Tag: Spotify

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week a playlist of audio is created to go along with the blog. The playlist, on the Spotify platform, is made up of songs and sounds that have some relevance to the blog. For those with a paid subscription to Spotify the music will play uninterrupted, either on the player above or in the…

  • Iconic Australian design

    In the 1980s and ’90s, jumpers in Australia became startling. Beginning with Coogi, a fashion label first established in Melbourne under the name Cuggi, the bright colours and bold patterning of these sweaters took the entertainment world by storm with The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) name-checking them in his lyrics and sporting the look. Coogi style…

  • Zimbabwe’s ancient musical instruments

    A recent study has been looking at identifying musical instruments depicted in Zimbabwean rock art. Rock art is found on almost every continent, Antarctica being the exception for obvious reasons. These enigmatic images have been painted, scratched, etched, outlined, sketched and drawn for thousands of years. Zimbabwean rock art is exceptional and the Matobo Hills…

  • Cataloguing the collection

    The textile collection is in the process of being catalogued… at a distance. The collection, currently housed upstairs in the Regent Theatre in Māwhera Greymouth, is making its way gradually into the new studios. It is an ideal time to catalogue the pieces. Each one is photographed back and front, and then details are also…

  • AI and the Spotify playlist

    Each week a playlist is curated on Spotify, the audio streaming platform, to go along with the blog entries. This week Spotify’s AI function has been tasked with compiling a playlist using the prompts “pop classical textiles computers nostalgia vocal choral contemporary”. This is what it has come up with. What do you think?

  • Weaving and technology

    This article has been supported with research using AI and has been fact-checked and corrected by hand. To read the original AI results go to the bottom of the page where it is copied and pasted verbatim. The craft of weaving is one of the oldest in the world and has a long history of…

  • Technology

    Technology

    This week’s blog entries are all to do with technology. From the rise of the computer to AI, we are surrounded by technology. Some of it is useful, some is harmful. Some helps us to be more, and some has the potential to disrupt our lives and lessen them. So this week I have decided…

  • The tracks on Spotify

    The audio this week on the playlist features these tracks. The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček This well-loved opera in Czech started out as a newspaper comic strip before becoming a staple of the operatic stage. The allegorical story follows Vixen Sharp Ears as she loves and lures her way through life in the…

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week a playlist is curated on the Spotify platform for readers to listen to while browsing the blog. The tracks on the playlist have something to do with the blog entries, sometimes obviously and sometimes less so. To listen, click on the player above or head over to Spotify where you can search for…

  • Iceland and the poetry of weaving

    The Nordic nation of Iceland sits on the Mid Atlantic Ridge, midway between Europe and North America. Wild, windswept, beautiful, bleak and filled with fire and ice, the country is a romantic’s dream, an island of Vikings and sagas,… and art. While the music of Iceland is well-known, and it boasts a fine pedigree in…