New Lamps for Old

Saturday, 8th January 2005
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

There's such a restless wind this morning that it's like being at sea, even so work on replacing the area's lamp-posts continues. About fifteen years ago we planted a rowan (also known as mountain ash) in the front garden, carefully positioning it so that when it grew to maturity its trunk would mask the lamp-post as seen from our front room. Unfortunately the new lamp-post has been inserted one foot to the right of it!

Part of Life's Rich Tapestry

I'm pleased to have a couple of my drawings reinterpreted in cross-stitch and knotting in the Horbury Tapestry. Barbara and I attend the unveiling at the library this afternoon.

'Knowledge is Power' is the slogan spelt out in gilded Art Nouveau letters over the gates of the library's entrance porch. This detail is from the upper third of the tapestry which is a vertical 8ft x 4ft.

That's John Carr, bottom left, the Georgian stone mason turned architect, who was born in a cottage which still stands in Horbury but who went on to become mayor of York and to own plantations in the Caribbean. The classical church was his gift to the village. Carr Lodge, in the picture above the spire, was the home of one of his sons. As the leaflet about the tapestry says, referring to this image, 'one lady transformed her artist son's black and white sketch into a delightful coloured picture'. That was my Mum, one of a team of some 70 volunteer stitchers.

'Painting with Stitches'

Cllr. Janet Holmes, Mayor of Wakefield

Janet Taylor-Wintle

Janet Holmes, Mayor of Wakefield, who is here to do the unveiling, had the job of sewing the image of herself into the picture. This wasn't such a problem as she appears near the edge, just below the 'Knowledge is Power' motto but, as designer/co-ordinator Janet Taylor-Wintle explains, pieces nearer the centre needed a stitcher leaning over and another crouched below the tapestry, which, for several months during its assembly, was spread out horizontally on the dining table of a Horbury couple we know.

Horbury library (left) was one of the thousands built thanks to the generosity of Andrew Carnegie. It celebrates its centenary this year.

You can see the finished tapestry in the library (and you need to see the real thing to appreciate the inventiveness and humour of it). These details come from an attractive set of four blank greetings cards (8 x 6 inches approx.) which have been produced to promote the tapestry. If they're all sold the tapestry can be self-supporting and the funds can go towards the next project . . .

You can buy a set from the library, price £5.

Watteau

After the three-quarter face self-portrait of Rembrandt I copied the other day for my Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain course I need to draw a three-quarter face portrait of a woman from a master drawing. This girl by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) is the first I find, in Kenneth Clark's Civilisation.

Related Link

Horbury Library

Horbury on the St Peter's School website. Hmm, those drawings look rather familiar . . . (but they did ask me before they used them).

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk