Create your own cloth with Rachel Doughty

In Celtic, pre-Christian history, cloths or clooties (Scots for cloth), were tied to trees as a physical representation of a prayer or a wish which was often related to health issues; physical or mental. Often these trees would be next to a sacred well and the cloths would be dipped in the water, and the clothes placed on the physical wound or across the person forehead – as the cloth rotted away, so the person was healed.

Using a variety of techniques, involving stitching, wrapping and writing, participants will make their own “clootie” based on similar representations of Rachel’s work. Their work can then be taken home and hung in a tree as a reminder that illness, in whatever form, can be healed and shall pass.

This workshop accompanies the Artist On My Street Exhibition (27 May – 11 June) at Arcadia Gallery, 32 City Arcade, Coventry CV1 3HW.
Funded by: Arts Council England & Coventry City of Culture Trus