'Mary Burkett and the felt collections at the Horniman Museum.'
In 1962, Mary Burkett set off by Land Rover with Genette Malet de Carteret to take part in an archaeological dig in Iran. The two were inspired by the travels of Dame Freya Stark, and were seeking knowledge as well as adventure. It was on this journey that Mary Burkett, later to become the founder of the International Feltmakers’ Association, first saw felt floor coverings. This talk explores how she came to mount the seminal 1979 exhibition ‘Art of the Feltmaker’, based on a collection of felts from across Asia. When the exhibition ended, most of the items which had been on display were acquired by the Horniman Museum in London. Since then the collection has grown, through donations and through the work of curators like Ken Teague, who specialised in the material culture of Central Asian nomads. The talk reveals some of the fine examples which make up the Horniman’s collection today.
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