My timeline – to give some context

I know everyone involved in this stuff will have their own story of the time.  I’d like to collect them all eventually. This is a very potted version of the beginning of mine to get us started.
At the very beginning of the 1980s the craft fair movement started to flourish in Edinburgh. All sorts of interesting networks were formed through meetings at fairs. I met Jay Kirkland at one in December 1981 and Fawns Reid at another in summer of 1982. Jay and I spent most of a Sunday freezing in a church hall not selling much but chatting a lot. My personal life took a bad turn around that time and I didn’t have the chance to keep in touch. Fawns and I readily took to each others work and by that time I was being more sociable. She told me about an exhibition called Art on the Dole where the only conditions of inclusion were to be on the dole (social security) and not to have been to art college. Fawns was already exhibiting work and took me along. The organiser turned out to be none other than Jay Kirkland. It seemed we were all working towards similar goals via different paths – I think we probably still are!

Within a year of all this, Jay started a community business, The Ivy League with Sandra Whitlie and Liz Irvine and Fawns started her shop Cento. I joined the Enterprise Allowance Scheme as a craftworker and was contributing work to both and informally helping out as well.  Lots of budding designers and craftworkers contributed work to both these shops.  In the fullness of time I’ll post photos of those in my collection.  Please post your comments and/or contact me if you have anything you’d like to add to these pages.

The original Ivy League is shown in earlier posts. I haven’t any photos of Cento worth posting but I have got this one of Fawns from that time.

This was taken by Fiona McPherson and was part of her coverage of a show we had during the Dance Umberella season that year. Anyone reading this with more info or pictures please comment or email.

A couple of years later things had changed again but that’s another post for another day.

Inside the Ivy League

Here’s a picture of me inside the Ivy League, Niddry Street, in, I think, 1984 just before the shop moved to West Nicolson Street. It was taken by Jon Pinsky who lived in the same flat as me at the time. I have a few others from the set which I’ll scan and post later. In the background of the photo there are trousers hanging up as part of the window display – I think they might have been made by Sandra Whitlie. Sandra are you out there? – please confirm.