Our three Invited Artists of 2023. The entries below are an indication of their work.
Wemyss School of Needlework
The Beginnings…
The Wemyss School of Needlework was founded by Dora Wemyss, daughter of James Hay Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss, in 1877. The school is based in the village of Coaltown of Wemyss in Fife which as its name suggests was predominantly a coal mining area. Agriculture was the other employment on the Wemyss estate so there was very little paid work for girls and women. There was no transport network, apart from horse and cart and the Wemyss coal trains to Methil.
Dora was inspired by the opening of The Royal School of Needlework and realised that using a slightly different model she could educate girls and women and give them a skill to earn their own money. Dora had already set up an orphanage and primary school so the Needlework School was an extension of that. She employed a local widow, Jean Webster, to become the first Mistress who attended the Royal School to learn how teaching needlework skills was done.
Dora Wemyss
The girls were trained in quilting, smocking, crewelwork, embroidery and needlepoint. All these techniques were copied from examples brought into the school by the Wemyss family. How better to learn than to see a beautiful piece of 17th century crewelwork. As the girls learned, so the collection grew, which is why the school now has an enormous historical collection.
The visitors’ books show that most of the crowned heads of Europe visited the school at some time and a huge amount of silk undergarments were made for wedding trousseaux and christening robes.
As various mistresses came and went, the school’s reputation grew. Lady Victoria Wemyss became family Guardian in 1918. The school was very progressive in its treatment of women workers. If they got married, they still had a job and even when children arrived, they came back as part-timers, not whole-timers. With the Second World War, the numbers dwindled as there was more work and better transport links available. Up until then 36 girls were employed either at the school or working from home.
18th century coat
…And Now
The Second World War and its aftermath led to inevitable changes and it was only in 2012 that the building was upgraded. Now, the Museum, run by Fiona Wemyss and Sheila Hubble, houses the collection but as it is also the teaching space, most of it is hidden away. The pieces on display all have a story to tell, which Fiona and Sheila are very good at telling. 18th century waistcoats in metal thread work were found in Wemyss Castle, nobody knows who they belonged to but they are stunning and two kits have been made from their designs.
There are examples of whitework, quilting, crewelwork and artefacts from the original school, including Mrs Webster’s very tall desk and chair. Silk embroidered curtains, crewelwork examples, samplers stitched by 8-year-olds and all manner of evening bags and garments.
The School is important in the 21st Century to continue providing excellence in needlecrafts and the teaching of skills to the next generation, not forgetting the rich heritage which has been inherited from Dora’s vision.
There is a group of ladies who come every Wednesday from all over Fife for a UFO get-together. Unfinished Objects provides a meeting of like minds and enthusiasts, who all arrived individually but have now forged new friendships through needlework. They volunteer themselves to help out with catering or greeting visiting groups and the School could not thrive without them.
The original idea for the School might have changed but the vision for the future is to continue to show how the history of a place can influence what the School does now.
The School’s exhibition will also have an extensive range of kits which you can purchase.
Additionally, two workshops will be held; details to follow
Joyce Gunn Cairns
I try to draw the range of sentient life from insects to people. My skills are relative and I struggle with a sense of fraudulence but I keep on trying nevertheless for greater integrity in my work.
The attention in my paintings has shifted, in recent years, to include animals, birds and insects, and our interrelatedness.
I am deeply troubled, not only by the horrific suffering we inflict on creatures world-wide, but also by the dangers to which we expose ourselves as a result. There is for example, a persistent purblindness in the mistaken assumption that chicken meat from the crushing misery of battery hens can be anything but poisonous.
It is easy to despair but to quote someone wiser than myself, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
