Introduction

This website is a companion to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum's 'Second Skin' exhibition, the main purpose of which is to demonstrate the many uses of bark and to show the amazing range of barkcloth designs which have been produced in the last 250 years by artists both known and unknown.

The museum has a collection of about 160 examples of barkcloth from many parts of the world and over 100 are displayed here in the galleries. These cloths combine the exotic and the familiar. The uses to which this kind of cloth have been put may be obvious – costume, matting, house decoration. The designs are vibrant and immediately attractive, yet the material itself is unfamiliar.

This exhibition is not intended to be a comprehensive account of the uses of bark or the myriad forms of barkcloth, but to spark the interest of visitors in a little-known material.