Hippocampus

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
My daughter, Rhona, is doing a Masters in Textiles at the Royal College of Art in London, specialising in knit. Here's a video of her input to a collaboration with science students from Kings College London, on the hippocampus.


From Rhona:

Synthetic Anatomy Collaborative Practice Pilot - A collaborative project between King's College Synthetic Anantomy and Royal College of Art students to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue between Arts and Science.
I’m Rhona MacKillop and I’m a knitted textile artist from Edinburgh currently studying on the MA Textiles programme at the RCA and this is my response to a student's project that explored the potential anatomy of a Hippocampus.
 
That's really amazing, Rob. Rhona is very talented. The pattern on the front of the textile is beautiful, but I can also appreciated the organized "chaos" going on in back; there is beauty in that, too. I am reminded of an article I recently read about Archie Brennan, the highly-regarded Scottish textile artist with whom I am sure Rhona is familiar. You, too, I bet. Anyway, great stuff from your kid!
 
Cheers, Brian. Archie was the artistic director at the Doocot (or if you are posh, Dovecot) a place for artistic weavers to learn and make and sell their stuff. It's still going, but Archie died a year or so ago. I took Rhona to the Doocot some five or six years ago, and she loved the place. So for Christmas I bought her one of their weaving kits, and she enjoyed doing that. She then got accepted into Central St Martins art college in London to do weaving, and also got introduced to knit and print. After a couple of years it was clear the knit was the way forward for her, and now she's just a few months away from getting her Masters from the Royal College. So, it is wonderful that you mentioned Archie, as in some ways he might have got her started.
 
I took Rhona to the Doocot some five or six years ago, and she loved the place.
Yeah I suppose Archie might have contributed in some indirect way but it sounds to me like it was you (and Susan, too, I would guess) who got Rhona started on her journey. My guess is she would have pursued an artistic path of some kind, but sounds like that Doocot visit stimulated the textile neurons and now look where she is. Well done, Rob!
 
What can I add?! That was both fascinating to watch and impressive on completion. What a talented young lady - in fact the whole family appear to be annoyingly good at stuff! ;)

Looking forward to seeing more of her work.

Actually being a scientist by profession it reminds me how much more interesting and complex the arts can be.
 
If an artist is not being annoying, there is something wrong :)

If we have talent at all, hers is the greatest.

I like these collaborations between the arts and science. The science students were amazed at what Rhona came up with. She has a project with a science museum (I can't say which at this juncture) and hopes she can develop that into paid collaborations once she has stopped being a student. "Knitter in Residence at Cern" sounds good :D
 
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