An Unusual Art

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21467, 15 April 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

An Unusual Art

Patchwork pictures—but the word patchwork is not nearly adequate to describe the fabric masterpieces of Mary Ireland. Any woman with a love of colour and line would long to possess one of these jewel-like mosaics to decorate her walls; for Mary Ireland is not only a craftswoman—sho is an artist. Her pictures have been hung in the Royal Academy, and sho lias worked in many mediums, until she evolved an entirely original one. of her own, building up pictures from scraps of fabrics, pictures that glow with an intensity of colour that no brush could produce. " The effect of light and shadow is built up chiefly with panne velvet," sho said. " The tiniest fraction of difference in the way it is cut and laid on makes the varying depth and shadows in the picture." ller " palette " is composed of many trays, each filled with scraps and pieces of a certain colour; brocade, satin, velvet, 'lace—every material imaginable is used. Sometimes a picture is held up ior days while Mrs. Ireland searches the shops for exactly the shade she wants. Some of her materials are very old (and very valuable* A wisp of muslin

MAKING PATCHWORK

and lace that had been a ruffle nf tho Stuart period is used in one pieture; a delightful group of eighteenth-cen-tury gossips with wonderful hooped skirts made entirely from antique brocade forms another. Tho faces and hands are the only parts of tho pictures which are painted; the rest, clothes, buildings, trees—• everything—is built up of different materials. Some of the pieces are several inches across, while others are so tiny they have to bo picked up on tho point of a pin. Arms, hands and faces are cut from the finest quality crepe de chine, which is tho only material that does not blur and run when painted on, and ordinary rouge is often used for flesh tints. The pictures are drawn first of all on wood, in delicate sections, almost like tho design for an intricate jig-saw j lizzie. Then the artist sets to work, cutting with either a sharp knife or a tiny pair of scissors and pasting the scraps of material, cut to the exact shape required, with ordinary photographic adhesive. Sometimes a picture will require a terrific amount of cutting (every leaf shadow or fleck of light is a ininuta scrap of velvet or satin), and sometimes for a flower picture, in a simple, modern design, only a comparatively fow pieces will be needed*