Craft and Cookery Festival

The second annual Harris Tweed Cycle ride will take place.

This is a free festival throughout An Lanntair’s building offering a fabulous tour of food and craft from the diverse island communities of the Outer Hebrides.

Visitors will be able to sample world cuisines from the Minch to Mumbai in a fun filled day of cooking demonstrations, food tasters and Hebridean craft stalls, highlighting the quality of handmade crafts to be found on a journey through the islands.

Marking a season of ‘Craft’ at An Lanntair, and with the aim of supporting and celebrating craft practitioners from the Outer Hebrides, a wide range of high quality local professional artists, designers and makers have been invited to exhibit and show demonstrations on the launch day (April 29th from 12 to 4pm).

Some of the exhibitors include Driftwater Weaves (above).

Exhibitors will include Uist Wool, Scalpay Linen, The Birlinn Yarn Company, Driftwater Weaves, Solus Studio, Shoreline Stoneware, Borgh Pottery, The Middle Room, Lewis Revival, Verisimilitude, Islewear, Salka Seaglass Jewellery, The Old Leatherworks and Hebridean Baskets.

There will also be a specially curated exhibition by Hebridean contemporary artists, Sophie Morrish, Meg Rodger, Jocelyn Anne Rabbitts, Lorraine Burke, Margaret Maclellan and Elsie Mitchell, exploring the elements, botany and creatures of the coastal edge, plus the Epic Award winning Barra Bunting, a chain of textile flags made by over 200 residents and visitors to the Isle of Barra.

The exhibition, called ‘Oirthir – edge of the land’, will be showing from 18th April to 27th May in An Lanntair’s Café Bar Gallery.

The festival day will start with a celebration of one of the islands’ most iconic crafts industries, Tweed, with the second annual Harris Tweed Cycle ride, leaving An Lanntair at 10am. This will be a ‘spiffing’ cycle around the town and a chance to win the prestigious prize of a hand knitted Yellow Geansaidh for the best dressed rider.

Some of the exhibitors include Verisimilitude.

This year An Lanntair also has a Geansaidh Geal for the best young rider! Limited tickets are available at http://lanntair.com/events/event/harris-tweed-cycle-ride

Throughout the festival day on the 29th April, there will be a variety of food to sample from cultures across the island communities, including Nagaland, Syria, India and of course the Hebrides.

And if you get in quick, there are still a few tickets left to a Foraging Banquet on the evening of Friday 28th April in An Lanntair’s Café Bar – celebrating everything that the Hebridean landscape has to offer on a plate! Tickets here: http://lanntair.com/events/event/spring-tide-wild-food-banquet/

An Lanntair Chief Executive, Elly Fletcher, said: “What a wonderful chance to recognise the incredibly talented artists from these islands, and to have the opportunity to see and experience their craft and work through real live demonstrations.

On display will be the Barra Bunting, a chain of textile flags made by over 200 residents and visitors to Barra.

“I love the fact that we’re combining this with a celebration of food from across our diverse local communities.

“I’m so looking forward to this busy, bustling, fascinating and delicious festival day of food and craft wonders!”

This project forms part of An Lanntair’s Bealach Programme for the Creative Place Awards 2015.