UK 2014 Trip: St. George's Chapel at Windsor

A couple of my favorite books on goldwork are Mary Brown's Goldwork Embroidery:  Designs and Projects  and Jane Lemon's Metal Thread Embroidery  At the beginning of Brown's book, it has an excellent summary of the history and development of goldwork embroidery.  In the very back of Lemon's book, she has a list of the different locations of important embroidery pieces and collections.  I consulted this back section in Lemon's book to see where some of the pieces were located that I had studied and requested an appointment at St. George's Chapel at Windsor to see a set of panels created by Beryl Dean and other vestments and alter frontals in their collection.  (Please see correction note at bottom.)

Maria, one of the Senior Sacristans at St. George's, kindly showed me around and talked to me about the history of the pieces and the Chapel in general.  It was fascinating!  I absolutely LOVE looking at the beautiful details, craft, and imagery that was used in these pieces.  I was able to see 5 alter frontals and 6 sets of copes in addition to coordinating veils and vestment accessories.  The sets of copes included a set of white copes, the Coronation Jubilee Copes, a set of Blue copes used for Advent and Lent, a set of black copes used for funerals and Requiem masses, a set of green copes used for Eucharist Sundays, and the red set worn for the Order of the Garter service.  Maria was wonderful at showing me the different details on the copes that delineated the dean, canons, and minor canons vestments.

Each set had a special detail that I found especially exciting.  The intersections on the cutwork and the turns in the couching were so beautiful on the Jubilee copes.  Having just finished my RSN Certificate Goldwork Module, the intersections and how they were treated were of special and timely interest to me.   My favorite set were the blue copes used for Advent and Lent that had been created by Liz Thompson, a wife of a former canon, and Wendy Pearson.  To recognize a donation from the Australian Friends of St. George's that partly funded the copes, the motif of the "wattle" was incorporated into the design.  Utilizing cut felt leaves with french knot buds in a heavier thread (appeared cotton?) with goldwork embroidery, the embellishment was such a lovely mix of formal and informal, traditional and non-traditional. 

Here are just a couple images from my visit, shared here with kind permission of St. George's Chapel at Windsor:

The Beryl Dean panels did not disappoint either.  Having only seen them in print before my trip, I was not anticipating how large they were.  They are stored in a cabinet at the back of the Chapel as you walk from the worship area to the gift store/exit.  One is on view at any one time.  I love Dean's depiction of each person's face.  The oversized eyes and color shading in the stitches is very beautiful.

 These are some details of Mary and a Wiseman from the Adoration of the Magi panel (link for a very nice write up on St. George's Chapel website on this panel). 

Correction Notice:  The list of places to visit embroidery is actually in Jane Lemon's Metal Thread Embroidery book (another favorite of mine), not in Mary Brown's book.  Brown's book does have the wonderful history of goldwork at the beginning.  I apologize for the mistake and have corrected the information in my post above.  If you are interested in goldwork embroidery, these 2 books are both on my must have list. 

UK 2014 Trip: Liverpool

Liverpool Cathedral:  

A stitching friend of mine, Celia, had given me the book English Church Embroidery 1833- 1953 by Mary Schoeser when she found out that I enjoyed learning about ecclesiastical embroidery.  It is an excellent book not just on ecclesiastical embroidery (though that is the main focus) but also embroidery design influences and embroiderers during the Victorian and Edwardian periods.  Inspired by this book, I emailed Liverpool Cathedral to see if I could get an appointment to view the Elizabeth Hoare embroidery collection that is stored there.  Vicky, an embroiderer at Liverpool Cathedral, graciously emailed me back and volunteered to take me through the exhibit and to show me some of the samples that were not on display as they are part of the study collection.  

Located on the third floor of the Cathedral, it is an excellent exhibition of church needlework, focusing on pieces from the Victorian and Edwardian periods.  Ms. Hoare had been director of Watts and Co. in London and donated her collection to be exhibited at Liverpool Cathedral.  I highly recommend if you are interested in the topic and passing through or near Liverpool to take the time to visit it.  On display are samples, sketch and design plans, and final pieces, so you really get the full process of creating and enjoying these embroideries.  I thought I would share a few photos of some of the items I saw there.  I took over 550 photos there so there is A LOT more to see in the exhibition.  Sadly the photos of the alter frontals did not turn out the best, but I wanted to mention them because there are two in particular that are beautiful!

Detail from piece in study collection. 

Detail of a chasuble designed by Bodley and Garner in the 1880s (Schoeser, 161)

Cope hood designed by Geldart in 1880 (Embroideries of Liverpool Cathedral, 19).

Sample from Watts and Co (part of study collection).  I thought the color use and gradations in the wings was beautiful.

Sample from Watts and Co (part of study collection). 

Embroidered cope hood.

Detail from a cope hood.

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral:  A number of the ladies I was stitching with at Tracy's recommended I visit the Metropolitan Cathedral when I said I was going to Liverpool because the stained glass was beautiful.  Well,  amazingly beautiful it was!  It was such a unique experience visiting it.  Between the architecture, the stained glass, and the huge applique banners hanging, there was a lot to take in and created such a stunning viewing experience!

This tapestry in the Chapel of St. Anne was designed and created by Jill Hutchinson.

Tate Liverpool:  "Mondrian and His Studios"  I have seen Mondrian pieces before separately but never beside each other in a chronological manner.  "It's just blocks of color right?"--that's what many people say.  This exhibition opens the doors to Mondrian's process, which I find fascinating!  It started with his more nature inspired pieces, abstracting trees and church architecture.  Then it illustrates how his environment (apartment/studio/living space/creating space) was kept in a manner that not only reflected his art but helped to propel his ideas forward.

My favorite part of this exhibition was the very end.  After you have been drawn into his process and heard/read about the effect of music on his pieces, you see some of his final paintings.  There are more intersections in these.  What is so incredible is that you can see the music created by little white dots (which actually are not there) appearing to jump from intersection to intersection.  It was incredible!  So to anyone that thinks Mondrian is just blocks of white and primary colors encased with black lines--maybe at a glance it is, but on second glance or longer look, you are greeted with visual music!  Here is a video from the ArtFund UK about this exhibition: