Role
Jayne Childs is Research Assistant in the Nottingham Trent University Lace Archive, as such she contributes to the care and maintenance of the collection. She assists the Research Fellow in researching the collection and disseminating findings to students, outside bodies and research colleagues.
Jayne supports access to the Lace Archive for research and creative study for NTU staff and students, plus external researchers. She is currently researching digital access to archive material in order to secure access in the longer term.
Career overview
Jayne gained a distinction in MA Fashion Textile Design from NTU in 2020, designing text as lace picot during her practice-based research into the hidden female voice. She was part of the team working on the ‘Lace Unarchived’ exhibition in 2018, as Research Assistant.
Research areas
Jayne’s research interests include machine-embroidered lace, text insertions and the use of machines for making lace. She has focussed on international collaboration and relationships, building on her experience as part of Creative Twinning with Karlsruhe-based artist groups.
Papers:
Lace: Hand/machine/home-made objects of production at 'Stitches that Speak: Biography Through Objects' Symposium with Professor Amanda Briggs-Goode and Dr Gail Baxter.
Nottingham Lace: Stories of Industrial Decline and Textile Heritage for the 2023 AMPS History and Heritage conference with Professor Amanda Briggs-Goode, Dr Gail Baxter, Tonya Outtram. It will be published in 2024.
'Colour in lace: Novelty by Design' a paper co-authored with Professor Briggs-Goode and Dr Baxter was recently presented to the Chromotope 'Colour Matters 2023' conference.
External activity
Jayne is a creative practitioner making contemporary machine-embroidered lace artefacts, working under the name JC Middlebrook since 2010. Her current work is practice-based research into Nottingham lace curtain drafts.
She is currently engaged to write the chapter ‘Machine-Embroidered Laces’ for Bloomsbury’s Encyclopaedia of World Textiles – Cloth Cultures: Non-Woven due to be published in 2023.