Free Gallery Talk: For the Love of Flock – Flocking Lovely!

A free gallery talk at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth will explore the exciting world of flock – the versatile and popular surface material. For the Love of Flock – Flocking Lovely! Gallery Talk takes place on Saturday 19 July at 2.00pm at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Russell-Cotes Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AA. Admission is free.

The gallery talk is presented by Kirsten Hardie, National Teaching Fellow, Principal Lecturer in Design History and Critical Theory at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, and a flock fanatic. Kirsten is co-curator of the related exhibition, Flockage: the flock phenomenon, the world’s first flock exhibition, which runs at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum until the end of summer. The exhibition has proved immensely popular with visitors from all walks of life. Admission to the exhibition is free.

The talk will be an informative and fun look at flock. It will explore how flock’s fuzzy feel remains popular and is frequently revived in interior design, fashion and design as the fascinating touch and visual appeal of flock is re-discovered by designers and consumers. The gallery talk will consider how flock remains endearing and enduring – why flock is indeed lovely!

Flock is extensively used across the motor industry and is increasingly being used by artists and designers as they discover its unique qualities. New and exciting flocked work is being produced across a wide variety of contexts and unusual places.

However, flocks velvety feel is often applied to mundane objects suggesting the mass-produced and cheap. Thus flock sits precariously within design and culture – as a rich classic material, historically and culturally embedded within design and also as a mass-produced process cheaply applied to whimsical objects that are, at best, identified as kitsch. Flock is literally part of the fabric of our social, cultural and economic history and evidences many highs and lows in public and private tastes.

This talk explores flock’s use and status within design and culture through the consideration of key Flockage exhibits and through an illustrated digital presentation that will showcase flock examples that are not on show. It will explore flock’s qualities, key manufacturing processes and it will consider how flock is used to maximise the appeal and use of objects and how we have learnt to love and loathe flock through certain items and associated memories.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Kirsten Hardie is a National Teaching Fellow and Principal Lecturer in Design History and Critical Theory at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. She has extensive teaching and research experience within the art, design and media sector and her core research interests include creativity, kitsch and flock.

Kirsten Hardie is a National Teaching Fellow and works internationally, cross-discipline, creating and developing learning and teaching materials. A prolific and popular conference presenter, she has authored a range of articles and papers and her activities extend to a significant number of collaborative and advisory roles.

Kirsten Hardie has curated numerous exhibitions. As a lover of all things flocked Kirsten is co-founder of the Flock Friendly Group and co-curator of the unique Flockage: the flock phenomenon exhibition currently showing at Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.