I spent two months this winter completing projects from classes I began several years ago, which were inspired by Schoolgirl Art. It feels wonderful to finally have shortened, slightly, my to do list.......Below left, is a traditional New England family tree design taken from a Boston area group of samplers. I've updated mine into a 21st century divorce scissors case, for posterity. Note the weeping hearts on the bottom....ha ha. Below right, the interior of a pillow book with matching hand painted thread-winders and thread-keep fitted with a fob of hand twisted cord and tassel finial. Also, a matching waxer pocket and thimble nest of linen, embroidered with silk threads and finished with silk ribbon and fabric, absolutely decadent....... Both projects were classes of Dr. Nguyen's, one taken on the 2014 East Coast Casket tour and the other with my Michigan Sampler Guild, Kindred Spirits in 2003 ......
The following is a group of other related projects. A gentleman's pocketbook of Bargello, Florentine or Irish stitch (a simpler form), mine holds a compact mirror. A strawberry emery of silk fabric and matching ribbon. Also two pin pads filled with wool to protect pins from rust..... The right pin pad is a copy of an antique piece which was printed on silk fabric and looks amazingly close to the original, a kit I purchased from Amy Mitten last year. This will be stored in my JA casket, being of the correct period. Amy, among her many talents is a Dyer. Her company, 'Fiber's to Dye For', has a very entertaining website. Amy's book 'Autopsy of the Montenegrin Stitch' has been reprinted or as only Amy can put it......exhumed..
It's at this point I want to elaborate on a collaboration between Dr. Tricia Nguyen and Betsy Kreig Salm on the subject of Schoolgirl Art. Late in the 1990's they designed a class which included a painted box with sliding top, compartments for embroidered smalls and lined with hand marbled paper. This class was researched around a group of Newburyport, MA samplers known as the Shady Bower group. This brings me full circle with 'The Chase' sampler I have discussed at the beginning of this blog and why I began to embroider. To review, 'The Chase' was a sampler in this group by an 11 year old Mary Starkey (1760). Her original sampler is stored in a display drawer on the second floor in the textiles area of the Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in the historic district of Williamsburg. I found a few reproduction kits of this sampler available at the Craft House shop in Williamsburg charted by The Examplarery Sampler Collection in February. Dr. Nguyen and Betsy's project was designed around Sarah Bartlett (1800) and Anne Kimball (1803) samplers. All three sampler's have a saw tooth border in common, other features are fruit trees, birds, flowering urns...... I loved stitching this project because it was a review of stitches found in Schoolgirl samplers. They are a good example of the basic's in surface embroidery and include, cross, long-armed cross, four-sided, satin, tent, french knot, rice, button hole, long and short button hole, stem, chain, reversed chain, split, fly and lazy daisy stitches. My finished project is below.......
Above, the large satin stitched 'A B C' with a ring of bows, along with the Shady Bower texts on Virtue, below, are found on both Mary Coffin (1801) and Abigail Prince (1801) samplers. Typically samplers of this period will contain Schoolgirl Virtue quotes....in verse of a 'Shady Bower' which brings to mind a reread of JA's juvenilia short story 'Catherine, or the Bower'. These are constant theme's used throughout Schoolgirl samplers of this period. The Bower as a place of solitude and reflection....or from a crazy Aunt....
Having taken a painting class of Betsy's, I deeply appreciate her artistry, all painted pieces on this post are Betsy's work.......Below, the cover of Betsy Kreig Salm's scholarly and beautiful coffee table worthy book, 'Women's Painted Furniture 1790-1830 American Schoolgirl Art'..... Which I may add I found a few still left at the AAR Folk Art Museum Store. Some could possibly exist at the Williamsburg Visitor Center book store. Note the time period, in which American schoolgirls were painting like their British counterparts!
I also have in my possession a pair of Betsy's fireplace hand screens, shown below, which lay proudly over my fireplace mantle. They are simply wonderful...Very Regency Era worthy...
I began this post with the 'Polar Vortex' still in the news. Winter always reignites my schoolgirl memories, very different from the period of Jane Austen. Mine are of seeking a profession, in graphic/industrial arts which lead me to a College in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A college situated on Lake Superior with long and very cold winters. Freshman year recorded 386.4 inches of snow on campus, a number shocked into my memory. Followed by three more years and as many occasions of frost bite, two which involved my ears and the third included my cheeks. I no longer enjoy winter....
Another memory of dear roommates involved in a freak accident, loosing control of their vehicle in a white-out, while returning after Christmas break. My close childhood friend Jane Elizabeth Taylor (I always assumed her parents were JA fans) was killed instantly, Caroline Carr expired before an ambulance could reach them. My Jane was a gorgeous tall blond. We attended Elementary through High School together. We shared the same girl scout troop, and her mom was a substitute art teacher in our school district. Jane and I took summer train trips to Toronto, Montreal and a road trip to Boston. Both ladies were Senior year Engineering students, Jane majored in Mechanical and Caroline in Mining. Recently, one of our college room mates and her spouse contacted me about helping to fund a scholarship in our room mates name. I am so very happy Marcia and John put in the hard work to get the fund started. It's the Taylor/Carr Scholarship Fund at Michigan Tech, which will benefit female Engineering students. I can't think of a better expression to remember two girls who were taking advantage of an education. Sadly neither got the chance to benefit from their dedication but like the Schoolgirl samplers there is something left behind to keep their names remembered.....
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