Email from My Auntie Jean

I emailed my lovely Auntie Jean in France, asking about family, memories, personality and anything else she can remember about the Wards;

"hello, nice to get your mail,

will crank the ole memory into action re family stuff, did you meet uncle Harold?

he and Dad got on very well, in fact the two couples did, I remember them at the caravan laughing till they wept! do you just want Wardie info, or anything about Mum's side?

and do you wnt stuff that I remember from childhood...say, like when we went for a picnic and the cows which had been grazing at the bottom of the field came up and walked across the whole lot?

Louisa, grandma Ward to me (as distinct from grandma Holmes) I don't really remember very much directly, she came to live with us for her last years, when she grew too frail to live alone the brothers planned for her to stay 6 months at a time with 3 of them, 4th, Alf being in America, I think, Peggy's father anyway.

After a bit Cecil and his wife decided they couldn't or wouldn't cope, I think they made her feel uncomfortable, there must have been quite a fuss because Cecil and family were not on speaking terms with the others after that, so it went to 6 months each with Harold and Vi and Mum and Dad. Vi + Harold were very fond of her, when Vi lost her own Mother whilst quite young Vi would have only been 15 or 16 or so, Grandma said she was to think of her as her mother.

Anyway she stayed with us permanently in the end, I think because the disruption became too much, and Dad as her youngest son had lived with her in the house in Gertrude road till she got too frail, they were used to each others ways, she was going a bit senile in the end, I think, and had to go into a nursing home for the last weeks of her life. It was getting too much for Mum to cope with her full time with 3 children 2 still toddlers, Dad out at work every day. A bed was put up for her in John and Roberts 'nursery' bedroom, so it was a bit cramped, + things like Mum would sometimes say that they had saved up for some nice stuff, like the tea/dinner set ( a few bits left in Rob's kitchen dresser, pale green and gold bands on a cream china body, very nice!) and Grandma had broken most of it "helping" to wash up.

She was very kind, not at all fierce as in the picture, life had been quite hard for her, orphaned I think, glad to have married for some comfort and stability, I never knew Grandpa Ward, he died well before I was born, that left her widowed rather early.

Uncle Harold always spoke highly of her, lovingly, as a wonderful Mother, compassionate and understanding, very generous - with time and aid, so did Dad come to that!

Dad had an impish sense of humour and I remember laughter a lot.

They said that I am a bit like her and look like her, particularly when I had long hair done up in a chignon, can't quite see it myself but haven't thought to look now that I am older!

well there's a start, I'd better write some of it longhand jotting things down as I think of them, I'll continue later, starvation setting in right now............loads of love J "

Great Grandma Louisa

A left hand drawing translated into a simple backstitch embroidery of My Great Grandma Louisa. Her face has so much character and looks so "lived in".

I had a tutorial with Claire this morning. She seemed to really like what I'd done but suggested I need to keep drawing, be experimental, and work BIG. Although I hate working big, I've never worked big. I'll give it a go. At least A4.

Claire also seemed to really like Great Grandma Louisa's Face. It really does have a lot of character. And she does look genuinely terrifying. I'm sure she was lovely. I'll ask dad.

She also suggested I write down all of the stories I have about my family.

Its only really when you look at photos and tell the stories to someone else that you realise just how much there is to know about the life of one person. And even then i only know the anecdotes, not their life story.

Here's one; My Uncle Norman used to fit glass eyes in India in WW2. He used to sit my down and show me the little box of them as a child. And there was always murray mints.

I wonder where those Glass eyes are now?

Someone must have them, surely they won't have been house clearance-d. Perhaps his son Trevor has them?

Impression of Embroidery

Having illustrated the faces from the images I had, I translated them into a simply stitched embroidered pieces on calico.

I deliberately made the lines chunky and of various widths to experiment with how this would translate into clay.

I tested this on thickly rolled stoneware clay slab tiles. Although this is far from what I would like my end result to be.

I really like the thinner lines on the face of my Grandmother Jessie. This was achieved with a single embroidery thread, whereas the chunkier line on my Grandfather's face was made with double thickness embroidery thread.

This is all so bizarre, I'm working with these people's faces, depicting their characteristics and yet I've never met them. It's a concept that is slightly uncomfortable, but I'm still subconsciously choosing to work with the faces of the strangers rather than the members of the family that I know.

Anyway, here's what the impressions look like.

More family photos

Here's a few more photos of my family. There is SO many it's difficult to pick my favourites to work with. There is so much I don't know about these people and so much i feel i need to find out. It's like a trying to find a needle in a haystack!

Actual Work

I've been looking at all these familiar faces feeling lots of different things about them for some weeks now.

It was time to stop musing over their features and characteristics and put some of my thought's and feelings into some sort of actual work.

So I made a start. I've done some drawings, left handed, Right handed not looking, all sorts, and picked my favourites (not necessarily the best!!) but the ones I felt portrayed the characters, as best i understand them.

This is the difficult part, having not these beautiful people, i have far more artistic licence to portray them as i want. I'm not sure i like this. I think this is why i'm so keen to have some sort of narrative in form of the cook book and the journal to add facts to all this speculation.

Anyway, here are my drawings, the original photos, and my interpretation in stitch.

The Journal to Melbourne

I asked my dad if he knew of anything interesting about my family. He went into the dining room cupboards and unearthed this beautiful old journal. I'd never seen it before in my life.

I can hardly read the writing inside, not because it's faded, it's perfect. It's the script in which it's written that I'm not familiar with.

Dad tells me that "some relative" of his went on a Journey to Melbourne in 1889 and this is a log of the whole journey, his meals, weather conditions at sea, everything. We have no idea who's journal this is and i've not yet found any reference to anyone who we could use to trace it's writer. I'm going to find out, I'm not sure how yet, but I will.

My family as i know it.

This I believe this is my Grandma on my dad's side. Her maiden name is Jessie Elizabeth Gardner.

With her is my Auntie Jean. She's technically Elizabeth Jean Ward, now Leyshon.

I know My Auntie Jean, I think she'll be a vital source of information.

My dad thinks this photo was probably around 1949/1950.
This is my Dad, John Norman Ward (right) and his twin brother Robert Ernest Ward, with My Auntie Jean. This photo was probably taken around 1955.

New Project

I've had a meeting with my new tutor Claire today. I think it's going to be a good year.

She asked me what I'm about, and it made me really look at myself, my work and my influences.

I've come to the conclusion, that without realising it, over the last few years I've been obsessing about the family I never knew.

I guess looking at all my textiles and to some extent my ceramic work, I've always based it on the Ward side of the family and the the friendly faces I never got to meet.

My textiles work concentrates on the narratives of conversation and tradition, the everyday routines and the household objects associated with them.

It's all pretty idealistic, I've never met these people!

So this year i'm going to find out about my family. I'm not going to make a family tree or anything traditional and obvious. I'm going to talk to the people who know, the few who do remember, and discover the facts, photographs, snippets of memory and personality traits of my family. Before it's too late.

The grand plan? Well I hope to be inspired to make a piece of work which in some way fills in the gaps. Represents what I know, and pieces together the bits that I don't.

Let's hope i don't unearth anything hideous.

I'll keep you updated.

Kate