There were 4 huge tapestries - two of the stages of Julie's life and two of her with each of her two husbands. The life tapestries were in GPs usual high colour, pattern and detail, and they repaid long study. As she is an Essex girl there was a lot of detail about Essex - from the Canvey floods with policemen with the Essex badge on the helmet, brutalist buildings and landmarks from Basildon, scenes from Colchester and Maldon. Absolutely brilliant detail.
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| Courtesy of Firstsite |
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| Courtesy of Crafts Council |
Interesting use of the voiceover. GP has written The Ballad of Julie Cope which gives an auditory narrative to reinforce the visual narrative in the tapestries. Very clever social commentary that interweaves observations of how life has evolved in Essex, with social aspirations and the expectations contrasted with the reality of life. I identified with much of what the Ballad described, particularly when he poetically explains how the fictional Julie goes to university in mid life to expand her horizons. In her case, she then meets her second husband and life moves on. GP has an uncanny ability to pick out life details that many will identify with, and use them to demonstrate broader generalisations about life. I need to think about whether a written piece would enhance any of my embroidered samplers.
There were some of his sketchbooks on display, one of which is the original sketch from which the tapestry of Julie and her second husband was made. There were also about 9 linocut prints, unfortunately displayed opposite an orange screened window, which reflected on the photos. These prints were wonderful - GP has very distinctive ways of creating texture - circular scribbling, cross hatching etc - and it was lovely to see that these infills had been applied to linocut, for printing. Very inspiring.
Photos to follow
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