12
|
The Liverpool Tapestry:
People, Places and Passions
Fifty pieces were selected at random from those completed to date,
with a variety of subjects chosen to show the depth and range of
what the people taking part considered represented Liverpool in
2008.
These were mounted by the gallery and displayed next to
Ben Johnson’s ‘Cityscape’ painting, commissioned by the Liverpool
City Council to commemorate the year as Capital of Culture. The
juxtaposition of the residents view of the city with the artist’s view
of the city created a great contrast, with people able to look at the
painting, and then identify individual places within the painting by
the tapestry portrait of them.
One of the pieces of tapestry chosen was actually a picture of the
Pilotage, by Jean Livingstone, which was based on Ben Johnson’s
painting of the building and which he had kindly given permission
to Jean to use as the reference for the stitched piece. His good
wishes for the success of the project was so nice to receive and
the hanging of the finished tapestry opposite Ben’s painting in the
Museum of Liverpool will again give the opportunity for people
to compare the objective view of the artist with the very personal
view of the stitchers.
With a wonderful reception at the Gallery thrown by Joe for all
the people who stitched (with much celebrating, laughing and
several very happy ladies giggling their way home after too much
champagne!), and attended by Hazel Williams, the Lord Mayor
of Liverpool, we were on our way for the final few months work.
During the reception Hazel had used the phrase ‘Living history’
about the project, as a social record of the city at a point in time;
this began to reflect on the size of the project as pieces began to be
completed and handed in thick and fast. A talk about the exhibition
also meant we attracted a couple of final new stitchers to the
project too, plus the guilty admission from one lady that she was still
finishing her first piece – two years on…
The last four workshops brought in a rush of completed pieces,
with revised estimates of the size being made at the end of each
workshop. For the final workshop, we pinned up as many completed
pieces as we could to give the impression of what the finished article
was going to look like, and to show to Janet Dugdale, Director the
new Museum of Liverpool, and Hazel Williams, Lord Mayor, who
both visited the last workshop, the scale and variety of subjects
portrayed. Hazel, who had requested that she contribute “a few
stitches” was persuaded to complete a square herself, which when
she announced it raised a cheer from the many stitchers attending
the final meeting. My last convert to the cause!
Framed pieces on display, opposite Ben
Johnson’s ‘Citiscape’ painting.