New Embroidery Group

I realise with a shock that ten years have passed since a friend and I visited the Hali exhibition at Olympia.  In the midst of admiring many superb examples of enormous and vastly expensive antique tapestries, I noticed a rather intriguing textile bundle on the floor of one of the stands. I just had to ask the German dealer for a proper look!

The result is history.  This folded bundle, not even an exhibit in its sad and neglected state, seemed irresistible.  It was obviously very old and when unfolded and displayed on the carpeted floor, turned out to be what is called a ‘fragment’ and was from a seventeen century Flemish woven tapestry. In the mid ground it depicts a large turreted building, with formal gardens to the left, complete with fountains, different areas of planting and a small building, possibly a banqueting house.  The foreground is a landscape showing plants, with flowers and lovely architectural leaves, in the manner of old tapestries.   Towering above and to the sides are huge leafy trees.  The colours are muted and quite dull, in blues, greens, browns and fawns.   Creamy, light coloured silk areas break the monotony in the lower sky area, in the leaves  and in the detail of the plants, making a pleasing contrast and an interesting scene.

The dealer told me that he was selling it for some friends who had inherited the piece but had nowhere to display it and had kept it folded up in a drawer for some years.  I was so taken with the subject matter and realised that I would have to inspect it further and take a look at the reverse.  This had a lining which was in shreds and so it was possible to see that the back was in fact a patchwork of linen strips which had, over the years, been applied and stitched through to hold the weaving together.  Not very surprising in view of its age, but enough to cause concern regarding its ability to hang together – or possibly not if one were to hang it up!  And then there were nasty thoughts of moth!   On realising my enthusiasm and inability to walk away the dealer reduced the asking price enough for me, encouraged by my friend, to ask him to reserve it until the next day.  The end of this part of the story is that my long-suffering husband agreed to come and look at this rather unpromising textile, and then stood by while I wrote the cheque.  All of which was amazing and certainly involved some degree of madness!

I feel embarrassed when I now have to admit that the tapestry then spent the next five years in one of my cupboards, albeit rolled carefully in tissue paper.  Having bought it in such  poor condition, I knew that it would need a lot of help before we could even think of hanging it.  Such is the way when one’s heart is no longer ruled by one’s head!

From time to time during those years I would worry about what I should do about seeking advice and whom I would consult. Eventually, I took it to a tapestry expert at one of the London auction houses.  This was a miserable and disappointing experience as he rolled it out on the dirty floor of a warehouse in W12 and rudely announced that it was too horribly green!  This was the very reason I was originally attracted to the scene of landscape and garden.   Obviously he had no time for verdure tapestries, especially  fragments which were neither very finely woven nor in very good condition!  He then dated it at circa 1680 and valued it at a rather lower price than we had paid.

Five years ago I began in earnest to do something about the tapestry’s future.  This involved taking it to five different conservators in London, Kent, Surrey and Dorset.  Starting in North London, I discussed the idea of doing some of the work myself, slashing the linen patches on the cross to release the distortion caused by some of the old repairs.  The conservator would then wash, line with scrim and couch down the damaged areas.  There was a particularly weak area above the garden, where the silk weft fibres in this area had rotted away, leaving the woollen warps hanging loose.  I was not happy about the planned washing and the next month decided to contact the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.

I set out with my husband to Hampton Court on a beautiful Spring morning. Having been given clearance we carried the rather heavy roll along ancient stone passages to the RSN’s studio, at the rear of the Palace.  This was quite an adventure in itself and then, even more exciting, we were shown various fascinating pieces of textile in the process of creation and conservation.  My tapestry was unrolled on tables pushed together to accommodate it (it measures 1.25 x 2.25 m).  We were asked to leave it at the studio for further assessment and collect it a week or two later.  Both our visits were enhanced by the wonderful display of crocuses carpeting the Palace  lawns.  The resulting estimate was horribly expensive, and so we had to think again.

