Ditchling Museum showcases craftswomen

The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft applied for a National Lottery Project Grant to research and develop an exciting new exhibition and accompanying programme of public activities. Steph Fuller, Director, tells us more about why they applied, how they did it and what top tips she’d pass on to other museums.

Situated in the Sussex South Downs, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft focuses on the artists and craftspeople who made Ditchling a creative hub in the 20th century. The site was originally founded by sisters Hilary and Joanna Bourne in 1985 to commemorate the arts and crafts community of Ditchling, but in 2012 a £2.3 million grant from HLF and other donors paved the way for a major renovation project.

The museum is now home to a nationally important collection of artefacts made by the arts and craftspeople who lived in Ditchling, such as typographer and sculptor Eric Gill, designer of the London Underground font Edward Johnston, printer Hilary Pepler and weaver and natural dyer Ethel Mairet.

The museum team came up with the idea of presenting an exhibition called Women’s Work, examining the work of craftswomen who turned their practice’s into successful businesses between the two World Wars – focused on textiles, jewellery and ceramics.

“We knew Arts Council England was encouraging museums to apply [for National Lottery Project Grants] so we had a conversation with them about what we wanted to do and then went ahead.”

The museum’s starting point was Ethel Mairet, who revived the art of natural dyeing and weaving in the early 20th century. Mairet lived and worked in Ditchling and is a core part of the museum’s collection. The team wanted to showcase her work, alongside that of her female peers, and highlight their often-overlooked importance to the studio craft movement.

“We wanted to raise the profile of these women, and as part of this we worked with the Wikipedia Foundation to run ‘Edit-a-thons’ – training volunteers as Wikipedia editors to improve and increase the amount of content in the world’s favourite reference source. This has increased our skills internally and will have long term benefits for the museum.”

Alongside the exhibition, the team wanted to demonstrate how this historic work still inspires people today and created a linked display of work by contemporary artists and craftspeople who were trained in natural dyeing at the museum. It also hosted a weaving residency with Alice Timmis, who is working on a historic George Maxwell loom from the museum’s collection – inviting visitors to see the marker at work and learn about slow fashion and ethical production.  

“Having Alice Timmis in residence, a contemporary weaver, has really brought the exhibition to life for our visitors, showing a historic collection object in use for contemporary practice and demonstrating how traditional skills are still relevant today.”

Putting together an application also ensured that the team had “thought through the timeline and budget in detail which is really useful discipline.” It also encouraged them to interrogate the project from different perspectives, sparking new ideas for how they could add value to it.

“[We offered] free experiences for visitors with demonstrations and opportunities to ‘have a go’ at weaving, spinning and dyeing, and we did a whole school project with the local primary school engaging them with the exhibition. Visitor surveying is enabling us to understand our audiences better and will feed into future planning and programming.” 

Top tip?

“Leave yourself plenty of time, there are often little technical things which can take a bit of time to sort out – and use the [Arts Council’s] enquiries line, the people on the other end are hugely helpful in my experience.”

Thinking of applying?