A fascinating second session for the Made in the Middle Action Research group today with a visit to Cash’s and to the Herbert Art Gallery. All on the coach by 9.30 and back off by about 9.45, as Cash’s turns out to be just around the corner!

Cash’s, a 170 year old Coventry based company with a fascinating history and a reputation for high quality woven  products has come on board to help illustrate the link between craft and manufacturing. On arrival the group were greeted in the board room by the wonderfully accommodating company secretary, Sue Baker, and given a brief run-down of how Cash’s began and the journey the company has taken over the last century. Spread across the table was an array of Cash’s products old and new, marketing material dating from the 1930’s onwards and the minutes book with notes from the very first company meeting ever held. It wasn’t long before the whole group started browsing, rummaging, taking pictures and asking questions.

Half the group at a time were then taken on a tour of the factory floor to see first-hand how everything from luggage straps to anti-counterfeit security labels are produced. The students had the chance to meet the workers operating the looms and watch the careful hand finishing processes that are so important to the quality of the end product.

After everyone had finished the tour there were more questions from the students about both the history of the company and Cash’s relationship with its competitors. Before leaving there was a lovely surprise for the students – Sue made sure that each and every one received their own woven luggage strap personalised with their name.

By midday we were back on the coach and off to the Herbert Art Gallery. After a spot of lunch, a browse around the Herbert Gallery shop and a quick visit to the Lego exhibition, the group were greeted by our hosts, curators Huw and Ali. Huw took one group down to the Herbert stores and Ali took the other up to the Nature Notes exhibition.

Down in the stores the students learned about what it means to be a curator, what types of collection are kept and why, and how they are cared for in storage. They also discovered just how large a collection of artefacts, running to hundreds of thousands, are held by Coventry Museums.  Up in the history gallery the collection of Cash’s material held at the Herbert was put into the wider context for the students as Huw explained more about the history of the silk weaving industry in the city and the working conditions for weavers.

Insights from Huw’s fellow curator Ali were equally fascinating as she explained to the students up in the Nature Notes exhibition, what the key considerations were for her, when putting together an exhibition. Everyone in the group will be collaborating on an exhibition of their own products later in the programme, so this was very useful information. The Nature Notes exhibition brought together natural history and art works in a really interesting way and the students took inspiration from both. Some found the close proximity to the taxidermy quite a challenge whilst others really enjoyed the added dimension in lent to the experience. There was lots of sketching and photographing and the students began to explore in more detail some of the themes, ideas and imagery of the natural environment that were introduced through Hayley’s work in the first session.

Finally it was back to school for the final hour of the day and the students, by now beginning to feel really quite weary, got the chance to sit down and chat about what they had seen. With everyone working towards their Bronze Arts Award as part of the programme, reflection and sharing views with others is a really important element of the programme and there was no shortage of opinions and great ideas to consider.