There’s been a buzz around Edinburgh over the past few weeks about The Tapestry. Capital Ts for sure. Officially, it’s the Great Tapestry of Scotland, but it hardly needs the adjective. 165 panels, stitched by a thousand pairs of hands over 50,000 hours with 300 miles of wool recount the story of Scotland. Everything from volcanoes and the geological formation of the land (panel 1) right through the Reformation (panel 43), Bonnie Prince Charlie (panel 60), the building of railway (panel 95), Elsie Inglis’ Maternity Hospital (panel 120) Dolly the Sheep (panel 154 and yes, that’s her at the top) and the Scottish Parliament (panel 155). Great seems unnecessary.
The idea of The Tapestry came from Alexander McCall Smith. His imagination was captured by large embroidered tapestries: the Prestonpans Tapestry, and also – of course – by the Bayeux Tapestry. He wanted to record the story of Scotland – a bright, bold, honest piece of art stitched by the people of Scotland and given to the nation.
The Tapestry was on display at the Scottish Parliament during September, and my parents had included it on their must-see list while in town this month. The afternoon they went to see it, I tagged along with the kids. I hoped that if I told the kids enough stories while we looked at The Tapestry together, I’d be able to see some of it and keep them engaged and entertained at the same time. Same strategy I use in foreign churches. And, like the Biblical stories I tell in churches, these Scottish ones are their stories, too. Because they were baptised in the Presbyterian Church in Canada (2 out of 3 at least) and there are deep Scottish roots there. And because they live in Edinburgh right now and are Scottish school children. But also because their grandmother was born here, and their great grandmother played as a child on the same streets where they play now. (Yes, I let my kids play on the streets. Well, the sidewalks. We can talk about this another time.) My kids can sing the Skye Boat song with the best of them, so I wanted to show them that The Tapestry depicts their stories, too.
The Tapestry is amazing. Panel after panel after panel, you see the story and stories of Scotland in amazing colour and detail. It is poetic and beautiful, finely textured of course, specific to time and place, and in places, very funny. Just like any good story.
Beangirl loved the detailed density of colour – how many colours were combined in one area to create a true and textured sense of a colour. Like light on a hillside or on the surface of the sea. Blue was drawn to the battle scenes, with marching feet and hard armour.
The exhibit hall was crowded, and I found it almost as mesmerizing to watch people’s faces as it was to examine The Tapestry itself. With so much history spread out before you, there are moments of bright recognition when you come across a bit you know and then quieter moments when you need to lean in to read the accompanying notes, finding something new. There are familiar landscapes and faces, and names that ring a bell but you hadn’t before known where they slotted into the story. There was so much to see.
The Tapestry was designed by Andrew Crummy. He created a simple grid structure that could run through all the panels, and he designed a central drawing for each panel. But around the edges of many panels, he left empty space. These spaces were for the individual stitchers to fill as they liked. And so they did – some with local flora and fauna, some with the specifics of their own towns and cities, some with details from the story that touched their own hearts, some with the faces of their own families.
I particularly liked the panel called Pop Music Booms. A 1950s couple danceson top of a record player, surrounded by the faces of stars of the day. The stitcher , Jacquie McNally, decided to use her own parents as the models for the couple. She used old photos to get their hairstyles just right, and she stitched her mum in a 1950s dress that still hangs in her cupboard.
“I think it’s lovely to have a bit of your family in something so historical.”
This, perhaps, is the power of storytelling – that there is space left in any story for our own lives. Within the sweeping scale of a Great Story – be it a national story or history or the broad Biblical text itself – there are sparse places, empty spaces where the stories of our own lives can take their place. That’s where most of us live most of the time anyway – in the smaller places at the sides. Most of us won’t take up the centre of a panel, but in these smaller private places, we inhabit our own local details, enact our own understandings, beautifully express our own loves. Our smaller places may not prove central to the larger story but, stitch by stitch, they give light, depth and lived meaning.
By being personal, they help make sense of the large story.
Stitch by stitch by stitch.
The Tapestry is set to tour through Scotland soon, though details have not yet been released, and then to visit North America in 2015. You can also see more about The Great Tapestry of Scotland on this website , where you will find details about those involved with the project, the design for the panels, as well as images of some of the completed panels. You can also find stitching instructions. Take a look.
