Alexis Bernstorff - manager of the Ros tapestry exhibition, New Ross
THE ROS Tapestry is a series of panels, each six foot by five foot four inches, based on the Norman experience in Ireland – from raising cattle to the crusades – painted by my mother, the artist Ann Griffin Bernstorff, and stitched by local people from throughout the southeast.
New Ross was a hugely important Norman port and enormous research has gone into making sure everything is historically accurate, and all the identities of all the people in the tapestries known. A tapestry can last a thousand years, so it has to be right.
I’ve been teaching embroidery since 1998. My own background is in textile conservation. We have 10 panels complete and another five are being finished in different venues around the region.
It’s very slow work, some panels took six years, mainly because of all the chat we were doing. But I think the slowness of it is part of what captures people’s imagination.
People also like the community aspect of it. Each of the stitchers will have their names recorded in the borders and there will be a panel at the end that will have banners with their name on it.
About 150 people have been involved to date. We’ve had all ages, including a seven year old, but most are over 50s, and mostly women.
At first we had only one man, which was grammatically difficult – I had to say the tapestries were being created by “the women and a man” of the community. Now we have three men!
I’m up at 8am and head over to the first group of stitchers in Bawnmore. I’ll help out if there’s a space but mostly it’s about helping interpret the picture and with stitch direction and colour.
From there, I’ll move into the bigger group based in the exhibition centre in New Ross to help there. We have great fun doing it. The women are so witty we should really produce a book of jokes that went into the making of it.
The Obamas saw the tapestries when they visited, in Farmleigh. Michelle said, “Wow”, and called Barack over, so they could have their pictures taken beside them.
I’ll have lunch in the exhibition centre and in the afternoon either do a second stitching session or administrative work, answering phones and organising fund raising. Apart from some Leader funding, the tapestries have been an entirely community funded.
Stitching isn’t hard on your fingers so much as on your back and eyes. It’s important to get up and walk around every so often.
I’ll finish up at about 5pm and go home. It’s easier now. In the beginning I’d drive from New Ross to Ferns to Clonroche and then down to Duncannon in a day to meet stitchers. That was full-on crazy, but great too.
rostapestry.com
