COMMISSIONS

dog quilt: SERENDIPITY

| janethaigh

Strange how sometimes things come together: I was contacted, out of the blue, by Marcus Wells at Havilland Designs to see if I undertook commissions? He had framed some of my earlier work (embroidered portraits of women designers) for one of his clients, the interior designer Kit Kemp, who, to my amazement, had spotlighted my work on her blog, showing the perfectly placed Clarice Cliff portrait and lots more. Now read on……

Marcus had a client who wanted a quilt depicting dogs. I am not a quilt maker but I was intrigued and asked him to send me details, sizes, preferred imagery etc. and an overview of the space where the quilt would hang. It was to be framed by Marcus and – no pressure – his client was another interior designer….He sent several images of the room that the quilt was to be hung in and I noticed a small dog’s head on one of them, I asked for pictures of any other dogs belonging to the client.

I then made several design sheets for a colour scheme and fabrication, with drawings and 2 embroidered samples using of a range of techniques that I could offer: from the simplest applique design for a spotty Dalmation to a hand-stitched portrait of the small dog in the original photograph. I was given the commission:- a quilted hanging with patchwork blocks of stitched dogs using the different techniques.

So now to find the extra dogs; my first set of drawings showed typical positions taken by each breed above. I do love dogs and am fascinated by their shapes, specially when totally relaxed. I had started with basic stance like the Dalmation, and just had to include a French poodle and terriers, so an Irish terrier, a Fox terrier and a Border terrier. And hounds, a Schnauzer Leo and even a Siberian husky Twyla, all in easy reach as they belong to friends, family and the local dog-walkers.

For most of the embroideries I drew the dogs to scale from photographs sent to me by the various owners, to decide which technique used for each dog but sometimes I just copied the photograph! Below are working drawings for the relaxed hound Rodney, and the oh-so-tired Sydney.

But how to assemble them into a quilt? I had been putting everything onto the quilt wall in my studio as I made it – constantly adjusting the arrangement to fit within the required measurement. Not how quilts are usually made I know, but this was created by the love of dogs, not the discipline of the patchwork quilt. The first scribbled design for the quilt shown below and the reality that surrounds it….

The design chops and changes as each new embroidery is completed and not every dog makes the final cut, but a design finally emerges. There were a few more dogs needed to complete the design, but how to highlight the family dogs (which are actual portraits) and stitch it together as a proper quilt…is the next instalment.

commission revisited

| janethaigh

I was invited to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin recently, to discuss the making of the stitched silk covering for the sculpture “Primate”( above) by Daphne Wright. The gallery had recently acquired the sculpture for its permanent collection, and Jessica O’Donnell, the head of the Education and Outreach department, had asked Daphne, who had commissioned me to make this in 2009, if I would be willing to talk to the conservation department to give them any insights into the process. I was so delighted to be asked for this because, I not only could explain the ways of making it, I had kept all the materials and stitching samples, and there is a blog that explains the whole 3 month long process.

We all first viewed Primate in the gallery where he was lying alone in the middle of a large darkened room within a spotlight. Daphne spoke about the difficulties of obtaining the cast and I later talked with her about various ideas and conversations we had about aspects of our collaboration – it had been intense. However, I have seen this work in various circumstances from busy National Trust properties, in commercial art galleries, and our own studios and now here in pure isolation…un-nerving.

Next we went behind the scenes of the museum and I showed the small set of samples (below left) that I had kept: silk organza and different backing materials, paper backed adhesives, silk threads, needles, and the cut out and discarded stitched pieces, even a sample block of the marble resin; all kept in my research stash to explain my journey. Below right shows the way the gallery has now laid them out for viewing in the education department – so perfectly neat and simple.

Below the basic and flawed resin and marble-dust cast of the Rhesus monkey, and the stitch development at about the 3/4 way stage, on my studio table.

And here is the gallery where the Primate was introduced to the public as a new acquisition to the Museum’s collection. When I saw this space for the first time it felt like entering a tomb, or at least a place of veneration and it still makes me feel bereft every time I look at this image.

This commission has had a considerable effect upon my stitched works, even up the present day. For further insights and my stitching this work please go to my post in COMMISSIONS: Primate.