Talks/Lectures/Historical Research

Guilds

"One of the most enjoyable, informative and amusing speakers we have had in a long time was professional weaver Stacey Harvey-Brown. Stacey's enthusiasm is unbounded, her friendly, informal style kept us enthralled and the quality of her work speaks for itself. How I wish I had half her talent and dedication. She is an inspiration to us all'.
Gillie Russell-Mann - Bucks Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers

I give several talks/presentations to guilds – Weavers, Spinners & Dyers, Embroiders Guilds, WIs etc – based on my work. Here are some titles and brief descriptions.

Ever Increasing Circles - the subtle influence of designs and synchronicity. How ideas can come to you and how to take advantage of them when they do by connection with co-incidences. The talk is about moving outside your comfort zone with confidence and thinking laterally and creatively so you can do what you are dreaming of doing with your craft.

The Textural Canvas - Using examples of woven fabrics, this lecture encourages the audience to think about creating structural texture to form interesting dimensional fabric which can be an end product in its own right, or the start of further manipulation. Using examples of my work, I show how the inspiration of a textural fabric occurs to me and the stages I go through to create my version of the texture. For anyone interested in structure and fabrics that go bump, as well as those who like to mix techniques and embrace several crafts to create special effects.

Looming Life - an autobiographical lecture about how I began weaving, personal development, business development and technical development including dobby weaving and jacquard weaving, right up to my current work.

"It was our great pleasure to hear your talk...a most interesting evening. The examples of your work were not only inspiring but so beautifully executed and so original."
Margaret Hansford - Glamorgan Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers

Pictorially Speaking - this lecture shows that you can create images in your loom-controlled weaving without being a tapestry weaver. Utilising several techniques and showing examples of my work, I encourage the audience to dream of what they want to create, and then to work out a way to do it. I illustrate how you can create pictorial images on a table loom, dobby loom and jacquard loom as well as ways which don't include any sort of loom. This is based on my own work.

Hattie’s Tale - short history of jacquard development through to today’s computerised looms, plus the acquiring, moving and re-installing of my 2 ½ ton jacquard loom, my training in Italy and the new use of the loom today.

Here is what Lichfield Embroiderers said about my talk to them :

"Stacey came to address our Embroiderer's Guild in October 2005. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She is a lively, extremely knowledgable speaker who kept us spell bound with tales of her journey through weaving. I can still envisage her working and learning in Italy and then back home trying to move a huge jacquard loom into her workshop. Stacey is a talented weaver who understands not only her craft but also how to inspire an audience. What a pleasure it was to meet her."

If you would like me to talk on other topics, please contact me with your suggestions.

Fees 2008/09

£90 + 35p/mile.

Although I am happy to travel anywhere, if the distance is greater than 2 hours travel, I may ask to stay overnight. I am very happy to stay with a host family.

Lectures (University / Textile colleges)

From Archive to Contemporary Using fabric analysis to inform a modern design approach, using my own research of the Macclesfield Silk Museum's woven archive collection to show how you can take ideas from the past and use them as a starting point in developing modern, contemporary textiles. This lecture was given at the by the Textile Forum North West conference where I was one of the speakers at the Whitworth Art Gallery in March talking about the collections I have seen in France, Italy and Macclesfield, and their influence on my understanding of weaving.

Contact me to discuss dates.

Historical Research

My interest in historical textiles was awoken when I acquired my jacquard loom and whilst in Florence, Italy I had the opportunity to examine closely C15th and C16th Florentine fabrics, including velvets, brocades, and lampas fabrics at the Bargello Museum. I realised then what a wealth of design and manufacturing talent has been lost since those days and vowed to spend time on historical research into jacquard woven textile archives in the UK.

Since my return, I have developed links with Macclesfield Silk Museum, under its director Richard de Peyer, and am researching their extensive archive to ensure the skills of past designers do not get lost to posterity. I have also been asked to give two lectures in June 2008 at the Complex Weavers' Seminars, held at St Petersburg, Florida. One lecture is on jacquard weaving, historical to present day, both machinery and weaving. The other lecture is on using archive collections as inspiration for designing, and I've been researching in Lyon (France) at La Maison des Canuts, Soierie Vivante and La Musee des Tissus, at the Warner Textile Archive at Braintree, Macclesfield Silk Museum, Wigan, Bolton and Leeds (UK) and next year hope to visit Prato (Italy).