Modern textiles add new strand to Hardwick story

Posted on 30 July 2013

Working in collaboration with the Conversion Narratives project team, textile artist Jan Garside has produced a series of textile (and textile-inspired) responses to our research, which are now on display as part of our Virtue and Vice exhibition at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire.

Jan's artworks draw their inspiration from the research undertaken by the project team, and from the rich collection of historic textiles at Hardwick. The installation, called 'Drawing Room', consists of three pieces: a firescreen, based on the lace cuff in a portrait of Lucy, Countess of Bedford which hangs in the Long Gallery at the Hall; a long jacquard hanging, that evokes the sumptuous textiles that once draped Bess of Hardwick's bedroom; and a hand-woven book, which explores the connections between text and textile, script and stitch.

Speaking on behalf of the project team, Dr Helen Smith explained: 'We're really delighted to have worked together with Jan, and to see how she has woven our conversations and the materials of our exhibition into her beautiful textiles. It's especially appropriate that Jan has included both handwoven and machine-made pieces, as we know Bess kept several looms here at Hardwick Hall, and brought together fabrics made on-site with textiles from the great workshops of Renaissance Europe. Since my own research is very much about collaboration and practical, material experience, it's been especially exciting to see Jan's collaborative work, and to learn more about the processes of making which underlie these wonderful pieces'.

Learn more about the installation, and read Helen's interview with Jan on our project blog.

The project team wishes to thank the staff and volunteers at Hardwick Hall for their warm response to Jan's textiles. With Jan, we also want to thank staff at the University of Derby, and particularly John Angus, Adam Leighton, and Jackie Williamson, who collaborated on this project, and made it possible.