Further research took me to a textile conservator based in Kent.  It was suggested for the first time that the tapestry should be temporarily hung – velcro was pinned to the top edge and this was attached to a  velcro-covered batten on the wall.  As soon as this was done I began to worry about the effect this might be having on its fragile areas and was very relieved when it was taken down!  The proposed  treatment seemed reasonable – no washing was entailed, just surface cleaning and partial replacement of the support fabric, with stab stitching to secure it.  I was still keen though to obtain and consider further proposals.

Next back to Surrey, where the fourth conservation team wanted to do extensive tests on acidity and colour fastness before washing the tapestry.  It had become apparent that there were several areas on the front where other attempts had been made to repair damage over the years, including reweaving, and even the application of paint to tone down the brightness of the repair.  At some stage the fragment had been cut from the original  tapestry and now in its present dimensions sported several holes where it had probably been hung by nails! How fascinating it would be to discover what the whole piece had represented, its whereabouts and how many fragments it had become! I waited for the report, and before long we had another expensive proposal, which meant we had to continue with our quest.

At the end of that year I attended the NEG Christmas party where, coincidentally, a tapestry expert, Annabel Westman, gave a talk.  Afterwards she kindly supplied me with the names of two more conservators.  One was in Dorset, where tapestries from Houghton Hall in Norfolk and from Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire were being worked on for the National Trust.

As luck would have it we had rented a house nearby in Dorset for the half term holiday with our family that coming February.  What better opportunity could there be?  With the rear seats folded down the large tapestry roll just fitted into the car (plus holiday luggage!) and was duly delivered at the start of our week and collected at the end.  This was another wonderful experience as in the studio was a lengthy frame holding one of the set of thirteen tapestries from Hardwick, which the conservators had been working on for some time! In fact, one of them, in the poorest condition, had become the sacrificial one being used to patch and insert where necessary in the rest of the remaining set of twelve! They show the story of Gideon’s triumph over the Midianites.  Bess of Hardwick had bought them in 1592 for £326  6s 00d.

We thought about this last estimate until the following May. Their philosophy, in common with most modern conservators, is that all work carried out on these ancient fabrics should be reversible. The proposed treatment was to cut away the old linen bands where there was no repair stitching to allow careful and thorough gentle vacuuming on both the front and reverse of the weaving.  A new piece of preshrunk linen would be mounted on a frame, and all repairs would be done through this to provide strong support.   The tapestry  would be attached to the linen with a grid of stitching lines and repairs worked through both layers, using wool for wool areas and cotton for silk areas, as it is longer lasting and not prone to fading.  All colours would be appropriately matched.   We decided to go ahead.

A family party took us to Dorset once more, again with the large roll which we left at the

studio until the following February for the work to be done!  On our return we were able to see the conservators  working on a pair of tapestries from Houghton, portraits of James 1 and his queen, Anne of Denmark.  Of course, the most exciting part was seeing our own piece finished and now in a good enough state to be hung on the wall and enjoyed for many years to come.  No longer were we looking at hanging warps and gaping holes, but a piece cleaned, secured and stabilised which would, at last, give us much pleasure hanging at home. What a triumph!

The final decision was where to hang it!  When it came to it, there was no choice.  It had to be at the bottom of the stairs in our hall, where there is no radiator, no direct sunlight and just enough room between the ceiling and the floor. There was, actually, nowhere else that it could be hung. Quite a miracle – and a relief!

I often wonder when I am compiling the information for ‘What’s On’, if it is much used by members, especially when it is away from the environs of London and the south, so when my daughter telephoned to ask if I would like to go to Preston for a weekend, I said “What’s at Preston?”  Then I remembered that in the last Stitch, I’d written Embellished: The Art of Fabulous Fabrics at the Harris Museum and decided a visit would make a welcome winter break.

I know little of the north of England, except for trips to the Lake District and a holiday on the Leeds/Liverpool canal (into whose muddy depths at Wigan, I fell), so arriving at the grand cast- iron Victorian station at Preston was a pleasant surprise.  The town was once the centre of the cotton industry and is rich in splendid, solid stone buildings of that era.  Most of the mills have been demolished and replaced by rather ugly shopping malls, some have the site preserved and named as a garden, but the town centre has been pedestrianised, conserving the Covered Market, the Corn Exchange and the Temperance Hall.  Richard Arkwright’s house is there, where, in 1768, he invented the spinning frame, which revolutionised the cotton industry.  An old red brick wall surrounding a car park delineates the site of Horrockses Yard Works, one of the biggest factory complexes in the world.  On one building, a blue plaque identifies the Stephen Simpson Gold Thread Works, manufactured there from 1841 until 1991.  Simpson invented a machine which established the mass production of gold thread.

