Quiltfest 2011
Trees and Carved in Cloth
by featured artists
Turning Point
Trees in the Park
"The Celtic Wisdom of Trees" by Jane Gifford is the inspiration for our collection of hangings. It is a beautiful book full of stunning photographs looking at the beliefs of an ancient people. But this is not some faraway lost civilisation, these are our ancestors and their voices can, almost, still be heard and, if we open our eyes, the trees are still right here.
There was great excitment as we studied the Celtic Tree Calendar to see which tree we were born under. Some people were happy to work with their birth tree while others had various reason for choosing another tree. Once chosen we found that our trees had all sorts of meanings and properties completeley unknown to our media numbed senses.
The process of study and then creation has been one fo the most satisfying our group has undertaken. We hope you enjoy the results.
Aspen: The Whispering Tree
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Oak Tree: The Berlinn
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This tree of the autumn equinox - September 21 - my birthday! The trees are delicate and slender with greenish-grey bark, a horizontal branching pattern, and almost round leaves. In autumn the leaves turn bright yellow and red before dropping to the earth and fading to black. The aspen is a pioneer species - it is fast growing and regenerates profusely after disturbance. |
The Oak Tree is the 'high rise' of the forest supporting numerous different forms of insect, animal, bird and plant life amongst its roots, bark, branches and leaves. It was also the wood that formed the framework of the west highland galleys that traded up and down the Western Isles of Scotland in the Middle Ages until James I of England banned their use in the 14th century. The template for the galleys was a legacy from the Viking inhabitants of the Isles in earlier times. |
Blackthorn: Blackthorn Winter
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Ash: The Tree of Life
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When winter seems never ending, the Blackthorn tree sends out the first signs of spring. These tiny blossoms on twisted thorny branches brighten up the dullest day. The Blackthorn’s delicate white flowers are a sign of hope during a dark time of the year.
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Hawthorn: The May Tree
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Coppiced Hazel:
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My tree is the Hawthorn or the May tree. The May tree is the tree of the Virgin and the sign of fertility. The blossom can be white or very pale pink and covers the tree in May. The background is strip pieced and then the painted lutradur is twisted and stitched and embellished both by hand and machine. The green sheers are easily moved in any breeze. |
In Celtic mythology the hazel represents wisdom. This quilt is based on a coppiced hazel tree in a bluebell wood. It uses a mixture of commercial and my own hand dyed fabric.
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The Willow: Salix Alba
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Silver Birch:
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The willow which grows in wet places was, to the ancient Celts, the tree of enchantment and healing. A feminine tree ruled by the moon. The three trees represent the three aspects of the tree spirit, the white goddess, virgin; mother; crone. The tree spirit's symbolic pendant is the 5th consonant of the ogham alphabet.
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The "dainty lady "of the woods is seen in Celtic lore as the embodiment of the feminine principle, here represented by the symbol for Venus and the maypole.
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Rowan:
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The Scots Pine: Celtic Sentinel
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The Rowan is also known as the Mountain Ash. As you climb the mountains of Scotland it is often the last tree you pass on the way to the top. It was long regarded as a protection against evil. Archaeologists looking at a pile of stones, seeing a rowan close by, think of this as evidence that they are looking at an abandoned house. Last year the autumn colours of the tree were so vibrant I felt I had to depict mine in that season. |
The Scots Pine sheds its lower branches as it grows to maturity. People too, with the experiences of life, lose the anxieties of youth and focus on what is important. A moonlit solitary pine tree grows among the bluebells on a Scottish hillside. The focus is on the textured tree-trunk with its broken lower branches and mosses, developed with painted burnt and distressed tyvek, lutrador, velvets, sheers etc. The foreground is felted wools and yarns, interwoven with painted fabric rocks and bluebells. |
Carved in Cloth
When The Smith Art Gallery and Museum in Stirling offered us an exhibition, we decided to make a collection inspired by their most prized possession, The Cowane Chest, which was presented to the City of Stirling in 1636 by John Cowane, a local merchant and benefactor. The chest of dark oak is not a great work of art but is very heavily carved on every surface in much the same way as we cover the surface of our quilts with stitch.
A neutral colour was chosen to complement the dramatic red walls of the Victorian exhibition gallery.
We hope our individual interpretations hyave done justice to this piece of Stirling's history.
Thistle Moon:
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Cowane Chest:
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Strip the Thistle:
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Heartwood:
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The Flower of Scotland:
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Kistful of Kindness:
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The Merchant's Gift:
Mary Ennis
In addition to some representations of the carvings on the chest, this quilt bears references to the history of the Merchants Guild, whose members were the original benefactors of Cowane’s fifty thousand mark legacy.
Part of the insignia of the guild was a ring embellished with five stones, emerald, ruby, amethyst and crystals. These are represented in the emblem on the sailing ship.
The guild met each month, and the story goes that as they left, participants each received a pie, which they took home to their wives as proof that the evening had not been lost in dissipation in the local hostelries.
Only cotton is used in this piece. It has been embellished with machine trapunto and machine quilting.
Part of the insignia of the guild was a ring embellished with five stones, emerald, ruby, amethyst and crystals. These are represented in the emblem on the sailing ship.
The guild met each month, and the story goes that as they left, participants each received a pie, which they took home to their wives as proof that the evening had not been lost in dissipation in the local hostelries.
Only cotton is used in this piece. It has been embellished with machine trapunto and machine quilting.
Rampant Thistle:
Jan Watson
Inspired by the idea of an empty chest, thistles have invaded the framework and taken over the space.
Curvaceous Carving:
Joyce Watson
Intense machining is used in a distorted manipulation of the carving on the oak chest which was presented to the city of Stirling in 1636 by its benefactor, John Cowane.