Weaving a story: Chris Ofili at Dovecot Studios
For those who don’t know much about weaving or tapestry, Dovecot weavers in Edinburgh would be a sensible place to start a journey of discovery; established by the Marquess of Bute as the Edinburgh Tapestry Company in 1912, Dovecot was incorporated under that name in 1946. It has a long tradition of weaving tapestries designed by artists such as Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland, Eduardo Paolozzi, David Hockney, Yinka Shonibare and now Chris Ofili. It has a reputation for being able to interpret artists’ sketches with a degree of subtlety and finesse. In the afternoons and on Saturdays, visitors can watch this happen from the third floor balcony, looking down at the weavers at work below.
Their new show Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song aims to explain the making of this tapestry, a commission by the Clothworkers’ Company for their Livery Hall at 50 Fenchurch Street in London; the sixth iteration of their Hall. The show starts off with panels explaining this in detail and fills visitors in on the nature of Livery Companies. It continues with how Dovecot trains apprentices and then a little biographical information on those who worked on the Ofili project. This is all before visitors get to look at a tapestry, let alone feel one or get any sense of excitement. The rather anodyne panels, whilst informative, are immensely old fashioned and schoolmarmish.
Image: Installation view of Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song. © Dovecot Studios. Photography by Phil Wilkinson.
Eventually the process of weaving is described in the same format. The procedure of creating a cartoon from the artist’s original work is explained; breaking the design down into a series of shapes, denoting colours and brush marks, followed by the creation of an acetate sheet, which is then blown up in black and white to the tapestry’s final size. Ofili’s watercolour was enlarged 800%. Visitors however are yet to experience anything physical.
Finally they get to a practical example of inking on, in a model of the loom warped up with the cartoon behind it, showing how the weavers have to ink all around the warps in case they spin during weaving. It’s here that the show starts to come alive. There is a small low warp loom set up with a section of the tapestry, but not the high-warp loom on which the tapestry was actually made. It shows how wefts are created in different colour yarns. It doesn’t explain which yarns were used, where they were obtained or how they were dyed. It would have been fun to be able to touch the loom, the yarns and the bobbins, let alone have a go at weaving. The most engaging section is a wall of images of the weaving in progress with mounted samples. There is a 15 minute sound explanation, with 2 headphones, but the sound was so indistinct that some visitors gave up listening. There’s also a short speeded up film showing some actual weaving.
The whole is amplified by quotes from the artist and weavers. Master weaver Naomi Robertson explains how the weavers have to use their knowledge and judgement to create the effects that the artist requires. “We have to consciously recreate some of those brush marks or pools of paint… We have to make a conscious decision to weave them.” The Caged Bird’s Song is a complex weave with much colour melding. “It is a marriage of watercolour and weaving. I set out to challenge the weaving process, by doing something free-flowing in making a watercolour, encouraging the liquid pigment to form the image, a contrast to the weaving process,” says Chris Ofili. “With their response, which is an interpretation rather than a reproduction, the weavers have paid a type of homage to the watercolour that I gave them as well as to the process of weaving.”
Finally in a church like setting is the tapestry itself- a highly coloured figurative triptych of 20.7 square metres in mauves, yellows, greens, blues and browns. Figures cavort in a tropical scene of trees, hillsides, rocks and water. The image reflects Ofili’s interest in classical mythology and contemporary ‘demigods’, and the colour and magic of the Trinidadian landscape, where he lives. The weaving is extraordinary, conveying the colours and essence of the original water colour by Ofili. Whilst it is hardly his best artwork, the end result is a remarkable demonstration of tapestry weavers’ skills. The project was completed in 29 months from October 2014 to March 2017, taking a total of 6,291 hours. 250 different shades of yarn were used by 5 weavers.
Image: Installation view of Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song. © Dovecot Studios. Photography by Phil Wilkinson.
This exhibition could have been so exciting and educational at the same time, but sadly feels old fashioned and static. It might have been helpful to employ a curator who knew little about the subject and who might therefore have addressed questions that non-weavers might have posed. The budget may have been small, but it could have been employed so much more imaginatively. There is nothing interactive. Why no touching of yarns, bobbins, or tapestry samples and why no weaving, even on children’s cardboard looms?
Ofili seems delighted with the outcome “I think it’s the magic of weaving, because there’s skill and there’s the joy of colour and there’s a love of the material…..But then there’s something else going on that is a kind of magic trick, where you have to keep asking your brain if that is what you’re really looking at …” Sadly the show doesn’t really excite that magic. Anyone visiting the outstanding El Anatsui show at the Talbot Rice in Edinburgh, should however drop in at the Dovecot. Those not expecting too much, will find it instructive.
