Guildhouse’s Traditional Craft Skills workshop program links culturally and linguistically diverse craftspeople from emerging communities (primarily refugees) with South Australian artists and members of the broader community.
The program provides opportunities for members of emerging communities to reconnect with the crafts pertaining to their cultural heritage. Guildhouse also offered a range of professional development services to culturally and linguistically diverse craftspeople.
Each course offered participants an in-depth opportunity to learn a new skill over several weeks, in areas including basketry, rug weaving, embroidery and beading. This project was supported by Arts SA and Multicultual SA, the South Australian School of Art (University of South Australia), Glandore Community Centre (City of Marion) and the Box Factory (City of Adelaide).
2011 Workshops
Sudanese beading (5-week course)
Tutor: Rebecca Tut
Workshop participants learnt to make finely beaded objects in a traditional Sudanese style.
Middle Eastern knotted rug weaving (10-week course)
Tutor: Ahmad Javid Rashidi
Using specialised tools brought in specifically for this in-depth workshop, participants learnt to make intricate knotted rugs in the Afghan/Iranian style.
Bangladeshi (nakshi kantha) quilt embroidery (5 weeks)
Tutor: Masuma Akther
Participants learnt nakshi kantha, a traditional quilt embroidery style from rural Bangladesh.
Nigerian indigo dyeing (One-day course)
Tutor: Oluwole Oginni
This workshop exploreed traditional Nigerian resist patterning and indigo dyeing.
Colombian bark string bags (4-week course)
Tutor: Lady Narvaez Penoloza
This vibrant crochet basketry technique used string formed from the inner fibres of the Fique plant, native to South American highlands
Iranian embroidery (5-week course)
Tutor: Akhtar Esmailzadeh
This workshop explored the rich, dense embroidery of the Kerman Province in Iran.
Bosnian sock knitting (Weekend workshop)
Tutor: Razija Beganovic
In this two-day workshop, participants learnet traditional knitting techniques and structures to make Bosnian house socks.