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‘The Country Wife’ textile mural was designed by Constance Howard and was made by her, and some of her students at Goldsmiths College, for the Country Pavilion at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Many of the craftwork features on the mural were made by members of the WI who were experts in such fields as glove making, canework, and embroidery. At the close of the Festival the mural was given to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and it has been housed at Denman College in Oxfordshire ever since.
Constance Howard was a giant in her field, innovative in her own work and inspirational to many generations of textile artists during her time as Head of Department at Goldsmith’s College. ‘The Country Wife’ is not only iconic of its time in terms of style and social content, but also a major example of the work of the twentieth century’s most important textile artist. It is essential that ‘The Country Wife’ is preserved and that it is made accessible to the public.
After almost 60 years, this 4.5m x 5m stumpwork textile picture is in urgent need of conservation work but several grant applications to have this work carried out professionally have been unsuccessful. In order to save the mural, it has now been agreed that the mural will be given to the National Needlework Archive who will oversee a project in which volunteers will be trained to undertake the required work, under the supervision of a consultant textile conservation specialist. It is anticipated that the project will take three to five years to complete.
The mural is an important resource for the textile community, and involvement in the full range of activities required to help the work of saving the mural will additionally be welcomed from any interested volunteers. While all qualified textile conservators are welcome to be involved in this prestigious project on any level, training will also be provided for experienced needleworkers and textile students. The NNA is keen to utilise the educational potential of the project with possible apprenticeships and validated training. On a wider front, volunteers will be needed for a wide variety of activities apart from work on the mural itself and programmes will be initiated to involve schools and colleges in the social history aspects of the mural and to encourage interest in textile art and conservation. The mural will be open to the public for viewing throughout all stages of the project.
The NNA has now found a suitable location for the workshop and with support from The Greenham Common Trust the workshop will open at The Old Chapel, New Greenham Park. We are pleased to report that professional textile conservators Alison Lister from Bristol, and Janie Lightfoot from London have been appointed as Consultants for the project.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the project in any way should contact Linda Connell at the National Needlework Archive, preferably by email: nna@boldre.freeserve.co.uk
We would like to thank Michell Instruments Ltd and Mr David Brunning for providing us with an oxygen meter and a humidity meter for the treatment monitoring of the Country Wife. David came to us at Newbury from Ely to set up the equipment and we are very grateful for this support. The pictures show David with the equipment and the mural in its treatment bag.
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