The Ragged Line Workshop: wearing Temple.Works.Leeds on our sleeves
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20 people, 20 hours…that’s what it took to make Temple.Works.Leeds into wearable art…and more.
The Venezuelan –led workshop was based on historical and collaborative notions of production lines in keeping both with the lead artists own radical art and inspired by Temple.Works.Leeds industrial history. Working within a heady mix of Manu Chao, local oral history, post-Marxist theory, and beer. Cipriano Martinez and Augusto Villalba – assisted by Josh Field – managed to turn 17 random people into accomplished collaborative screen printers whether they had ever wielded a squeegee in anger before.
Starting points were the sights, textures and essence of Temple.Works.Leeds set within not only its own context but within Jamie Reid’s Ragged Kingdom month at TW. Formation work with Inks, stencils, collage, stitching, hanging and rehanging, ripping , swatting and sticking was all choreographed at a furious pace led by Cipriano, who managed to create his own extraordinary work at the same time, as did Augusto and Josh.
End points were a whole series of washing lines of wonderful work that not only built on Jamie Reid’s own work, but also produced huge interpretations of the site and whole new lines in wearable textiles. Well beyond the original notions of production and collaboration, the workshop sparked a movement to try for a much bigger project bringing together artists nationally to create timed collaborative work specifically at and for Temple.Works.Leeds. At the same time two other initiatives are being brought to life by workshop participants, one to create specific printed TWL merchandise for sale, the other to provide a printing workshop for local hire and educational use.
Nice to see the place being used again. I worked there for over 30 years. When the company was closing, we heard that the Temple building may be used as a museum. The building was quickly becoming an eyesore, with vandalism occuring.