The Harris Museum was purpose built and is a magnificent Victorian construction with an impressive entrance like the British Museum.  The foyer is now a restaurant, but one can look up through the atrium and four floors to the dome.  The Embellished exhibition was small compared with what we are used to seeing in the London museums, but the chosen pieces were exquisite, starting from the Tudor era to the present day.  The embellishments were woven, embroidered and painted; there was Spitalfields silk clothing, wall hangings, gowns, bags and furniture decorated with delicately embroidered florals to bold geometric patterns.  There was also modern work by Sahara, a local African-Caribbean women’s group, inspired by the exhibition.  The next exhibition in the Textile Gallery is Shirley Craven and Hull Traders: Pop Fabrics and Furniture 1957–1980   To 5th Mar.

There is much else to see in the museum: a small, ravishing collection of Thomas Bewick’s wood engravings, a very decent permanent collection of fine art including Clausen, Burne Jones, Morris, Lowry, Spencer, Freud, Hockney; about thirty portraits from Victorian to the present, which included the very lovely Pauline in the Yellow Dress by James Gunn; a huge collection of ceramics and glass; some Greek pottery and a collection of 2,700 scent bottles.  On one floor is a permanent display illustrating the plight of the cotton workers from the early days of the industrial revolution until the cotton industry collapsed in the last century.  Preston was a centre of organised political movement and the local MPs were instrumental in bringing about changes in the working conditions and housing of the poor.  Also on show is some of the old spinning machinery and a large model of the Horrockses Works. The collection of Horrockses dresses was not available as it was on show at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, but as I had seen that, for me, very nostalgic display two weeks earlier, it wasn’t missed.

And lastly, because of the now large number of workers from the Indian sub-continent, there are many curry houses and we dined on the best ever Indian meal.

Karen Nicol left and our Chairman, Liz Ashurst

It is always a pleasure to attend the NEG Christmas party to meet up with old friends and get to know new members. This year was no exception with the addition of a magical speaker, Karen Nichol.

I had seen articles about her in Embroidery magazine and a book called Textiles at the Cutting Edge which were intriguing and her power point presentation didn’t disappoint. We learnt that she had been reluctant to take up embroidery as both her mother and sister had already taken up the needle. Instead she chose to study fine art at Manchester. However the textile attraction must have been in the genes as she went on to The Royal College applying to study weave, changing to print and teaching herself knitting, this was followed by a spell at Goldsmiths to study stitch.

She worked in Germany before returning to the Royal College to set up an Embroidery course there. She told us of her work, creating designs for some of the top international couturiers including Rocha and Givenchy. Her schedule was breath taking; seven designers in a season, two days each, which would result in 15-20 designs. Work for each client has to be different even if the initial source material is the same. Alongside the time factor was cost as each stage of a project would have its own mark-up and secrecy. Most designers were reluctant to acknowledge Karen’s part in their designs which is a rather sad state of affairs.

In spite of, or because of the pressure Karen’s enthusiasm was infectious. She spoke of her and her husband’s (also an artist) delight in trawling antique fairs and brocantes gathering old lace and buttons – all sources of inspiration. She generously shared technical information and how she used design sources, illustrated with excellent photographs. She emphasised the need for speedy yet effective results using the sewing machine. Chiffon  and organza were popular

fabrics, cut, torn and pleated, or twisted to make delicate roses. She gave new life to old head scarves. And cashmere cardigans with appliqué, stitch and antique buttons.

In recent years she has come out of the closet as it were and started exhibiting in her own name. Her first exhibits were skirts , some of which she brought with her. One had stitched roundels set in cut work which on close inspection had all kinds of animals in between, another had raised oval sequins enclosed in layers of stitched fabric. The next show comprised of animals. A massive polar bear in fine white fabrics and lace, a monkey so delicate it could have stepped out of fairyland. It came as no surprise that the show was a sell-out and we could only enjoy these creatures on screen.

