Can I Help You? Lincoln’s Forgotten Shops - An APPLIQUÉ & quilt art prOject currently on display inside the cornhill market

During the last year we have completed a new textile art project - Can I Help You? Lincoln’s Forgotten Shops - thanks to funding support from Lincoln BIG’s Lincoln Creates scheme. The appliqué and quilted piece is currently on display in Lincoln’s indoor Cornhill Market and we’re delighted to share it with Lincoln and the city’s many visitors! (Please note the market is closed Mondays and Tuesdays - more information about the market here.)

But why Forgotten Shops as a subject? Lincoln has enjoyed 1000 years of trade thanks to its history. For a millennium people have bought & sold; brought jobs and services to the city and quietly supplied the people around them with what they need. But how many of them do we remember? They are lost in the stitches of time. At the Fabric Quarter we’re fascinated by the social history of shopkeepers who have gone before us, and are now long forgotten. Who occupied Lincoln’s shops before us, or in spots now redeveloped? So many stories to tell. We’re looking forward to telling you about shops which once stood on walkways and garage entrances and shops which sell exactly what a previous shopkeeper sold 180 years before. Shops are ordinary everyday things which really are extraordinary; they’re the backbone of any city, town or village. Let’s not forget them.

We also hope the piece will inspire others to try appliqué, quilting and stitching; we’re also doing all the appliqué buildings etc. using scraps of fabric so this is also a chance to show people what you can create using ‘rubbish’.

This is a celebratory piece of artwork reminding shops and traders - like ourselves - that we have a place in our city’s rich heritage plus the piece illustrates to visitors that Lincoln offers a proudly creative and historic tradition of interesting and engaging shops.

Lincoln Creates is a fund supporting new creative art projects in Lincoln City Centre, More information here.

#LincolnCreates #ForgottenShops #LincolnsForgottenShops