This thesis describes the practical investigation and analysis of traditional materials and processes used in the production of hand made felt. Specifically, the research examines the potential of certain British wool types that are currently undervalued (and often overlooked in the production of fine craft felt). These wools are frequently referred to as ‘waste’ wools. The research further explores aspects of the UK’s wool economy and the problematic issue of waste wool. The aim being to locate and articulate the creative potential of a selection of these wools within the field of fine felt craft practice, and in so doing raise an awareness of their potential diversity and relevance. The investigation questions felt’s marginal status within the textile hierarchy, and problematizes notions of the familial and self-conscious attributed to felt craft by some of its makers. By examining distinctions between craft and industrial felt production, the research considers both the opportunities and limitations of these relationships within the context of designer maker practice. The purpose and focus of this material-led examination is to develop inventive, progressive methods in fine felt craft and couture application seeking material currency with appropriate use of waste wools for handwork production. The practical experimentation was conducted using a practice-led research approach through which materials and sampling methods emerged within a studio-based environment. The study focuses on the use of carding, wet and dry felting and post felting manipulation of surface design using hand-pleating applications. Whilst not specifically suggesting new techniques in felt-making, the modification of existing processes has formed a central part of the contribution to new knowledge created within the work. Therefore the qualitative nature of the research methodology establishes a new perspective on both the value and integrity of British waste wools for the production of fine craft felt-making. The portfolio of fabrics produced confirmed the suitability of materials for fine craft felt-making and further suggested their appropriateness for product development and use. The fabric prototypes and exposition collection evidence new design concepts, situating the practical investigations in a cultural and critical context and in so doing reposition the material in a more valuable and original light. The sampling process identified key areas for innovation and aesthetic appeal suggesting that further research could be developed using other wools and wool blends. From this thesis emerges a vibrant platform for fresh interpretation and potential for British waste wools in fine craft felt-making, further strengthening the creative interplay between material and technique.

The Late Bronze Age in Western Asia and Egypt witnessed an explosion in the production of so-called 'vitreous materials', in particular the earliest glass. From its outset, this material appeared in an enormous variety of colours and colour combinations, the manufacture of which demanded a high degree of technological know-how. The unique properties of glass also rapidly came to the fore, most notably the potential of glass to be worked while hot. Archaeometric research into early Egyptian glass has tended to focus on chemical and isotopic analysis as a means to assign provenance to its raw ingredients. To this end, the use of a technique new to archaeology, ToF-SIMS, is developed here in order to investigate the origin of the colorant opacifiers used in glass production. But questions about manufacturing technology and stages of production are also vital to an understanding of the role and perception of glass, and the aforementioned technique is complemented by electron microprobe analysis, revealing a surprising complexity of production, primarily related to coloration. Furthermore, it has been argued that the terms used to refer to glass in epigraphic sources indicate that it was primarily produced in order to imitate, or substitute for, precious stones of value in Late Bronze Age Egypt and Mesopotamia (primarily lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise). Recent research into the archaeological and ethnographic understanding of colour naming and classification is applied to these sources along with an investigation of the material properties of glass itself. It is suggested that, far from being an imitation, the artificiality of glass - as a man-made material - was deliberately, sometimes spectacularly, proclaimed. Central to this is the use of colour, in particular in terms of transformation, and the aforementioned complexity of production. It is argued that only through combining the numerous approaches to the evidence taken here - scientific, linguistic-historical, and archaeological - can the perception of glass, and the motivations behind its production, be determined.

The collecting of Chinese ceramics had become an increasingly popular activity in late 19th-century Britain. Whereas the 18th century was characterised by an interest in porcelain for the purpose of interior design, the political developments between China and Britain enabled a new approach to Chinese cultural identity; different Chinese material became available in the wake of the Second Opium War (1856-1860) and the subsequent sacking of the Imperial Summer Palace of Yuanmingyuan, and this material entered Britain for the first time. Due to the opening of China to foreign merchants, Britons now could move freely in the country and gain access to ‘luxury goods’ such as porcelain. As a result, a different taste for Chinese porcelain emerged and developed, which would reflect on the collecting scene in Britain. This thesis examines the motivations and collecting patterns of three British collectors (George Salting, William G. Gulland and William Lever) in the context of late 19th- and early 20th-century Chinese porcelain collecting. All three men built significant collections in the given period, which entered national institutions by gift and/or bequest, as well as a purpose built gallery in one case. Nonetheless the collectors’ achievements in the field of Chinese ceramics have not been analysed extensively and therefore the present thesis aims at complementing the existing research. The study makes predominant use of primary unpublished material on the three collections, which enables conclusions to be drawn on the incentive and approach of these collectors in accumulating Chinese artefacts during this period. In consideration of those findings, it will be argued whether their collecting encouraged an underlying common motif and how their tastes matched the general concept of collecting porcelain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first chapter provides an introduction to the subject, and will be followed by a historical abstract of 19th-century collecting in Britain and a review of the published literature in the second chapter. The third chapter examines the collecting activity of the oldest collector, George Salting, by analysis of his purchase activity and the bequest of his Chinese porcelain collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The fourth chapter considers the collecting of William G. Gulland, whose first-hand experience of East Asia prompted him to collect and publish books on Chinese porcelain. The fifth chapter will look into the collecting principles of William Lever, whose Chinese collection stands in contrast to his overall British taste. The conclusion in the sixth chapter will summarise the major points of the preceding chapters and it will put the achievements of the three collectors into perspective with the general idea of collecting Chinese porcelain in Britain in the period under discussion.

