Leaving, Making and Wearing: A talk by Janette Bright

This talk is part of the lecture programme accompanying ArtConTex a major textile exhibition being held at The Minories, Colchester, Essex from 2nd to 5th October 2025.

It is well known that at the London Foundling Hospital fabric and thread were used as personal identifiers or tokens. In this illustrated lecture we will learn about these but also about the importance of textiles as a form of vocational and moral education.​​

​Janette has always enjoyed being creative, but it was in the 1990s when she became seriously involved in working with textiles. She studied C&G Creative Embroidery at Chelmsford before joining the exhibiting group EAST in 2003. It was researching to exhibit with that group that led her to an interest in the London Foundling Hospital at an academic level. Now she divides her time between historical research, working at London's Foundling Museum, teaching beadwork and exhibiting with EAST