A marvellous project to chronicle the life of The Sutton Hoo Burial Ship.
Here at Beyond Stitch we may been quiet on the blogging front for a while but I promise you we have been busy.
If you go down to The Longshed riverside museum in Woodbridge, Suffolk (woodbridgeriversidetrust.org.uk) you’ll be transported back to Saxon times as you watch the Sutton Hoo burial ship being brought back to life. Using traditional techniques, tools, skilled craftspeople and volunteers the Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company is recreating the iconic boat which will eventually be launched on the river (saxonship.org). For details of the boatbuilding and the museum visit their websites.
In conjunction with the building of the ship a marvellous project to chronicle the life of the burial ship has been instigated. From the acorns that grew into trees to provide the wood for the boat to Mrs Pretty and Basil Brown discovering the boat (anyone who has read John Preston’s book The Dig or seen the recent film of the same name will know what I am talking about) the story of the boat has been recreated by local people in textile and embroidery panels mostly using material found in their own homes.
….and that’s where we come in…
At our last exhibition over a year ago we were asked whether Beyond Stitch would like to participate in the project. And of course we said “yes”. The work, known as The King’s River Tapestry, is a series of framed textile hangings each measuring 4 ft by 3 ft. Our contribution, entitled ‘On to Valhalla’, depicts the burial of King Raedwald. This gave us lots of opportunity to practice our individual skills in felting, silk painting, momigami,goldwork, etc, etc. It was our first ( and maybe our last!) foray into jointly working on a project.
The Woodbridge Riverside Trust website has an article about the hangings and photographs of all the work completed so far. It is well worth a visit as they are truly a revelation of the skills that lie hidden in a community. They are, of course, even more stunning in real life, and again, visit the website to find out when they are available for viewing. There are generally a number on display in the gallery at The Longshed but this is not always open.
Talking of exhibitions, now we have finished our Sutton Hoo hanging, we are returning to focussing on work for our next exhibition. With the exact title still to be decided we have a theme of ‘childhood’ to follow. We are aiming for a date in early October this year, again at Artspace gallery in Woodbridge. Further details to follow when finalised but we expect it to be every bit as good as the last one!