The intention of this thesis was to demonstrate that, with in-depth analysis, a carefully and deliberately constructed narrative could be revealed within the ceiling paintings of Skelmorlie Aisle, Largs, Scotland (c.1638). The ceiling adorned a burial aisle, which was erected by Sir Robert Montgomerie, seventh of Skelmorlie, in honour of his wife, Dame Margaret Douglas. The paintings, executed by Edinburgh apprentice James Stalker, are the only surviving example of the genre signed and dated by the artist. The ceiling was composed of forty-one individual compartments each one containing different combinations of emblems, designs, human figures, animals, birds and heraldic representations. Of the forty-one compartments, four of these contained landscape paintings, depicting the seasons, and their associated labours. Two unusual paintings were also executed each containing representations of a female figure on the land and by the sea. By a study of semiotics, this dissertation systematically re-constructed the narrative concealed within the paintings. This revealed the intrinsic meaning of the iconography. The thesis argued that simple observation revealed very little information relating to the understanding of the paintings and in-depth study was required to elucidate this. The narrative began with an exploration of seventeenth-century nobility with a particular focus on the patron, Sit Robert Montgomerie of Skelmorlie. It then considered the role of architecture and design in Early Modern Scotland with a discussion on domestic architecture and burial aisles. An exploration into the painted ceiling in seventeenth-century Scotland was also included as was a consideration of the role of the artist and patron. A focus on the sources available to artists in Scotland during the Early Modern period, followed with a particular investigation into those used within the ceiling iconography of Skelmorlie Aisle. Whether it was intended that the ceiling iconography was to be read in a specific order was also included. These initial stages provided a platform from which an in-depth analysis of the iconography within the paintings, could be undertaken. The methodology applied here was that composed by German born art historian Erwin Panofsky. Panofsky argued that identifying objects, shapes and forms did not convey why certain components were chosen or what they meant. The first step was to ascertain the genesis of the sources, as this provided a greater understanding of the narrative and why they were chosen by Montgomerie. The research revealed that, with the exception of generic designs of floral patterns and scrollwork, the iconography within the paintings was not chosen at random; each component was selected for a very specific reason. When all of the factors were considered and the iconography analysed in depth, the full narrative became exposed.

This thesis focuses on the Elizabethan and Jacobean aristocracy and upper gentry to yield the first detailed study of the elite needleworking woman as fashioner of her social personage, and of the objects she produced as indices of social persona, religious conscience and political agency. The first chapter explores how needlework mediates between wtiwomeann d their social context. It surveys the way in which needlework, both as practice and as object, functioned as a vehicle for projecting persona and personage into a social context which interpreted needlework according to complex value systems of personal virtue and the husbandries of conspicuous wealth. The chapter explores needlework as a site for intellectual expression. The theories developed in the first chapter are tested in a case study of Bess of Hardwick, whose textiles show her construction of a virtuous aristocratic persona proclaiming its self-assured place in the social hierarchy. Chapter Two is the first study to consider the needlework of Elizabethan and Jacobean Catholics in the light of the Protestant proscription of iconic vestments. It recovers the history of lost needlework from English convents on the Continent, and of the English recusants' covert provision of vestments to Jesuit missioners. The first detailed case studs' of Helena Wintour's vestments reads Wintour's Jesuit-influenced Marian floral emblems and iconography alongside Hawkins's meditation handbook Partheneia Sacra to theorise Wintour's devotion to the Immaculate Conception, and explores the vestments' relationship to the liturgy and their iconographical importance to the Mass. Chapter Three considers needlework gifts as political currency within patronage structures at the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts. Narrated with a contemporary vocabulary of grace, needlework gifts contribute to the construction of court-crown relations, symbolised by needlework gifts in Jacobean court masques. Through needlework gifts a `feminine commonwealth' availed itself of power structures at the court of James's consort that parallel his departments, and the women's political agency in a female political hierarchy is seen encoded within gifts of needlework in the Queen's Courts final masque. The case study uses Mary's needlework gifts to Elizabeth as an index of changes in their relationship. Mary's needlework joins parallel texts such as poetry, portraiture and planned masques in developing an iconographical vocabulary centring on the Judgement of Paris, with which diplomatic negotiations sought to clarify the Queens' relative positions.

