Editing Ann Macbeth (section)

== Teaching ==
[[File:Once upon a time by Ann Macbeth. Studio magazine vol 24 (1902).jpg|thumb|''Once upon a time'' by Ann Macbeth. Studio magazine vol 24 (1902)]]
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 (magazine)|The Studio]]''. In 1906 she started teaching metalwork at the Glasgow School of Art. There she also taught bookbinding from 1907 to 1911, and ceramic decoration from 1912 onwards.<ref name="BDSW216">{{Cite book |title=The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ewan |url-access=limited |author1=Elizabeth L. Ewan |author2=Sue Innes |author3=Sian Reynolds |author4=Rose Pipes |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2006|isbn=9780748626601 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ewan/page/n266 216]}}</ref>

From roughly 1902 to 1911, the needlework department was the largest of the craft sections at the Glasgow School of Art. There was a requirement that all Glasgow schoolgirls should be taught to sew. Work constructed by Newberry, Macbeth, and their students was of two main types: the bold, appliquéd, patterned style inspired by nature and found on practical items, or the more conventional aesthetic consisting of picture panels, which were found on fire screens or ecclesiastical hangings. Newberry might have been the bolder of the two designers, although Macbeth embroidered panels more extensively with expressive stitching. These embroidered panels featured young girls with garlands or girls set within a landscape, similar to the stained glass pieces of the period.<ref name="Cumming 335–339">{{Cite journal|last=Cumming|first=Elizabeth|date=November 2014|title=The Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland: A History Annette Carruthers|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/174967714x14111311183126|journal=The Journal of Modern Craft|volume=7|issue=3|pages=335–339|doi=10.2752/174967714x14111311183126|s2cid=191478727|issn=1749-6772}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gsaarchives.net/archon/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=605|title=Macbeth, Ann (1875–1948) GSA Archives|website=www.gsaarchives.net|access-date=2016-05-25|archive-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813163630/http://www.gsaarchives.net/archon/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=605|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Jessie Newbery (1864–1948), pp. 147–51, Glasgow Girls. Women in Art and Design, 1880-1920. (Ed. Jude Burkhauser)|last=Arthur|first=Liz|publisher=University of California Press|year=1992|isbn=9780520083394|pages=151}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Scottish National Exhibition: Catalogue of the Decorative and Ecclesiastical Arts Section|date=1911|publisher=Dalross Limited|location=Glasgow|page=1}}</ref>

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.<ref name="BDSW216" /> It remained on the Scottish school syllabus until the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ann Macbeth: Book Designer |url=https://gsalibrarytreasures.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/ann-macbeth-binding/ |publisher=GSofA Library |date=10 March 2015 |access-date=2017-11-25 |archive-date=19 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219174827/https://gsalibrarytreasures.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/ann-macbeth-binding/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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 School|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.<ref name="Chic" />

The use of these humble materials separated her from artisans of the Morris circle, who used rich silks.<ref name="Cumming 335–339"/> Macbeth considered the silks and satins most popular with the previous generation of art-embroiderers to not only be more costly, but ‘really less artistic’.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Walker|first1=Lynne|last2=Callen|first2=Anthea|date=1980|title=Women Artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1870-1914|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1358090|journal=Woman's Art Journal|volume=1|issue=2|pages=69|doi=10.2307/1358090|jstor=1358090|issn=0270-7993}}</ref>

From 1920 onwards Macbeth also taught handicrafts at the [[Women's Institute]] and participated in programmes to alleviate local economic hardship.<ref name="BDSW216"/> 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.<ref name="Chic2212">{{Cite book|title=Chic Thrills: A Fashion Reader|author=Juliet Ash, Elizabeth Wilson|publisher=Canongate|year=1990|isbn=1-84195-151-X|location=Edinburgh|pages=221–222 }}</ref>