Textile art: E17 wallhanging

E17 wall hanging. For more info on Walthamstow Arts Club, visit their blog...

This wall hanging was exhibited at the Walthamstow Arts Club's Show in 2006. I have always been intrigued by textile art and this was my first attempt. Aside local inspiration in the person of Shirley Pountney and the splendid William Morris Gallery, one of my early inspirations came from visiting Tracey Emin's studio in Waterloo before she became famous worldwide. It was at a gathering she had advertised through Time Out, at which I admired her appliqued works: the armchair and the tent.

I was priviledged enough to crawl inside the tent and speak to Tracey one to one. The tent was then sold to a major art collector and eventually destroyed in a warehouse fire. Tracey Emin's early work resonated with me because it's based on crafts like sewing, patchwork and applique. While in America quilting has been all the rage for decades, in the UK textile art seems to have become mainstream only in the past 10 years or so. 

Going back to my modest offering pictured above, Walthamstow themes are embroidered on the letters of the postcode. The background fabric is green because of the Epping Forest, which is one of the features of the borough. The top part of the E has a forest picture. The swimmer refers to a local college pool where I learnt to swim, which was later threatened by closure but was saved because of the coming Olympics (for a borough participating in the Olympics it was really bad PR to close one of the few Olympic-sized pools in the East End). 

The bottom of the E is inspired by William Morris, whose gallery is not far from the college and located in Forest Road. The fabric used is a Sanderson reproduction of a Morris design. The notebooks and pen, plus the number 22 in the number 1 refer to a writers' group in the borough called Forest Writers, which was at number 22 in Orford Road.

The market stall hints at Walthamstow Market, one the longest in Europe. On the number 7 there is a shop front, which represents a restaurant where the arts club used to meet before we moved to larger premises. The last embroidery represents the Olympic circles as Walthamstow is one of the participating boroughs. I’m hoping to do a similar project for my new city, Cambridge, so watch this space! 

Belated congrats to the E17 Arts trail for winning an award!