Call to local people involved in traditional trades

Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service new project working with contemporary artist Hannah Leighton-Boyce linked to its historic hand-tool collection

Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service has launched a new project working with contemporary artist Hannah Leighton-Boyce linked to its historic hand-tool collection.

Titled ‘Instruments of Industry’, the project will see Hannah create new artwork based on her research into the hand-tools and importantly, the stories of local people who worked in the trades they relate to, such as spinning wool and cotton; making clogs, basketry, bricks, coopering, wheelwrighting.

These tools or ‘instruments of industry’, which embody memories of their former activity, now lie in quiet rows devoid of their task and the hands that worked them. Part of the research will be to learn more about the tools, how they were used, their choreography and movement and to discover whether the skilled memory of these traditional crafts are still known or practiced in the Rochdale area.

Hannah is interested in hearing the stories of people who worked as wheelwrights, in coopering, clog or shoe making, woodworking including cabinet makers and basketry, or those passed down from family members. She is also interested in talking to people who worked at Thomas Robinson and Son’s Railway Works. If you have stories relating to the trades, the site or would like to find out more about the project please email Hannah at: instrumentsofindustry@gmail.com

Plans from the work Hannah develops in response to the objects and their stories include: an event at the Arts & Heritage Resource Centre and an exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale in summer 2015.