PICTISH ARTS SOCIETY LECTURE SYLLABUS 2024–25 

Lectures are held on Fridays at 7.30pm (UK time), on Zoom

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Friday 21 March 2025​​

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Pictish Textiles: What can we learn from the surviving evidence?

Dr Alexandra Makin

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Surviving evidence for the making, use and meaning of textiles in Pictish society is limited due to the environmental conditions in which tools, fibres and fabrics were buried or discarded. However, there are tantalizing hints in extant artwork and archaeological finds. 

In this presentation Alexandra Makin will draw on this evidence to give an overview of what we know and can learn about this important of art form. One that covered, protected and decorated people's bodies and homes, and sent powerful messages about individuals and groups to those who saw and could 'read' them.

About the speaker

Alexandra Makin is a professional embroiderer and textile archaeologist specialising in the early medieval period (450-1100 CE). She holds a Ph.D. from Manchester University and was a Research Associate on Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard, an AHRC funded project run by National Museums Scotland and University of Glasgow. Currently, Alexandra is a Third Generation Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her book, The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World: The Sacred and Secular Power of Embroidery, was published in Oxbow’s Ancient Textiles Series in 2019. Her co-edited volume Textiles of the Viking North Atlantic: Analysis, Interpretation, Re-creation came out in April 2024. Alexandra also works as a finds specialists for archaeological units, and founded and runs Early Medieval Embroidery and her YouTube channel of the same name.

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Friday 18 April 2025

Early Insular Music and Depictions of Lip-Vibrated Instruments in Insular Art

Dr Emma Holmes Mackinnon

[abstract to follow]