This thesis is the first to examine the lives and careers of professional women who were working within the thriving Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It utilises previously unresearched primary and secondary sources in art galleries, the Birmingham School of Art and local studies collections to present a series of case studies of professional women working in the fields of jewellery and metalware, stained glass, painting, book illustration, textiles and illumination. This thesis demonstrates that women made an important, although currently unacknowledged, professional contribution to the Arts and Crafts Movement in the region. It argues that the Executed Design training that the women received at the Birmingham Municipal School of Art (BMSA) was crucial to their success in obtaining highly-skilled paid employment or setting up and running their own business enterprises. The thesis makes an important new contribution to the historiography of The Arts and Crafts Movement; women's work in Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the history of education and the industrial and artistic history of Birmingham.

Founded in 1851, the Stourbridge School of Art offered instruction in drawing, art and design to students engaged in industries, especially glass. Using social history methodology and primary sources such as Government reports, local newspapers and school records, this thesis explores the school’s development from 1850 to 1905 and explicates its relationships with the local glass industry. Within the context of political, economic, social and cultural forces, the school contributed to the town’s civic culture and was supported by gentry, clergy and industrialists. The governing Council held public meetings and art exhibitions and dealt with management issues. Working class men attended evening classes. Women from wealthy families attended morning classes. This thesis argues that a fundamental disconnect existed between the school’s purpose (art instruction to train designers) and its instruction (basic drawing and fine art). The school enrolled men employed in glass decorating but few from glass manufacturing. Classes reflected the South Kensington curriculum, and the art masters were unaware of the design needs of industry. Glass manufacturing firms provided modest financial support but did not encourage employees to attend, creating frustration for the Council. In contrast, similar schools in Brierley Hill and Wordsley were well-supported by the glass industry.

This thesis tracks the complex relationship between visual art and the decorative in the Twentieth Century. In doing so, it makes a claim for the ongoing interest and viability of decorative practices within visual art, in the wake of their marginalisation within Modernist art and theory. The study is divided into three main sections. First, it demonstrates and questions the exclusion of the decorative within the central currents of modernism. Second, it examines the resurgence of the decorative in postmodern art and theory. This section is based on case studies of a number of postmodern artists whose work gained notice in the 1980s, and which evidences a sustained engagement with a decorative or ornamental aesthetic. The artists include Rosemarie Trockel, Lucas Samaras, Philip Taaffe, and several artists from the Pattern and Decoration Painting Movement of the 1970s. The final component of the study investigates the function and significance of the decorative in the work of a selection of Australian and international contemporary artists. The art of Louise Paramor, Simon Periton and Do-Ho Suh is examined in detail. In addition, the significance of the late work of Henri Matisse is analysed for its relevance to contemporary art practice that employs decorative procedures. The thesis put forward is that an historical reversal has occurred in recent decades, where the decorative has once again become a significant force in experimental visual art.

Garbage is a global problem. In Texas, soft regulations and landfill closures have made way for the dawn of the mega landfill. The reduction of landfill locations multiplied by extreme suburban sprawl, has forced the landfills to take on a vertical mountainous form to accommodate consumption and land boundaries. Such a metamorphosis has spawned coalitions to fight against the visual and sensory upheavals growing in their own communities; ironically it is only due to their own making. This thesis looks at three new paradigms of garbage organization and disposal that produce alternatives and finds positivity in the inevitable we already face.

This research documents and discusses the reactions of a family of Dine (Navajo) weavers who were asked to examine selected Dine textiles in the Arizona State Museum's collection. Although the ways Dine weavers perceive their creations is not the focus of many studies, this research explores their aesthetics to gain a greater understanding of the weaving tradition. Building on cross-cultural interviewing techniques that originally used photographs, this study uses a selection of museum textiles to explore Dine aesthetics. The results address Dine weavers' views of the meanings and changes in Dine textile designs, the significance of the process of weaving, and the motivational forces that fuel this tradition.