A new body of research and series of works for public exhibition, ‘Yan Tan Tethera’, sharing and bringing to life some of the songs and dances that have emanated from, and been inspired by, England’s textiles industry. Spanning five months, the wider ‘Yan Tan Tethera’ project, a season of performances, events, workshops and exhibition, took over Cecil Sharp House and spilt into the local Camden area.

Robins’ research, ‘Cabinet of Textile Folk Curiosities’, was undertaken through the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and the Full English Digital Archives. It centred around references to knitting, fibre and textile production, straying into areas of personal interest; her home village of Rottingdean in East Sussex, (also home to the English folk singers, the Copper Family), the much maligned county of Essex where she now lives, witches and witchcraft and the sensational murders immortalized in the popular Broadside Ballads.

Robins’ finished works, ‘Collection of Knitted Folk Objects’ were heavily influenced by an old children’s rhyme. It is the ultimate playground insult; you have a disabled father who cannot walk, even with a walking stick, and a mother who cannot knit!
“Tell-tale tit, yer mither cannae knit,
Yer father cannae walk wi a walkin-stick.”

Other exhibiting artists were Shane Waltener, Prick Your Finger (Rachael Matthews), Stewart Easton, Celia Ward, the McGrath Makers’ Group, and artists from the collective sampler-cultureclash.

Exhibition and events toured to Walford Mill Crafts, Wimborne, Dorset to coincide with Wimborne Folk Festival 12 – 14 June 2015.

The exhibition received press coverage in Selvedge, July/August 2014, Embroidery, October 2014 and was reviewed, ‘Protest and production in song’, by Liz Hoggard, Crafts, no. 250 September/October 2014 p.88-89.

Yan Tan Tethera was curated by David Littler, promoted by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.