaking. We talked about what life would have been like as a print worker in the 1800s.  The factory would have been unheated, the only light coming from candles stuck into blocks of wood hanging from the roof.  Many bleaching and dyeing processes involved harsh chemicals and unpleasant substances - lime and dung for instance.  Working conditions would have been harsh for unskilled workers and a long apprenticeship would have to be served to become a printer, who were the elite of the workforc
Read more

Building our banners 1 - 19th June, 2019

Image
Our two main large banners will be made up of approximately 30 printed pieces for each class and using a tessellated brick design will symbolize our journey in building our knowledge of the history of our local textile heritage. Using our notes and drawings from looking through our sketchbooks and our blog last week, we started to think about what we could include on our individual piece which was our decision. It needs to be bold, bright and striking as it will be seen from a distance   We will use a combination of techniques to achieve this. We started by adding blocks of colour - some made by printing and others by painting.  A really good print using impressed polystyrene tile We masked off areas then used fabric paint to paint blocks of bright colour. Some engraved textile inspired drawings into foam and printed onto the fabric. Over the next few weeks we shall be adding more detail.  We aim to have two or three pieces from which w
Read more

The Journey of Raw Cotton - Carlisle Ship Canal 1823 - 1853 - 22rd May, 2019

Image
Carlisle Ship Canal by local historian and author David Ramshaw  - As part of tracing the journey of raw cotton to the Mills in Carlisle we today learned how cotton made its way from the port of Whitehaven into the centre of Carlisle. Britain was developing fast - there was a high need for a cheap and reliable way to transfer raw and manufactured materials to and from the new factories and canal building was at its height.  Factories were being built in Carlisle to meet the demand replacing the hand loom weavers and more people were coming into Carlisle to work in the mills.  But Carlisle had poor transport links - goods were transported to and from Carlisle to the Solway ports by horse and cart along inadequate roads.  A river - the Eden connected Carlisle to the sea but was shallow, ships could get so far but ran aground.  The local council looked at the possibility of building a canal from the Solway coast to Newcastle - money was raised by the sale of shares and it was deci
Read more