Needlework

Flax farming and linen manufacturing were iconic to the industrialisation of the North of Ireland, particularly in the eighteenth century.

A handkerchief is a sign of grieving and hankies were traditionally exchanged between loved ones as heartfelt goodbye gifts.

The hand embroidery of the names continues day-by-day.

Embroiderers around the world:

Allen, Edith	Arney, Suzanne Smith
Barman, Margaret	Benson, Nerida Richmond
Bernett, Kathy	Boni, Maria
Bovard, Julia	Colleary, Máirín
Cunningham, Dr. Jo Lynn	Damon, Margot Charlotte (McGladdery)
Duffy-Biro, Jean	Ferguson, Glenys (Richmond)
Garofalo, Gen	Gillick, Marjorie
Gobold, Ann	Grealis, Bridget
Kim Bear	Malia, Jim, Julia and Sarah
Manwaring, Lyn	McCormick, Patricia
McFadden, Rosaleen	McRobb, Jan
Miller, Hanne	Molloy, Janet
Morriott, Edith	Morris, Jane
Murphy, Lizz	Osborne, Jean
Read, Joy	Reid, Sheila
Russell, Janet	Steele, Connie
Sterling, Jan	Spielman, Lucy McCarthy
Trouton, Maureen Ann Salus (McGladdery)	Tenant, Alex
Whyte, Judy	Young, Jennifer

Thank you to:

Friends of Corrymeela, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland

Friends of Ireland, Canberra, ACT, Australia

U.K. Embroiderers’ Guild, Birmingham, England

The Irish Society, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

USA Global Volunteers to Corrymeela Community, Ballycastle, June 2008

USA Groves Conference on the Family,
N. Ireland tour 2008 - trauma in community.

Yass Public Library, NSW, Australia.

Linens

Linens is a 10 minute DVD created from 2005 documentary footage of a Sydney-based “bedroom” conversation (March 2005) between Mrs. Margaret Barman, Australia (migrated from Omagh 1957) and Mrs. Maureen Trouton, Canada (migrated from Belfast 1970) – Produced by Lycia Trouton and directed, edited by storytelling and documentary film professional, Len Glasser of Lensvision, NSW, Australia and NYC.

Artistic precedents for large-scale public needlework projects:

For example, wartime quilts and the contemporary Ribbon-Around-the-Pentagon organised by Justine Merritt; The Crystal Quilt directed by Suzanne Lacy, USA, mid-1980s; The Dinner Party by sculptor Judy Chicago, USA, 1970s, and The Parliamentary House Embroidery : Embroiderers' Guilds of Australia, 1988; Goldsmiths Prof. Janet Jefferies and the 'textile arts' fence at Greenham Common, 1984; Roses-from-the-Heart, the 2007 Australian bonnet project by artist Christina Henri, MCA, commemorating the passage of women convicts.

Saidie Patterson, Belfast Peace Activist well-known for her work with mixed communities of working-class women, first female Linen & Textiles Trade Unionist, Saidie Patterson (1906 - 1985).