Karen opened a door into a word of embroidery which few of us are party to, which was enlightening and the ideas that she generously shared with us stimulating and inspirational. I’m glad I was there!        (Karen  has a good website.)

Mason D (ed) 2009 Kantha. The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal.  Philadelphia Museum of Art.

290 pp, 266 ill.  £40.00

If you like kantha quilts – and I do – this must be the definitive book on the subject.  Published in connection with an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which ran from December 2009 to July 2010, it illustrates the quilts on display from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection and the Museum’s own Stella Kramrisch Collection.

The book also contains richly illustrated essays from various contributors on the historical development and spiritual significance of these household textiles, their imagery and regional identity, and the part they play in enabling women to express their creativity.

Traditionally made using recycled cloth (the word kantha means patched cloth), the quilts have evolved and they are now made in a wide range of materials.  Their sophistication also varies from the humble everyday object to an elaborately decorated heirloom.  They can be large – bed-sized quilts – or small, used for wrapping books, mirrors or combs.  Their designs can be minimal or complex, but all will have in common the rippled effect of off-set rows of running stitch quilting the cloth together.

My favourite chapter covers the technique and design aspects of kantha quilting.  Apart from the simple running stitch, traditionally used in a variety of darning patterns, other stitches have been incorporated for decorative effect – chain stitch (which provides a strong outline), back stitch, buttonhole, satin, dot, eye, seed, zig-zag (in various forms), fern and cross-stitch.  Different threads produce different effects. Anything goes, and the kantha, as well as being a practical object, has become a work of art.

Sixteen members of the NEG met at the V&A to go behind the scenes with Curator Helen Persson We were armed with cameras, pencils and notebooks – small handbags only allowed. Before going any further, it is interesting to note that museums etc. are now dating articles as current era instead of our good old AD. There are 13 pages on Wikipedia devoted to this subject.

Moving on to Sir Marc Aurel Stein was born in 1862 in Budapest which is interesting to me as I have a son who has now lived in Hungary for 14 years. Aurel Stein was a Hungarian archaeologist who mainly explored Central Asia. He was also a professor at several Indian universities, working from 1888 in colleges in Lahore and Calcutta. Three times over a period of seven years he travelled hoping to find alternatives to the silk route, 1900–1901, 1906–1908 and 1913–1916. Significantly, no-one ever died on his expeditions. He discovered forgotten cities and always kept records of where, what and how he found all the articles. These form the collection on loan from the Archaeological Survey from India. Stein’s greatest discovery was made at Dunhuang, namely the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. He was knighted for this but even today, China accuses him of theft fo the many articles he acquired.

We were allowed to peruse, draw and photograph some of the collection, amongst which were scraps of embroidered silks, hemp, wool and damask. The stitches were clearly discernible, chain, satin, and stem. A lovely scrap had a dragon’s claw embellished with gold leaf, animal glue having been used to apply the gold. Some absolutely lovely paper flowers from a burial chamber near Turfan, which we would all have loved to take home.

A carpet fragment made from goats’ hair and medium haired sheep wool came from a burial tomb and was made to cover the dead (50BC to 150AD) Apparently at that time, a carpet could buy one camel or two women. Also in the collection are hundreds of scraps of coloured prayer ribbons and some lovely woven silk flowers. These were imported from India to be sold by monks at temples for people to use as prayer motifs to be placed in the temple. Other items we were shown included a shoe, made specifically as an overshoe, quilted like Kantha, on hemp to keep the sand out while working on the building of the Great Wall of China.

All in all we had an intriguing afternoon thanks to the knowledge of Helen Persson.

Drawing by Margaret Mary Griffiths

Illustration from Glenys Grimwood’s sketchbook

Illustration from Glenys Grimwood’s sketchbook

Friday June 11th dawned greyish and damp but by about 12.30 when we were all assembled at Ann’s lovely house and garden in Dulwich Village we were able to have a garden party. Some of us even ate out of doors!

