Wow, the last few weeks have been full on and I’ve hardly had time to think, so much has happened.
I arrived back from my 11-day trip teaching in the Festival Interceltique Lorient, Brittany on Sunday night.
The first few days, in Lorient, were spent settling in and helping the talented Beth Louella, the Isle of Man resident artist, for the festival. set up her exhibition, in the Hotel Gabriel, the usual location for the Manx artist who shows their work at the festival. She’s a brilliant artist and her work is vibrant, expressive and explores her multi-cultural heritage and our beautiful island. The exhibition was well received with an amazing 4000 visitors, across the 8 days it was on display, how awesome is that?
The town was inundated with thousands of visitors and a real celebration of the 7 Celtic nations of Isle of Man, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia. I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening ceremony, where every region gave a displayed of their national costumes and played their Celtic music and dance. It was tingling stuff and what struck me was how similar the music was and how the similarities weaved itself through all of the nations.
There were stalls selling many different things from food, drink, clothes, crafts and a fair taking up one street. On every day, I’d walk past bands from every nation practicing for competitions they were competing in; it was an experience of constant noise, smells and definitely a feast for the senses. It was so hot, on the last four days with temperature reaching 41° C and with no air-conditioning or fans to be had anywhere, it was really uncomfortable. Several outdoor events had to be cancelled to prevent anyone being taken ill but there were people fainting from the heat as many of the national costumes were made up of heavy materials of many layers.
At the start, my little French was pushed to it’s limited and I was pleased I’d spent a bit of time brushing up using an app to practice. Over the 11-days, I got better and attempted more words and sentences and I was complimented on my accent but I think they were just being polite.
I was asked to teach over several day and ended up hosting 3 workshop making our native Manx Laoghtan sheep, which none of the participants had every heard of before and they loved the 4 horns and the two-tone fleeces, which I had taken out with me. I was so honoured to have been asked and loved the opportunity to go out and teach and educate about our island and some of our heritage, we even appeared on French TV and in the newspaper!
It’s such a joy to be teaching needle felting to these lovely ladies and the act of crafting can span across language barriers and bring groups of women together. It was so special that they really enjoyed it and a little part of our island will stay in France.
Alongside my workshops, ladies from Brittany, Ireland and Galicia were also hosting their own workshops showing their own national crafts of Breton embroidery, Irish white on white embroidery and Galician beadwork. It was also a privilege to see textile arts and craft from other nations. I was able to spend time looking and asking questions about the samples they had brought with them which included intricate macramé work added to shawls, beautiful embroidery from the Breton region and glorious bead trim from the Galicia; it was awesome and my passion to immerse myself and learn about them never stops.
On the days I wasn’t teaching I was able to participate in some of the other workshops and learnt some wonderful new skills that I’ve brought back to the island and will include in my own work and also pass on in my home workshops.
On the last day, I had a little taster session with the amazing Breton embroider Hélène Cario who generously passed on her knowledge and presented me with a wonderful gift of one of her glorious books, leaving me with a thirst to learn more, fingers crossed I get invited back to this great event next year.
On one of days, I joined some fellow Manxies on their stand educating and informing any passers-by about our island; I joined them with my Manx Laoghtan sheep artwork and some fleece. A lady visited the stand who loves the Isle of Man and adores Manx Loaghtans so much that she has a beautiful tattoo of one on her arms. We chatted about this glorious sheep and she was so excited when I gave her some of the fleece that she whooped so loud with delight and was shaking with excitement for a good 10mins! Now that is what I call love and it really made my day and made me laugh.
The trip was an amazing experience and I learnt so much, it went in a blink of an eye and I have come back tired but full of ideas.
Have you eve been to this wonderful festival?
