EMBROIDERY WITH ELIZABETH ELVIN

AT NAWORTH CASTLE MAY 13-21, 2017

In 2015, we sponsored a tour program that was very popular. Following that 11 day

program, we asked our participants to give us suggestions on how we could make the tour better. In 2017, we will do exactly that – Embroidery with Elizabeth Elvin - will include longer class time and take our participants to visit some very wonderful places.

Furthermore, the group will be guests for the entire stay in a 13th century private English castle on the Scottish Border that retains much from its history as well as enjoying

modern conveniences.

What’s more, we will have two amazing teachers – Elizabeth Elvin, former Principal of

the Royal School of Needlework, and Nicola Jarvis, well-known artist and hand embroiderer who has 25 years’ experience teaching hand embroidery.

The group will gather on Saturday, May 13. We recommend people fly into Glasgow; the trip includes Glasgow airport transfers to and from Naworth Castle. Other arrangements

can be organized. The history of Naworth Castle dates to the 13th century and is steeped in the history of the

north of England. It is the 19th century that may be of most interest to us. In 1843 there was a serious fire and the then Earl of Carlisle commissioned the first of the important

19th century artists and architects to be associated with the Howards, Anthony Salvin, to undertake the restoration.

George Howard, the ninth Earl of Carlisle was a patron and friend of the Pre-Raphaelites – Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris – and himself an

accomplished artist. He counted among his friends and guests, Robert Browning, George Elliott, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Mathew Arnold and William Gladstone.

We will spend some time settling into our rooms, and then Philip Howard, our host takes us on a tour of this wonderful castle and tells us a bit of his family’s history. We will

meet for a welcome reception, a preview of the week, and introduction to the class schedule followed by dinner in the candlelit dining room.

Philip Howard on a walkway overlooking the courtyard at Naworth Castle.

Nicola will create an Arts and Crafts-style design inspired by elements in Carlisle

Cathedral, for a silk and gold work embroidery project. Students will work with silk thread and a range of metal threads on a silk fabric.

An example of Nicola’s design work.

Liz and Nicola will team teach many of the embroidery techniques, commencing with silk work and moving on to the gold work later in the week, where Liz will take over and teach some gold techniques in the final two days. Below is a detail from the Fort

Augustus cope using Or Nue, or “shaded gold”.

On Tuesday we’ll take a break and drive to the northeast coast of England to visit the

Lindisfarne Priory, and just a bit further across the causeway on Holy Island tour Lindisfarne House. Edward Hudson, the publisher of Country Life commissioned Sir

Edwin Lutyens to restore the fort and make it a home, a home which was made even more livable with a walled garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll.

Holy Island and Lindisfarne as seen from Gertrude Jekyll’s walled garden.

We’ll also go that day to Cragside designed by Richard Norman Shaw described as “a palace of the modern magician” as it was built for Lord Armstrong a Victorian inventor

and is the first house to use hydroelectricity. There are wondrous arts and crafts elements and objects throughout and the grounds are renowned.

Wednesday and Thursday it will be Liz’s turn to work with you to realize your project. Liz is an amazing teacher, as many people know. Patient and kind, she will teach you

new stitches and help you master the one or two stitches that still give you trouble.

Friday will take us west to England’s famous Lake District. We’ll visit Blackwells with its view of Lake Windermere, designed by Baillie-Scott and now a museum of the Arts and Crafts Movement. We will also go to Brantwood, home of John Ruskin on Coniston

Waters.

Saturday will include final classes before we go into nearby Carlisle and visit the historic Carlisle Cathedral (below). That evening is our Farewell Dinner at Naworth.

During the days of classes we’ll make time for short nearby visits to Lanercost Priory as well as into the lovely little village of Brampton to see the glorious Burne-Jones windows in St Martin’s, Philip Webb’s only church, glimmering in the sunlight – and possibly a

short walk on Hadrian’s Wall.

Following breakfast on Sunday, May 22, the group will sadly depart Naworth Castle to go home or perhaps to spend a few days in Glasgow or you may decide to take the train

to London.

OUR TEACHERS

Elizabeth Elvin When Elizabeth Elvin retired from the Royal School of Needlework as Principal, she wanted to still be associated with the embroidery world and give something back from all

that she had learned over the last 55 years. She worked on a project in the slums of Cairo helping young people learn the skill of embroidery, which in time would help them apply for work in one of the many factories as a “finisher”. She started a project in a girl’s

school in Nairobi teaching this time metal embroidery, helping the girls in their last year at school to start a small enterprise. She continues to teach in the UK on specialist

projects having recently helped on a large textile panel 6 metres by 4 metres advertising series 5 of the television series Game of Thrones. In the summer of 2015 she went to California to present a power point lecture on her years at the Royal School.

She is a judge for the Beryl Dean Teaching award together with judging an award for the Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards. She continues to assess the embroidery of the Future Tutors, Certificate and Diploma Awards for the Royal School of Needlework.

In 2016 she worked on the Opus Anglicanum, exhibition at the Victoria and Albert

Museum and demonstrated its special techniques of Medieval English Embroidery of the 13th & 14th century. She continues her work with the City Livery Companies throughout the year. A seal bag from the 13th century is below as an example of some of that work.

Nicola Jarvis – Artist and Hand Embroiderer

Nicola is widely known in the global stitching community for her beautiful embroidery

kit projects. Featuring ornate birds, animals and flowers, these stitch projects are inspired by a variety of iconic designers and distinctive period styles.

Celebrating twenty-five years of teaching hand embroidery, Nicola trained at the Royal School of Needlework and spent ten years working in the British fashion industry as a

sample embroiderer for numerous high street brands. She is proud to have been a member of the team that created the lace for the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress.

She assisted in designing, launching and running the Royal School of Needlework degree curriculum from 2007 to 2011, and over the last ten years has formulated and delivered

independent site-specific embroidery courses in stately homes, museums and other venues across the UK, Europe, North Africa, USA and Australia.

In July 2013 Nicola staged her collaborative exhibition ‘The Art of Embroidery: Nicola

Jarvis and May Morris’ at the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London. Inspired by the designs of William and May Morris, and with funding from Arts Council England,

this popular show was invited to tour selected William Morris-linked venues in England, including National Trust property Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands and Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, and at Blackwell House on Lake Windermere from June to

December 2016.

Nicola operates her art practice, embroidery design and teaching business from her beautiful studio space on the outskirts of Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Please contact us at artsandcraftstours@gmail.com for further information and details.

The Registration Form and Tour Conditions are on our site: www.artsandcraftstours.com