The Forgotten Fleece Tales exhibition is a touring presentation of textile art, focusing on the theme of wool as an undervalued resource, and demonstrating the material’s beauty and versatility. Artists were asked to make pieces using “waste wool” - raw fleeces that would otherwise be consigned to the scrap heap, industrial mill waste such as selvedge and cone ends, or repurposed wool from discarded textiles. The result is an exciting exploration of the place wool holds in Scotland’s history and heritage, and how it can be reimagined as part of a sustainable future for fashion, design, architecture, conservation and more. Folklorist and writer Alicia Anne Adams has written a short story inspired by each artwork. These stories add new dimensions to each piece, exploring wool’s gifts of warmth, comfort, nostalgia and connection, as well as drawing out historical, folkloric and ecological themes. This volume contains high-quality photographs of all 22 original artworks displayed in the exhibit, alongside the evocative short stories written about them. It also contains an exploration of textiles in Scottish folklore, a foreword examining the link between text and textiles, and a behind-the-scenes look at each artist, their materials, and their methods.