Text by Corinne Julius
Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song is on show at Dovecot until 5 October 2024.
Find out more and plan your visit:
dovecotstudios.com/whats-on/chris-ofili-the-caged-bird-s-song
Their new show Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song aims to explain the making of this tapestry, a commission by the Clothworkers’ Company for their Livery Hall at 50 Fenchurch Street in London; the sixth iteration of their Hall. The show starts off with panels explaining this in detail and fills visitors in on the nature of Livery Companies. It continues with how Dovecot trains apprentices and then a little biographical information on those who worked on the Ofili project. This is all before visitors get to look at a tapestry, let alone feel one or get any sense of excitement. The rather anodyne panels, whilst informative, are immensely old fashioned and schoolmarmish.
Eventually the process of weaving is described in the same format. The procedure of creating a cartoon from the artist’s original work is explained; breaking the design down into a series of shapes, denoting colours and brush marks, followed by the creation of an acetate sheet, which is then blown up in black and white to the tapestry’s final size. Ofili’s watercolour was enlarged 800%. Visitors however are yet to experience anything physical.
Finally they get to a practical example of inking on, in a model of the loom warped up with the cartoon behind it, showing how the weavers have to ink all around the warps in case they spin during weaving. It’s here that the show starts to come alive. There is a small low warp loom set up with a section of the tapestry, but not the high-warp loom on which the tapestry was actually made. It shows how wefts are created in different colour yarns. It doesn’t explain which yarns were used, where they were obtained or how they were dyed. It would have been fun to be able to touch the loom, the yarns and the bobbins, let alone have a go at weaving. The most engaging section is a wall of images of the weaving in progress with mounted samples. There is a 15 minute sound explanation, with 2 headphones, but the sound was so indistinct that some visitors gave up listening. There’s also a short speeded up film showing some actual weaving.
The whole is amplified by quotes from the artist and weavers. Master weaver Naomi Robertson explains how the weavers have to use their knowledge and judgement to create the effects that the artist requires. “We have to consciously recreate some of those brush marks or pools of paint… We have to make a conscious decision to weave them.” The Caged Bird’s Song is a complex weave with much colour melding. “It is a marriage of watercolour and weaving. I set out to challenge the weaving process, by doing something free-flowing in making a watercolour, encouraging the liquid pigment to form the image, a contrast to the weaving process,” says Chris Ofili. “With their response, which is an interpretation rather than a reproduction, the weavers have paid a type of homage to the watercolour that I gave them as well as to the process of weaving.”
Finally in a church like setting is the tapestry itself- a highly coloured figurative triptych of 20.7 square metres in mauves, yellows, greens, blues and browns. Figures cavort in a tropical scene of trees, hillsides, rocks and water. The image reflects Ofili’s interest in classical mythology and contemporary ‘demigods’, and the colour and magic of the Trinidadian landscape, where he lives. The weaving is extraordinary, conveying the colours and essence of the original water colour by Ofili. Whilst it is hardly his best artwork, the end result is a remarkable demonstration of tapestry weavers’ skills. The project was completed in 29 months from October 2014 to March 2017, taking a total of 6,291 hours. 250 different shades of yarn were used by 5 weavers.
This exhibition could have been so exciting and educational at the same time, but sadly feels old fashioned and static. It might have been helpful to employ a curator who knew little about the subject and who might therefore have addressed questions that non-weavers might have posed. The budget may have been small, but it could have been employed so much more imaginatively. There is nothing interactive. Why no touching of yarns, bobbins, or tapestry samples and why no weaving, even on children’s cardboard looms?
Ofili seems delighted with the outcome “I think it’s the magic of weaving, because there’s skill and there’s the joy of colour and there’s a love of the material…..But then there’s something else going on that is a kind of magic trick, where you have to keep asking your brain if that is what you’re really looking at …” Sadly the show doesn’t really excite that magic. Anyone visiting the outstanding El Anatsui show at the Talbot Rice in Edinburgh, should however drop in at the Dovecot. Those not expecting too much, will find it instructive.
Text by Corinne Julius
Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song is on show at Dovecot until 5 October 2024.
Find out more and plan your visit:
dovecotstudios.com/whats-on/chris-ofili-the-caged-bird-s-song