Embroidery Guild Perth
Raul Herrera
Mountmellick Embroidery is a form of Whitework, worked on cotton fabric using cotton thread. It is a white on white embroidery entirely Irish in origin and design, originating in Mountmellick, Laois in the early 1800s.
The fabric used is a heavy satin jean which means that it can take hardship, as a result many of the early work has survived, even though it has been washed many times. The embroidery gained popularity with the gentry and a cottage industry flourished. By the end of the century it had gained popularity in both UK and USA and publishing companies produced many magazines and books featuring Mountmellick Work. With the onset of World War I, interest declined until a local Presentation Nun revived the craft after receiving a trunk of original patterns from the Pim family, one of the original Quaker family to settle in Mountmellick.
Handcrafts in general have gained popularity across the world and Mountmellick Embroidery is now enjoying popularity once again. In order to ensure that the craft stays alive, the embroidery has evolved to be used on items that are more relevant to life today, such as cushions, tablecloths, napkins, doilies, christening robes, communion and wedding dresses. Framed pieces are also quite popular as these suit both period and modern homes.
The Embroidery continues to be practiced locally in Mountmellick. Weekly drop-in classes are held in Mountmellick Museum. These classes aim to motivate stitchers to continue with the craft and to encourage beginners and improvers. The age range varies from 30 to 80yrs. Videos showing the instructions can be viewed on Youtube. Classes are also held by various practitioners in Portlaoise, Clonaghadoo, and Edenderry, Offaly.
A team of volunteer practitioners visit local primary schools to teach the children embroidery and the techniques used in Mountmellick Work. Local secondary schools offer Mountmellick Embroidery to Home Economics students for Junior Cert examinations. The teachers in the schools are encouraged to bring the children to visit the Museum where they are told the history and given a personal tour of the Museum exhibiting the Embroidery.
Through the perseverance of Presentation Sister Teresa Margaret many ICA guilds and Embroidery Guilds in Ireland are now offering classes to their members. Embroidery, Lace and Needlework guilds throughout the world know about Mountmellick Work and teach the craft. Many of these guild members have visited Mountmellick and have taken workshops from the local Tutors and have shared the techniques that they have learned in Mountmellick when they returned home. Many of the overseas guilds have pieces of Mountmellick Work in their collections. Stitchers that travel to Mountmellick to perfect their craft are encouraged to share their knowledge with their peers.
The voluntary Mountmellick Embroidery Museum Committee under the umbrella of Mountmellick Development Association Ltd. is committed to safeguarding the large collection of old Mountmellick Embroidery work that has been donated to them. The Museum is open to the public free of charge all year round. The Museum act as a contact for people interested in learning the craft and they organise workshop to visitors, tailored to their needs.
The Museum hold an annual competition to encourage stitchers complete a piece of embroidery and to perfect their stitches. This is an International event and was won by an Australian Stitcher in 2017. Ballyfin Demesne, voted one of The Best Seven Hotels in the world 2018, commissioned a framed piece of work which is on display in the Hotel. Sir David Davies, owner of the De Vesci Estate, Abbeyleix commissioned a set of placemats for the house. Contemporary Mountmellick Work has been presented to visiting Presidents, Princes and Ambassadors to Ireland as appropriate gifts.
In July 2018, Museum Committee Chairperson Ann Dowling attended the New Zealand Embroidery Guild Conference, where she gave a presentation on Mountmellick Embroidery and visited Western Australia Guild Headquarters in Perth. The Museum has built strong links with these guilds over the years.
Stitchers go into the local primary schools on a voluntary basis to teach the children. Local secondary schools have started to incorporate Mountmellick Work into the Junior Cert Home Economics curriculum. School teachers are encouraged to bring their students to the Museum prior to the classes so that the children can learn about their local history and to see the old work first hand.
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About the artists
Liz, Denise and Kath chose to collaborate on their entry. "Combining forces to realise an idea means that members of the team can develop an idea unconstrained but complimented by the technical knowledge of others." (From Artists Statement submitted for entry). Between these three gifted, experienced and awarded artists, there was a wealth of technical knowledge to draw on.
About the piece
As Australia sits on the Pacific rim, this trio of artists wanted to explore the tools and skills which enabled ancient navigators to explore the vast tracts of water and islands of the region. They have drawn on the tradition of Melanesian stick charts which were an essential part of the colonisation process. The charts were made by individual navigators, known in Polynesia as the Tahuna. No-one could use another person's chart. They contained coded information. Shells were used for islands, sticks and bindings showed how the Pacific swells intersected islands and reefs, and indicated how the currents moved.
Working collaboratively, each with a strong interest in physical and ephemeral expressions of culture, the three artists developed a ritual garment for the Tahuna. The piece is made from handmade paper (made by Liz Powell) and is embroided and decorated with mixed media drawings. The coat is sculptural. Thin bamboo frames support Pacific flax and Kozo paper to creat overlapping sail shapes. The undergarment echoes the structure of the stick charts, whilst the dress has the form of a wraparound apron. The decorated headband is designed to sweep the Tahuna's hair up and away from the sails. (Edited from Design Concept submitted with entry)
Materials: Handmade paper, made by Liz Powell (apart from the blue kozo of the dress, which was commercially sourced). The choice of Kozo and Pacific flax was in keeping with the theme of the piece, as these materials have been used by sailors for millienia to make ropes and cloth-like sails.
Liz Powell
From Byron Shire, New South Wales, Liz has exhibited regularly over the last 25 years around Australia and overseas, including solo and group exhibitions. A mixed media fibre artist, Liz begins with textiles and her handmade paper and builds her work using a range of techniques including relief printing and etching, sculpture, stitching and dying, 3D design and metalwork. As a tutor Liz has been able to share her skills and knowledge. She has facilitated workshops around the country, including Fibre Arts Australia, Ballarat; Muresk Institute Perth; Embroiderers Guild of NSW and the National Fibre Forum (to name a few)! Liz is currently the President of Papermakers of Queensland.
Dr Denise N Rall
Currently an adjunct fellow at the Southern Cross University's School of Arts and Social Sciences, since 2008 Denise's research focus has been in the area of costumes and textiles. Her initial project in this field involved creating textile sculptures on life-sized mannequin torsos which critiqued royal dress. The pieces employed the technique of 'scrumbling', which is the free-form alteration of surface textiles, plus over-embellishments and reconstruction of op-shop garments.
Denise has participated in solo and group exhibitions. As an author and editor, her writing has appeared in Textile Fibre Forum. She was editor of the 2014 academic book Fashion and War in Popular Culture.
Kath Wilkinson
Kath is a highly awarded textile artist who utilises a wide variety of techniques, from hand and machine embroidery, appliqu, printing and dying, basketry and felting. paper on skin is not the first award Kath has won in a Tasmanian competition. In 2013 she won the Runner Up Tasmanian Museum and Gallery Quilt Prize with her piece, Traces. She has twice won the Margaret Oppen Memorial prize, Embroiderers Guild of NSW, and was a finalist in the Powerhouse Museum International Lace for Fashion Awards (2000). Whilst her work uses techniques and skills based in traditional practices, she utilises them to realise their potential in more contemporary forms of embroidery and sculpture.
Kath currently educates in the areas of Textiles and Design for the NSW Department of Education. She also teaches at the Embroiderers' Guild of NSW, is an accredited judge
with the guild and conducts workshops for adults and children. Like her co-artists, Kath has exhibited both in Australia and overseas.