The idea of a patchwork map of New Tolsta crofts had been simmering for well over a year before I started stitching strips of Harris Tweed together in the summer of 2017. From the outset I wanted to follow my principals of using as much recycled materials as possible, and in the end the hanging turned out to be made entirely from recycled fabric and thread. Over the previous ten years I’d been collecting end of bobbin yarn and offcut scrap tweed from local weavers. For a base support I got an old woollen blanket from the local hospice charity shop.
I really don’t know what I’m doing when I first start any
stitched piece, but I trust that if I stick with it something will start to
make sense. Working from various printed maps along with a lot of on the ground
observation I managed to draw up a design that would fit the blanket. The map
originally had a panel freeze across the top with sheep, but in order to
include the top end of the village this had to go. False starts are quite
common and don’t faze me as they serve to give a clearer picture of what I want
to achieve, and in this case it was principally about the map. The offset angle
of the crofts allowed space for the village name to be appliqued at the top.
The map was never going to be exact as far as scale and by compressing the
machair and dunes area I able to incorporate some of the beach and segment of
sea. There are 18 crofts in New Tolsta and No 18 has been divided lengthways.
Each croft has dividing fences, which create two or more fields for grazing and
a gated access onto the machair. Common grazing on the moor is rarely used
these days, but the best lambs are said to be those born and raised on the
moor. I wanted to keep the portion of the moor that shows the northerly limit
of the old Tolsta farm with the single track road continuing on beyond the
cattle grid and down to Traigh Mhor beach. This enable me to include a very
important part of the history of man’s occupation of these islands, in the days
before potatoes arrived and when grain needed to be ground. There are vestiges
of two Nordic mills on the burn running out of Loch na Muilne, along with other
ancient structure situated on this lower part.
The predominant stitched used in the construction phase was blanket stitch. The burns and drainage ditches were mostly back stitch, which along with constructed features such as houses and barns gave added stability to the structure. I wanted the map to have a sense of history so included any ancient ruined structures stitched using white tweed yarn. These included the remains of black houses and barns still visible on the crofts as well old walls. The older croft houses were stitched in yellow while the more modern structures were in orange. On my little fewed off quarter acre patch all three colours are shown with the remains of ancient walls, black house and barn, along with the original early 19th century Tolsta Farm stone barn and 20th century crofter cottage, plus my new studio completed in 2017 and where the assembly and embroidery took place.
The first phase of embroidery was the livestock and that was principally sheep. For the fleeces I used an old crocheted white woollen scarf that a friend gave when visiting in Western Australia. She thought I could perhaps unravel the wool for reuse, but I found simply cutting a section out and couching it directly on gave a good impression of the Black face fleece.
I had already used this same technique for the smaller pictures of sheep on tweed that had proved very popular with the general public, and which had become somewhat of a signature for my embroidery work. In 2019 the map hanging went on show for the first time at An Lanntair in Stornoway during my exhibition “All that I do”, as work in progress, but already it drew a lot of interest as artwork that was very relevant to the islands crofting community, as well as crossing that flexible boundary between arts and craft. While I had already embroidered around forty different flora and fauna I knew this was just the start of something that could be added to over the years. Since then it has been exhibited in a pre-Christmas show in London where on Battersea Bridge Road it proved an arresting sight. New Tolsta was now truly on the map, but there was a lot more to follow. The embroidery work continued, more wild flowers were stitched as well as butterflies. The diversity of nature on the west coast of Scotland is wonderful and it seems at times that I am only just scratching the surface of what can be added.
In May 2023 I was invited to submit some work for the Open Hebrides Studio show in An Lanntair, which carried a theme of “Leave only footprints”. I added a few footprints in the sand and the map was once again shown on the island. Many had not yet seen it and it being the tourist season meant a completely new audience. There was however nobody who could have predicted the event that was to put Tolsta in the public eye and headline news, when on Sunday 16th of July a group of 55 Pilot whale came ashore on Traigh Mhor beach. There was shock and sadness as well as incomprehension at what could have provoked such behaviour, and I knew immediately that this must be recorded on the map. Having also been attacked by a bullock a few nights before during my evening walk with Donald on the road down to Traigh Mhor I felt that more personal event would also find its embroidered place. This is a piece of folk art in the real sense in that it illustrates the heritage of ordinary people, and in particular the islands crofting community.
During the latter part of the 20th century Folk Art had become the endangered of the British Art world. It remained something rarely seen in academic art, and while Europe can be seen as having a heavy classical art inheritance it was left to more recent democratic cultures such as in America where they cherished their Folk Art tradition. Over the past decade Folk Art has seen a revival and I can only hope that it remains as an avenue into art that crafts people will be increasingly drawn towards.
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