Ash Object Lessons

In these sessions we look at the social history of ash through a collection of objects taken from museums and craftspeople across the UK.

Friday 3 November 2017, 5-7

Urban Room, Folkestone Harbour, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 1QH (Parking is available on the Arm)

Ash wood is known for being lightweight, tolerant to vibration and very hard. Egyptians imported ash from Europe and used the wood, which bends when steamed, to perfect the invention of the wheel. Tennis rackets, baseball bats and hockey sticks were made of ash and it formed the  invisible frame of the first models of London’s famous  Routemaster buses. With ash trees in decline due to their death caused by the fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus this particularly inventive and flexible wood will not feature in our human story.  In this session, we look at a selection of objects from from Rob Penn’s the Man Who Made Things Out of Trees and museum collections which will form part of a larger archive of ash objects at the University of Kent Studio 3 Gallery in 2018, which celebrates the history of the uses of ash. Hosted by Madeleine Hodge and Rose Thompson and University of Kent curating students.

Part of Diane Dever and the Decorators programme in the Folkestone Triennial, taking place in the Urban Room, Folkestone Harbour, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 1QH (Parking is available on the Arm)