The Woodcutter's Quilt
The Woodcutter's Quilt on display The Woodcutter's Cottage Exhibition, The Customs House Gallery 2012
The Story
“The Woodcutter sits in his cottage, a hermit on the periphery of ‘life’, watching films and documentaries as his only means of viewing the world beyond the forests. He watches the effects of human destruction. He photographs epic, reflective and emotional moments from his favourite films to use as inspiration for the patchwork squares in his quilt of remembrance.”
Symbolism
Like the British Moth Throw and the Woodcutter's Giant Pillow, the Woodcutter's Quilt was created in appreciation of handmade household objects made with love, care and time, in a bid to replicate time management pre-twentieth century technological revolution while also incorporating the magic of film. Jane photographed personally poignant moments from film and documentaries, including ‘White Mane’, Albert Lamorisse 1953 and ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, Andrei Tarkovsky 1962 and created montages using the images and her Biro drawings that were then heat-transferred on cotton squares to form the patches of the quilt. Jane also embroidered some of the patches.
The Woodcutter's Quilt 2012 silk, embroidery and hand printed fabric 2m x 2m
She created a series of colour Biro drawings of forest creatures to use as montage images for the squares.
Lily and the Kids 2012 Biro drawing and montage
The patchwork square Lily and the Kids is a montage of a vintage postcard from Jane's collection, illustrating the famous tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geißlein (The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats), layered with an image of her dog and muse, Lily.
Bear 2012 colour Biro drawing and montage
A vintage postcard illustrating Snow White formed montage with Jane's colour bear Biro drawing for another patchwork square.
Siberian Tiger 2012 colour Biro drawing and montage
Ivan Bilibin's illustrations became patterns for two patchwork squares Siberian Tiger and Ice Fox layered with colour Biro drawings of a tiger and fox, by Jane.
Ice Fox 2012 colour Biro drawing and montage
The central square of the quilt is a detail of Jane's Northern Inuit dog and muse Lily, from the original colour Biro drawing she created for her wedding invitation. This represents the personal references centuries of quilters have included in their quilt designs.
Highland Wedding Invitation colour Biro drawing
IMAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;
‘Fox and Rabbit’, Yuri Norstein 1973; Ivan Bilibin; Vintage German Postcard ‘The Wolf and the Seven Kids’; Vintage German Postcard ‘Snow White’; ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, Andrei Tarkovsky 1962, Mosfilm; ‘Come and See’, Elem Klimov 1985 Mosfilm/Belarus Film; World At War, Thames Television 1973, WWII film footage, Czechoslovakia 1945; ‘Immortal Beloved’, Bernard Rose 1994 Columbia Tristar; ‘Where Eagles Dare’, Brian G. Hutton 1968 MGM; ‘Dean’s Gift Book of Fairy Tales’, Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone 1967; embroidered image from Tawerna Mestwin, Kashubian restaurant, Gdansk 2011; ‘Winterreise’, Luc Delahaye 2000 Phaidon; ‘Peter and The Wolf’, Suzie Templeton 2006 BreakThru Films; Photograph: Tove Jansson & Tuulikki Pietilä working on Moomin models; ‘The Red Balloon’, Albert Lamorisse 1956 Lopert Pictures Corporation/Janus Films; ‘Hedgehog in the Fog’, Yuri Norstein 1975 Soyuzmultfilm; ‘The Scar’, Krzysztof Kieslowski 1976 Artificial Eye; ‘White Mane’, Albert Lamorisse 1953 Films Montsouris/Janus Films