Commissions

The Fencible’s Friend

I received a commission to do a goldwork creation for the lobby of THE BARRACKS INN, in Ancaster, Ontario
here is a brief descripion of building’s life from 1805 to the present:

If you could turn back time on The Barracks Inn, it would have plenty of stories to tell before it became a luxury, 18-room boutique hotel in Ancaster, Ontario, less than an hour’s drive from Toronto.

Through its life, it has evolved many times. It has been a body shop, a tool-and-die business, a car dealership, and apartments. If you rewind even more, it was a drug store around 1868. Before that, it was believed to have served as barracks for soldiers during the War of 1812. It was that chapter which provided the inspiration for the name of the property opened in the fall of 2016.

So… starting from the beginning…

Research into The War of 1812 and the men who fought and lived in places like the barracks in Ancaster started a flow of possibilities for the foyer art. Two related but distinct ideas came to a head. The men themselves as lowly militia, and the weapons they used.

A line of full figures in firing stance, or just the rifles in the same attitude were my two final decisions. The full figure creation would be better for the wall facing the entrance to the Inn, and the “muskets only” for above the fireplace, opposite the reception desk.

The militia mock-up is 9″ high, the musket mock-up 12″ long’. For the rendition I photographed each one, then printed sequential sized copies to cut out and paste on a “painted wall”

….so A: I’m not at all techy,
and B: …got the stone colour completely wrong.

….Regardless, they chose the muskets…and I got the commission.

Fencible (from the word defensible) was the name given to British regiments raised in the colonies against the threat of invasion. They were temporary, local recruits who were usually used for patrol duty or confined to barracks, such as the one in which you are standing.

In production between 1722and 1836, the ‘Brown Bess’ musket was the weapon issued to these men. As a true and stalwart friend, the musket’s symbolic importance was at least as significant as its physical importance.

A flintlock and muzzle-loading musket, the stock was made out of walnut, the barrel and ramrods of iron, and the butt plate and trigger of brass. (The musket used as a historical reference by the artist was manufactured in the Tower of London Armoury.)

In this interpretative work of art, the muskets are sculpted in the centuries-old embroidery technique called Goldwork or Metal Thread Embroidery. Twenty-two different types, sizes and finishes of pure copper threads were used. Each musket is embroidered in a unique representation of a fence, which not only captures the regiments’ nickname but identifies their duty: to “hold the line”, ‘defend the fort”, “resist attack.” To answer the most commonly asked question, it took approximately 750 hours to complete.

The Bouquet of Remembrance and Celebration

A gift from the people of Canada, created in honour of the 50th Anniversary of Canadian Tulip Festival in 2002, presented to The Royal Family of Netherlands who gifted tulips to Canada in response to a friendship that has blossomed since 1943.

Described to be “as beautiful as a Faberge Egg”. Rising more than a meter high, it is an exquisite bouquet of 50 goldwork embroidered tulip blossoms and fallen petals at its base. Each blossom bears an intricate motif, intentionally and thoughtfully entrenched in symbolism.

Honouring a friendship that has blossomed over the decades, this bouquet serves as an enduring war memorial.
It was my 3rd goldwork piece, but laboured over for a ten month period with 10 other talented embroidery artists in Ottawa.

Sadly in the Royal collection so not on public display.