Frances Crosthwaite

A Life’s Journey

Mixed Media – Free machine embroidery, stitch, appliqué and collage

Fran Crosthwaite came late to textiles, after dabbling in photography, taking courses in this at West Dean College in West Sussex, and then attending a Textile course, focusing on velvet, run by Jane Venables. This sparked an enthusiasm for textiles, and led to her joining the Experimental Textiles class at the Connaught Centre. Now in her third year, she will move on to start a full time degree course in Surface and Textile Design at Northbrook College in October 2005.

The work – A Life’s Journey, is a creative interpretation of a life lived so far, and as a committed Christian the figure of Christ over-arches both the piece and the life. Every item on the piece is significant to her life, and every stitch has been chosen with care to represent some aspect of that life. She was intrigued by the work of Alice Kettle, exhibited at Hove Museum in 2004. The free machine embroidery, fabric manipulation, footprints and scale of the work are all direct influences.

The photo of her birth family in the bottom left hand panel has been attached with a chain stitch to signify the family bond, and the green running stitch, which connects all the footsteps, symbolises running the race of life. The length of the stitches is also used to portray the different ages of the people who are important to her – her own family. The footprints are actual footprints of herself, and her family, and the colours are also significant. The green and orange footprint on the right-hand panel is also Fran’s, but it is single again as the last journey we take in death is alone. However, the purple footprint stepping down towards the earth represents Christ, who meets us on that last journey to take us home to heaven, represented by the “sun” in the top right-hand corner.

On the left-hand panel is a photo of herself and her sister, beside a small white building. The girls are dressed in matching hand-smocked dresses made by their Aunt, daughter of the artist William Hyams. She was a very good seamstress and embroiderer, and also took the girls on long country walks. The white building is the Chatrey up on the Downs, a memorial to all the Indian soldiers who were nursed in Brighton during the First World War, but sadly died. The girls had many walks up there during their childhood, and it can still be seen from the A27 today.

The trees in the top left-hand corner of the left-hand panel are a representation of the painting by William Hyams, her Grandfather, which is in the Memory box. The painting hung in the dining room at her grandparents’ house, and as this was the room used most often, has had a subtle influence on her life. The trees in the mid section of the right-hand panel are a representation of the trees in the black and white photograph she took in Nottingham Forrest during her photographic period of artistic endeavour! The shape is reminiscent of that early influence. This item is also in the Memory box.

Other items from the Memory box are also represented on the work in outline. They have been incorporated in such a way as to represent parts of the landscape, and again each has a significance in her journey of life. The scarf belonged to her mother, the monkey was a present she gave her Father, the star is one half of a Christmas Tree decoration from her birth family home, the cutlery was a present to her and her husband on their 25th Wedding Anniversary, the Telegraph Crossword reminds her of her husband and so on. If you want to know more do ask!

The Coffee Pot is part of a collection of some 15 Coffee sets to date, and is the latest one. It is to be the receptacle for her ashes. The dress is in the correct colours for a Warm Spring, as she is also a trained colour/image consultant, and it is in an original Vogue pattern from 1934. Having been brought up with an elegantly stylish mother, and an adept seamstress aunt, it seems only fitting to be buried in something of both beauty and style!

The texts from the Bible are significant because they speak of Christ and the reason for His death. That we should be saved from an eternity in hell, if we believe in Him, and that the place we are journeying to in this life, is eternal life with Him, in a place of peace and beauty.