page_title: Ann Macbeth
section_title: Teaching
hierarchical_section_title: Ann Macbeth / Teaching
caption_attribution_description: English: Once upon a time by Ann Macbeth. Studio magazine vol 24 (1902)
context_page_description: Ann Macbeth was a British embroiderer, designer, teacher and author, a member of the Glasgow Movement and an associate of Charles Rennie Mackintosh {{Citation needed}}. She was also an active suffragette and designed banners for suffragists and suffragettes movements.
context_section_description: After completing her studies at the Glasgow School of Art in 1901 Macbeth became assistant to Jessie Newbery and her striking embroidery work was given regular coverage in The Studio. In 1906 she started teaching metalwork at the Glasgow School of Art. There she taught bookbinding from 1907 to 1911, and ceramic decoration from 1912 onwards.
  In 1908 she succeeded Jessie Newbery as Head of the Needlework and Embroidery section at the Glasgow School of Art, and in 1912 she became the Director of Studies in the Needlework-Decorative Arts Studio. In 1911 she took part in the planning for the Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry, sitting on the committee of the Decorative and Fine Arts Section.
  Together with the educational psychologist Margaret Swanson Macbeth published the textbook Educational Needlecraft in 1911. The textbook won international acclaim and widely influenced the teaching of needlecraft. It remained on the Scottish school syllabus until the 1950s.
  The embroidery classes at the Glasgow School of Art were open to the community as a whole. Saturday classes for schoolteachers led to a certificate by the Scottish Education Department. In her teaching and publications Macbeth spread the radical approach to design of the Glasgow Movement and put into practice the ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement. She elevated the status of home dressmaking and encouraged women to create their own individualistic clothing. She brought designed dresses within reach of women with modest means by advocating the use of "humble materials" such as cotton, linen and crash. In her publications Macbeth encouraged a new generation of designer-craftswomen, discouraging copying of patterns.
  From 1920 onwards Macbeth also taught handicrafts at the Women's Institute and participated in programmes to alleviate local economic hardship. In her book Embroidered and Laced Leatherwork Macbeth lamented that women produced crafts in their spare time and devalued their work by undercharging for it so that barely the cost of the materials was covered. Through her teaching work at the Women's Institute Macbeth aimed to generate a means of livelihood for craftworkers by creating regional styles of work.
caption: Once upon a time by Ann Macbeth. Studio magazine vol 24 (1902)
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