Overview

Contemporary textile artist and researcher Linda Brassington provides an unexpected and expansive critical perspective on the practices, meanings and heritage of a global textile technique. Drawing connections across disciplines from visual arts to anthropology, Brassington provides a distinctly different alternative approach to the historical, technical and ethnographic accounts available. International case studies from traditional and contemporary artists, practitioners and performers take us through workshops, studios and dye rooms from England to Central Europe and Japan. Steeped in this practical and contextual understanding of the process, Brassington probes the visual and sensory language of her practice, the cultural anthropology of its formation, and the metaphorical and personal resonances of its materials, techniques, rhythms, and performative gestures. At the heart of her study lies a bold redefinition of intangible cultural heritage, one that recognizes artistic techniques and processes as living expressions of cultural identity and artistry. Moving beyond the transmission of skills and knowledge, her lyrical accounts reveal indigo and resist dyeing as a sensory space of lived experience alongside material, colour and cloth, and make this innovative study an essential read for scholars, students, and practitioners alike.

Full Product Details

Author:   Linda Brassington (independent artist and researcher, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Churchill Trust, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Dimensions:   Width: 15.80cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.600kg
ISBN:  

9781350423862

ISBN 10:   1350423866
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   22 January 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   To order  

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Language of Resist Dyeing Summary Introduction Farnham School of Art: a pedagogy in resist dyeing Contributions to knowledge: an international perspective The emergence of a visual and sensory language Emotive language Performative language Poetic language The space and place of resist dyeing Narrative language: emotional connections The language of intangible cultural heritage 2. Movement, Motion and Time: The Formation of Practice Summary Introduction The domestic space: routes and pathways to making From domestic workshop to professional studio Material flow: paste and wax Pattern, rhythm and repeat Rhythms of resist: ‘blueprint’ Rhythms of shibori: cultural connections Rhythms of Mashiko: a personal narrative Movement, motion and time in practice 3. Process as Performance: Repetition, Ritual, Gesture Summary Introduction Resist dyeing as bodily action Observers of material flow Chiyoko Tanaka Performativity as material transformation The subliming vessel Performativity as physical and emotional experience Space Shifters Performativity in practice 4. Material as Metaphor: Colour as Stuff Summary Introduction Indigo as substance Indigo as pigment Colour as stuff Indigo: burnishing and polishing Vantablack Minerals and matter as ‘place’ Mud: the passage of time Colour as stuff in practice 5. Theatres of Making: Space and Place Summary Introduction Sites of practice: Kyoto Sites of practice: Steinberg Mashiko: Higeta Aizome Kobo Tokyo: Edo Komon Pu´chov: the Trnka workshop Hranovnica: a hiatus in time New technologies, new interpretations Homme Plisse´ Issey Miyake Arimatsu: the Harisho workshop Memories of place Space and place: practice in transition 6. The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Resist Dyeing Summary Introduction ‘Blueprint’: a hybrid of heritage The role of contemporary practice Signs of the past, signposts to the future Poetic language in dye and cloth Reiko Sudo: in search of ton-byan The personification of intangible cultural heritage Networks and meshworks Creative agency through practice Conclusion Performance and performativity Metaphorical interpretation The relationship between theory and practice Towards a new definition for intangible cultural heritage Future Research Bibliography Index

Reviews

Author Information

Linda Brassington, PhD, is an independent artist and researcher, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Churchill Trust. She has an extensive career as a practitioner and educator in printed and dyed textiles, primarily as former Senior Lecturer at UCA Farnham, UK. Her work has received awards from the British Council, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Pasold Research Fund, Society of Dyers and Colourists and the Dyers Company, and has contributed to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

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