Weaving Out Waste (2024)
Weaving Out Waste is a free art exhibition at Southside Shopping Centre. On the upper level outside Cineworld, the exhibition is open to the public weekends and bank holidays between 10am and 4pm, Saturday 20 April to Monday 6 May 2024.
School children from 32 Wandsworth primary schools have been busy weaving a textile river with recycled materials ready for it to flow into Southside.
Workshops
Wandsworth families are invited to get creative in a series of free drop-in workshops with local artists, using recycled materials to explore the topic of textile waste.
Workshops run from 10am to 3pm. Suitable for ages 4+.
| Date | Workshop | Artist | Description |
| Saturday 20 April | TBC | Rachel Matthews | TBC |
| Sunday 21 April | A world of natural colour | Caroline Lauvetz | Learn to extract pigment from plants to colour the world around you |
| Saturday 27 April | Work and Play Scrapstore | Local artists | Create a riverscape using upcycled textiles or a CD portrait using textiles and paper |
| Sunday 28 April and Saturday 4 May | A world of natural colour | Caroline Lauvetz | Learn to extract pigment from plants to colour the world around you |
| Sunday 5 May and Monday 6 May | Riverside Creatures | Hannah Coulson | Come and create a colourful collage creature to add to our riverside scene |
About the project
Led by Royal College of Art Fashion Design graduate and artist Caroline Lauvetz, the project is inspired by Wandsworth's rich history of textile manufacturing along the Wandle River.
Training sessions for teachers
Over 30 Wandsworth primary teachers have come together and joined Caroline for a series of training sessions to learn weaving techniques to enable them to support their pupils from years 4 and 5 with creating their very own textile artworks.
Children's weaving
The children, with support from their teachers, have practiced weaving techniques on Wandsworth-sourced reclaimed fabrics to create an individual and unique piece of cloth.
Each participating pupil's upcycled, woven cloth will then be joined together to create the textile river, which will flow through the exhibition space, referencing the Wandle's historic use of textile manufacturing and the current polluted rivers worldwide.
Understanding and promoting sustainability
Through the project, pupils are learning about the life cycle of a garment to understand the environmental impact of the current industrial systems in the fashion industry, and sustainable methods of consuming and manufacturing clothing.
Weaving Out Waste is part of our work to engage with young people around climate change and make the borough more sustainable.
Weaving Out Waste is facilitated by Wandsworth Council and the Royal College of Art, supported by TRAID and White Light Ltd, and hosted by Southside Shopping Centre.
All photographs by Heather Sibly.