Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry

Once again I was looking at how women are represented in museums.  This sampler had the typical meandering border, with a red honeysuckle design around the edge. The images are not great, because it was framed behind hazy perspex and there was a window behind that reflected on it, no matter what angle I tried.  However on closer examination, it was a very interesting social history document.  

Family tree of Jemima Shakespear's family, 1804

The longer lines on the righthand side indicate the child  died.

Mrs Mary Shakespear had 18 children over 29 years.  Only 7 children survived beyond 1804, the date of the sampler.  Sometimes the parents used the same name twice, if a younger child had died.  

The death certificates of these children may typically indicate tuberculosis, but it makes me wonder whether it was a family that was carrying cystic fibrosis.  As I come from a family that carries CF, I am aware that infant deaths with any form of lung problems were often attributed to TB or pneumonia. Research with families that have children with CF shows that these families have a pronounced history of infant death from lung problems.

Festival of Quilts

Shirley and I went to Festival of Quilts for my birthday.  There were some specific quilts I wanted to see.  The first was the quilt in memory of the women who died as a result of domestic violence from 2009-2015.  It was in the same format as the AIDS memory quilt.  The squares were created either by a person who knew the person killed, or by a volunteer who was in the same geographical area.

Deaths from Domestic Violence 2009-2015 quilt

Some of the squares showed the trade of the murdered woman - in this case, a hairdresser

Women from different cultures were represented,
although most of the names appeared to be from the UK community

Symbolism - flying free again?

Women who were quite young (17), and someone who was a nurse

An older women - aged 83, or someone who died in 1983?
Death from domestic violence seems worse if the person is very old.
Is this reasonable of me?  

Pauline Burbidge, from the Quilters Guild collection

Cyanotype top, with mono print bottom

Linda Barlow's A Dozen Mondays was a lovely quilt.  Beautifully quilted, presumably on a long arm quilter, with different patterns - circles, meanders, lines.  Uneven edge, created from blocks.  Hand drawn dandelion heads in silhouette, contrasted with stunning artichoke heads in lovely detailed line drawings.

Clare Smith did some lovely work about her granny's textiles.  Interesting use of granny's textiles by an artist.  Strong on narrative and how interests track down through family lines.