The Art of Dressing
Tuesday, November 8th 2022 - Sunday, January 30th 2022
Da Gadderie, Shetland Museum and Archives
An Exhibition of Illustrations of blocking boards - sock, glove, hat and jumper boards by local artist Aimee Labourne.
Aimee was invited to illustrate the blocking boards that are in the museum collections as a contribution to the Shetland Wool Week 2022 Annual. She studied these unique objects, with their interesting shapes and details. She used her observational, drawing and photographic skills to capture the unique character of each board. Aimee’s artwork is currently exhibited alongside a selection of the boards in the Briggiestanes area of the museum.
Shetlanders used boards for shaping and drying their knitted garments, and Shetland Museum has over 100 different types of dressing boards - often referred to as a brod.
Most dressing boards were home-made from materials ready to hand. Wood was in short supply, so boxes used to ship tea and other goods were cut up and re-purposed. The selection of items in this exhibition highlights the diversity of this approach, showing how pieces that have been skilfully hand-crafted. The boards were often damaged in use, this patina of use contributing to their character, with damaged boards repaired with hemp cord stitches in the spirit of ‘make do and mend’.
The combination of original artefact alongside contemporary illustration makes for an effective display with Aimee’s illustrations sensitively capturing the beauty of the blocking boards.