Stitching Workshop and Exhibition
As part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll
Sunday 21 September 2025
Stitching workshop: 10:30am-1pm.
Exhibition: 10:30am - 4pm.
At Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds, Oban PA34 5TT
*Booking essential for stitching workshop, only 15 spaces. Free to attend (with funding support from Oban Common Good Fund).
Based on artistic research focusing on the natural dye and textile collections of Hope MacDougall at Dunollie Castle, Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray and curator Naoko Mabon will lead this stitching session. Drawing inspiration from an embroidered indigo-coloured working smock from the historic Collection, participants are invited to make stitchings on upcycled fabric.
While stitching, we will informally chat over tea & scones about textile in wider contexts, such as: traditional gender-biased views of people in textile production and their work; how marginalised groups and individuals have used textiles as a tool of empowerment; more environmentally and ethically conscious practices in textile such as upcycling and zero-waste; and so on. This hopefully surfaces personal memories and tangled histories linking the past, present and beyond.
The exhibition showcases naturally dyed samples resulting from recent research on historic dye ‘recipes’ in the Dunollie archive, using local plants.
Resulting stitched pieces from the workshop alongside inspirational textile pieces from Hope MacDougall Collection will be exhibited at a later date (TBA).
Please bring a piece of used denim (approximately 12x8 inches, or 30x20cm).
Embroidery materials such as needles and threads, as well as refreshments will be provided.
This workshop is supported by the Oban Common Good Fund.
About the project:
Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll aims to bring fresh life to historic archives through artistic research focusing on the natural dye and textile collections of Hope MacDougall at Dunollie Castle in Oban. It is an international collaboration between Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray, Irish artist Lyndsey McDougall, and Oban-based Japanese curator Naoko Mabon. The project is a part of the 2025 season of EcoCreative Cluster, a project focusing on natural dyes, pigments and the use of natural materials in art and craft, which was initiated in 2021 by The Rockfield Centre in Oban with Deborah and Naoko as co-leads. It brings full-circle the Oban-Ireland exchange they initiated in 2024 titled Nettle Circle (International), which involved visit to Ireland by Deborah and Naoko and exchange of naturally dyed or locally woven materials to make embroidery with participants in Ireland and Oban and sharing of skills/stories of two different yet deeply connected locations.