On The Town: Artist Ann Bernstorff's interpretation of the Norman landings in Wexford was explored at Dublin Castle's Coach House this week.
Three of the 15 panels Bernstorff has painted of the Normans' arrival have been transferred and embroidered on to linen by groups of stitchers based in the south-east. One of the completed tapestries was on show alongside the painted panels.
When the work is completed, the Ros Tapestry will hang in the historic St Mary's Church in New Ross, Co Wexford, which was founded in 1207.
"We are about halfway through this enormous undertaking," Bernstorff said. "We are celebrating the Normans arriving in Ireland."
According to Seán Reidy, chief executive of the John F Kennedy Trust in New Ross (which includes the Dunbrody Famine Ship), "it's a magnificent community project. It's unique. We see great opportunity for another heritage attraction".
At the stitching sessions, "there's a great sense of industriousness and camraderie", said Bernstorff's daughter, Alexis Bernstorff, the project's director of embroidery. "The conversation can range from how to cure sunburn or the sore udder of a cow to using elderberry flowers."
Among those at the reception were Therese Perrott, from Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, the project's co-ordinator; stitchers Gwen Wilkinson and Phil Pearson, and Archdeacon Paul Mooney, the originator of the Ros Tapestry concept and rector of St Mary's Church.
Also present were John Mulcahy and Sonya Perkins, publishers of the quarterly Irish Arts Review, which features the Ros Tapestry in its autumn edition.
Other guests included Rita Hughes, of Hughes & Hughes bookshops; ceramicist Ayelet Lalor; Gerry Crosbie, from Dublin's DesignYard; Damian O'Brien, from Fáilte Ireland; Mary Heffernan, from Farmleigh House; Barbara Dawson, from the Hugh Lane Gallery; Ann Stewart, from the Ulster Museum; and architect Sam Stephenson.