Ann showed me round the garden which was looking splendid; I was excited by a pink rambler rose called ‘Bush Noisette’ which filled the air with scent while covering quite a space with small but lavish pale pink flowers – I am now hankering after one of my own, especially as it seems to like shade. (Mine is in full sun – Ann)

I was also particularly impressed by the central pond filled with white waterlilies, and the flourishing lemon verbena (my favourite plant of all) by the door into the garden.

No garden is complete without a cat in charge and I said hello to two very beautiful ones who were kind enough to let me invade their territory.

The lunch was delicious and the conversation fun: all in all I had a great time and as a non-embroiderer feel very pleased to have been invited – thank you very much!

After a good deal of difficulty finding the Greenstede Gallery, in part  due to poor signage, I was struck immediately by the quality and freshness of the exhibition.  For me, the banners in the entrance  reflected the general standard and professionalism of the work. The space alone was challenging enough with stark white walls and huge window.   Given these difficulties, I was amazed that the work looked so very good.

While all the work was of a high standard and  sensitively displayed, there were some outstanding pieces which lifted the spirits. I would like to mention a few of these which did it for me.  For sheer colour and a good sense of design, works by Sue Merifield, Ann Rutherford, Janice Lawrence, Pat Cove and Margaret Griffiths gave the show a vibrancy and contrasted well with smaller and quieter works such as Peggy Field’s painterly Woodland Walk.

Moyra McNeill’s touching and beautiful memorial to her brother sat comfortably alongside the major and extraordinary work by Liz Holliday documenting her family history.  Nearby, the smaller pieces by Bridget Barber showed an intensity of colour with a richness of stitch.  Surjeet Hussain drew on her cultural heritage producing three charming embroideries incorporating mirrors whilst Liz Ashurst dipped into her passion for Poland producing a surge of colour rippling through her  wall hanging. On a similar scale, Liz Longhurst’s subdued and unusual juxtaposition of colour produced a well balanced piece.

Overall, a very impressive show.

John trained originally as a Silversmith Designer  at Canterbury College of Art and later at Goldsmiths’ College, London where he was privileged to have Constance Howard as his personal tutor.  He has taught for a number of years in adult and higher education helping to formulate the Degree course at Sir John Cass Faculty of  Arts, City of London Polytechnic, now London Metropolitan University.  More recently, he has been working freelance as an Interior Designer.

This was an opportunity to see a part of Poland which has become Liz Ashurst’s second home since her marriage to Zbys and to learn something about its art, textiles and natural history with her as a guide.

Despite threat of ash from the Icelandic volcano’s eruptions, we were able to leave Gatwick for Krakow on time. We stayed in the historic centre of the city at the Hotel Royal. Poland is emerging gradually from the communist era and this is obvious in cities like Krakow where historic buildings are slowly being restored.

Our first visit was to the LUD ART WORKSHOP where we were welcomed by a group of skilled embroiderers who maintain and interpret the traditional embroidery of the Krakow area. We watched a demonstration of lace making and were shown how to tie the traditional woman’s head dress and were allowed to photograph and sketch their work. The next day Liz and I saw similar historic embroidery on costumes in the ethnographic museum together with samples from other regions of Poland. Our first day ended at Polonia House, a concert hall where we listened to a wonderful Chopin piano recital.

The next day we visited Wavel Castle opposite our hotel. The castle is now a World Heritage site so has attracted overseas money to enable a programme of restoration. We saw some superb tapestries and embroideries but there was no lingering as our formidable guide swept us along. The castle and its history are highly symbolic for Poland, a country that has been fought over and occupied over many centuries.

Before leaving Krakow we had an evening meal, entertained by live music in one of the many small Jewish restaurants in the Ghetto. Although life is coming back to the Ghetto, it has an air of melancholy with many empty unclaimed buildings and few people on the streets. We saw the factory where Schindler sheltered Jewish people during the Nazi occupation. The building is due to open this summer as a museum.

The next day we set off into the country. We visited the Wielicza Salt Mines descending 379 steps to the lowest level to see caverns dating back to the Middle Ages and a whole cathedral carved in the salt and rock by the miners in their spare time! We drove through Spring countryside with orchards of cherry trees in flower and more wild flowers than I have seen for many years to stay at Nowy Zmigrod.

