We are very excited to announce that we have received funding from Little Parc Owles Trust for a new collaboration with artist Elizabeth Loveday.
Elizabeth will be creating a large-scale piece of textile art for our new museum entrance, for permanent display once we relaunch next year under our new name: Hayle Museum.
Made entirely of recycled fabrics, Elizabeth will create a textile banner inspired by Hayle’s rich history. Her characters will embody the stories of the town’s people, landscape (and landmarks) and industry including:
- The “Canary Girls”, who worked in dangerous conditions manufacturing explosives at the Dynamite Works at Upton Towans during WWI;
- Partakers in Hayle Regatta (which began in 1838) and Hayle Carnival (1887 to present day), once heralded by local newspapers as the “Henley of the West” and “A New Venice” respectively. As well as Carnival and Fairy Queens, expect a “greasy pole” competitor, where (with much trepidation) one would walk out barefoot along a greased pole suspended above Copperhouse Pool.
- The 5th Century “Cunaide Stone”, a 7ft tall burial stone – which features a naturally occurring cross of quartz and tourmaline – found in the mid-19th Century atop Carnsew: the oldest inscribed stone in Cornwall. Though little is known about who this person was, many scholars believe Cunaide to have been a woman and evidently a notable figure, having been buried at a prominent position on top of The Plantation (an ancient hillfort), facing Trencrom and overlooking St Ives Bay. We continue to ask our audiences to consider “Who was Cunaide?”
- The Cruquius Engine, which was (and remains), the biggest Cornish Beam Engine in the world, with a gigantic 12 foot-diameter cylinder (the world’s largest single casting). It was commissioned of Harvey & Co. by the Dutch Government to drain the Haarlem Lake in The Netherlands. They started pumping in 1848 and by 1851 approximately 65 square miles of land was reclaimed.
And many more stories!
We are excited to work with Elizabeth, and to create a piece of textile art specifically, to honour the skilled, textile industry female workforce of West Cornwall. The Cryséde Silk factory (established in Newlyn in 1918 by artists Alec Walker and Kay Earle, and based in St Ives from 1926 until 1939) was in operation in Hayle between 1947 and 1953 under the name Cresta. It made silk clothes for an international clientele using Alec Walker’s unique hand-blocked printed designs (inspired by the Cornish landscape). Cryséde provided a lasting skill in fine dressmaking for local, working-class women.
Elizabeth’s artwork is also a response to a large historic banner housed in our permanent collection. This belonged to Ventonleague Methodist Chapel Sunday School and was carried in the procession at the annual Tea Treat. Methodist Chapel Sunday School Tea Treats first appeared in Cornwall in the 18th Century, with Methodism by then well-established in the county. The event would normally take place in the summer months, often on Whit Monday or to coincide with the Sunday School anniversary. The intention was to build goodwill within the Methodist community and to reward scholars for good attendance.
Preparation and planning started well in advance, taking weeks, sometime months; every person had a job to do. Each Chapel had a favourite location to hold their Tea Treat: some in large gardens, some on a nearby field and others on the beach. The Towans and Carbis Bay beach were popular local choices. During the Tea Treat, the group would eat Tea Treat Buns. These differ from regular Saffron Buns in their size and shape; Tea Treat buns are much larger and flatter, the size of a small dinner plate (or, as many remember excitedly pointing out as children, a cow pat!).
Our banner is from Ventonleague Sunday School, Hayle. It is thought to have been purchased when the schoolroom opened in 1914 and was carried at events until the beginning of the WWII. After the war, it was rarely used and was kept rolled in the rafters until 2017 when the chapel closed following its final service on 2nd June 2017. It was then generously donated to Hayle Museum.
Banners such as this were not only ceremonial objects connected to faith, but symbols of identity, goodwill and togetherness: ideas and values that remain pertinent today in a world increasingly divided. Banner-making has historically also been important in giving voice to marginalised or isolated communities.
Elizabeth’s banner will be inspired by the colours and motifs which feature on the original and will be made to the same dimensions: 2270mm x 1700mm.
With further details to be announced in due course, Elizabeth will also be running two workshops during the project in which participants will create an appliqué portrait out of reclaimed textiles.
The banner will constitute a piece of public art for the community of Hayle, accessible to all in our free-entry museum.
Keep an eye on this space, where we will be sharing updates from Elizabeth’s studio near Penzance throughout the making process.
