THE INNOVATION of Langholm’s creative community is to be celebrated in a new project being launched by an artistic duo.
‘Langholm Made’ is inviting local residents to share tales and memories which highlight the burgh’s artistry over the years, with a special focus on the textile manufacturing history.
Behind the initiative is filmmaker Emma Dove, from near Thornhill, and designer Deirdre Nelson from Glasgow.
Deirdre is setting out to discover how creativity has flourished locally throughout the pandemic.
She said: “People are incredibly creative. They paint, knit, embroider, make fabulous jams, soups and bread as well as upcycling, restoring, building sheds, growing food in the garden, making curtains and cushions and even doing repairs and restoration. They put something of themselves into all these things.
“These actions and activities come together to make our local cultures and I very much want celebrate all of it.”
Meanwhile, Emma is appealing for anyone with memories, stories and knowledge about the town’s textiles industry to help build up an oral history archive.
She said: “They might be former workers or their families from the town’s heyday as a hub of textile manufacturing. Or you might be someone with more recent connections, or with a particular story or knowledge of our textile heritage. Whatever it is, I’d love to hear from you.”
Langholm Made is being led by arts development organisation Upland, which will collaborate with Outpost Arts and the Langholm Initiative Textiles Eskdale Project.
Until the end of May, the team is conducting research and interviews with current and former local residents and the final project is expected to be exhibited in Langholm later this year.
Judith Johnson, Langholm Initiative’s project manager who runs Textiles Eskdale, said: “This is a super project. It’s brilliant that Deirdre is going to highlight and celebrate what people do here.
“And I’m delighted that Emma is going to be capturing people’s memories and experiences of the textiles industry. It’s something I’ve been interested in for a long time and I know there’s a huge amount out there.”
Amy Marletta, from Uplands, added: “Langholm Made is brilliant because it’s all about the town, its people and the creative and artistic things they do now or have done in the past.
“Our hobbies and pastimes are as much the essence of our lives and culture as our work. And over the past year they have become more important than ever during some very difficult times.”
