Last year I was Artist in Residence at East Riddlesden Hall, a National Trust property in West Yorkshire. The brief was to weave a tapestry inspired by the house and to engage with the public about tapestry weaving. I am an academic archaeologist by background, not an artist, and finding a way to harness what interested me about the hall into a single image was the greatest challenge of the project. Eventually I focused on an inscription etched into a fireplace 'They Maides of Coihn', dating to the English Civil War. Assuming the last word is a misspelling of coign or quoin, the inscription seems to come from a psalm referring to daughters as cornerstones. I wanted to explore women/daughters within families as supports and linchpins and something of the challenges and strength those roles can demand. The final design was of a girl holding up something beyond the tapestry and also being weighed down by it. The spirals in her dress were inspired by similar shapes carved into the stones around the foundations of the house.
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