A highlight of the trip was a visit to the Magurski  Park Museum at Krempna This is a new museum with excellent displays of the local ecology. It is involved in environmental research and in running a schools education programme. We had a very good evening meal cooked by Zbys and friends and a lunch with more friends the next day en route to Zakopane, a mountain resort. We spent the last part of the trip here. We visited craftspeople in the surrounding villages including a woodcarver and the studio of a remarkable woman icon artist who paints on glass. This part of Poland has a rich craft tradition, passed down through the generations and inspired by a Catholic faith. We sketched and photographed, encouraged by Liz, and came home with plenty of material to remind us of an inspiring holiday.

On a trip across Europe using an Interail Global Pass, Tony and I stopped off at Mulhouse in Alsace just over the border from Basle.  We had to stop here for Tony to go off to the Cité de l’Automobile Musée National collection Schlumph.  He came back on cloud nine having seen rows of Bugattis and other splendid  vehicles while I trotted off to the Musée de L’Impression sur Etoffes.

Mulhouse has an unusual history. It started in 803 as a river settlement and trading link; there is now a canal linking it to the Rhone and Rhine. In the C15th  it became a free Imperial city under the Holy Roman Empire but in the C17th  it was added to the Swiss confederation (1647).   Under Napoleon’s expansionist policies in 1798 the city became part of France. After the Franco- Prussian war (1870s) it was ceded to Germany where it remained until 1918 when the Versailles Treaty returned it to France.

The huge success of Indian printed textiles in the C17th and C18th  threatened European manufacturers who could not fix colour till the C17th.  Three Frenchmen, Georges Roques,  Antoine de Beaulieu and Coeurdoux studied the making and manufacture of textiles in the far east. The French had a passion for indiennes or toiles peintes.

In the 1700s a Swiss artist, two merchants and a financier set up a mill in Mulhouse and started to produce printed cottons, much of the raw cotton coming to France from the Levant and Louisiana.  This industry continued into the late  C 20th.

The museum displays fabrics brought back from India and other eastern countries which inspired their designs.  One room shows all the parts needed in the manufacturing process. Origins of dyes from plant, mineral and chemical sources, design books and sample books, wood blocks, metal impressed blocks or coppering are all shown.  A huge machine with engraved copper cylinder rollers based on the inventor James Bell’s patented design of 1785 dominates the display. One example shows the processes of adding one colour print on to another.

Another room is devoted to the Paisley shawl craze which started when ladies wore those seductive muslin empire style dresses and needed a warm wrap or a quick cover up.  The designs of these shawls became so intricate and complex and if one does not like the result one has to admire the craftsmanship. They were popular throughout the C19th but I thought looked best with an empire style dress.

Many examples of textiles they had produced were on show including Liberty designs.

There was also a Christian Lacroix group of exotic dresses using a variety of brilliant patterns and sumptuous silk fabrics all put together to form a dress guaranteed to stop the Paris traffic!

One of the exhibits was an interesting model of the enormous mill and on our way back to Paris we passed the derelict remains of a once glorious industry of printed textiles.

P.S. There is a Mercure Hotel close to the station and 5 mins. away from this museum and several other museums including Cité du Train.

Battling against the weather, on the first wet day for weeks, several of the committee met up at Box Hill. After a very damp walk, the sun eventually broke through. With a freshened landscape, each one of us was inspired to experiment.

Liz Ashurst and Linda worked in black and white. Liz Holliday used inks to produce a landscape, while Linda simplified the telescoped perspective to make an attractive stitch-like piece. Kate and Liz H sat elsewhere dabbling with colour and texture using their fingers to paint. Cathy, having had a crash course in wild flower identification from Liz, focused on small detailed drawings.

Many walks fan out from the National Trust Centre. There is also a café, picnic area and room to hire, so the venue has good facilities. It would make an ideal location for al fresco inspiration.

Liz is planning at least one sketching day in the programme for next year and has already thought about ways to motivate our approach. So bring your chosen materials and join in 2011.