NEWS
FINE CELL WORK AT THE V&A SPONSORED BY THE ARCHER HOBLIN GROUP
Our reception on March 25th 2010 will include a private view of the show, and
signifies the coming of age of our pioneering charity founded by Lady Anne Tree fifteen years ago. Lady Anne believed that prisoners could learn skills to vie with the very best craftsmen, giving them the chance to begin life again free of crime on their release.
Fine Cell Work was invited to create a new commission for the V&A by Sue Prichard, curator of the event. The exhibition is the V&A’s first major exhibition of quilts and will explore 300 years of British quilt making. The Fine Cell Work commission will demonstrate how the quilt making tradition of using needlework as reform continues today. This is a thrilling opportunity, and one which will reveal the prisoners’ outstanding work, and something of their world, to a wider public than ever before.
The commission, generously supported by the Friends of the V&A, will also be acquired by the V&A. It is a contemporary depiction of prison life, conceived and designed by prisoners involved in the project and sewn in HMP Wandsworth.
One inmate has described his experience in this way:
“Many people thought they couldn’t do it at the beginning. Each has their own perspective. The finished product will be the work of many hands… We are working together, showing each other colours, commenting on each others’ work. There is a sense of doing something constructive rather than not. FCW is more consistent and reliable than most education classes. You can do it in your own time and learn from other people and teach them something as well. You feel you’ve advanced your knowledge and experience.”
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The V&A have also specially commisioned their own range of cushions featuring a number of designs from taken from the central panels appearing on the quilt. All of the work has been conceived and designed by prisoners in the project and sewn in HMP Wandsworth. Visit the V&A online shop to see more.
The Celebrity Signature Quilt
The vision for the V&A commission was born in conjunction with the Signature Quilt – which has been embroidered with the names of roughly one hundred of Britain’s top designers and artists, pieced together by stitchers in HMP Bullingdon, with the individual panels stitched in various Fine Cell Works throughout the UK. The Signature Quilt will be auctioned at the event. Click here to read more about the Signature Quilt.
This event has been kindly sponsored by the Archer Hoblin Group . For information on how to attend this event click here V&A Exhibition