This summer, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) presents Of House and Home by illustrator Alice Pattullo. The artist’s most ambitious project to date includes 60 new screen-printed editions revealing Pattullo’s fascination with traditions, superstitions and folklore. Of House and Home runs at YSP, near Wakefield, from 17 June to 17 September 2017.
Transporting you into a forgotten era, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through a Victorian household from garden to parlour, culminating with the heart of the home a recreation of a traditional fireplace and mantelpiece. Informed by a love of historical research and the discovery of curious superstitions and rhymes surrounding the domestic every day, Pattullo’s new works introduce the modern day house dweller to parlour pastimes, homemade plant remedies, kitchen folklore and protective talismans.
The Household Lore series, a collection of black and white screen-prints, imparts worldly wisdom and old wives’ tales including Elderflower and Hawthorn which claims ‘hawthorn bloom and elderflowers fill the house with evil powers’ and Jug which states that ‘it is bad luck to drink straight from a jug’. The Parlour Pastimes series explores crafts traditionally practiced by Victorian women in the parlour, from shell work to feather work and letter writing to embroidery.
House Quilt, the largest work in the show made up of 100 screen-printed ‘patchwork’ blocks, references traditional American schoolhouse quilts and pays homage to the patchwork quilts made and collected by the artist’s mother when she was growing up. Pattullo’s personal interest in pattern, decoration and detail is evident within her work, which celebrates the beauty of everyday objects.
All works in Of House and Home are available to buy, along with a limited edition screen-print which is exclusive to and inspired by YSP. The artist has also created her first wallpaper design and an exclusive range of homeware for YSP Shop including an eggcup, cushion and tray.
Pattullo, based in London, has exhibited all over the UK and her clients include Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate, Gardens Illustrated Magazine, Crabtree & Evelyn, The Royal Opera House, Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft, Faber & Faber, and The Village Voice. Her debut children’s book An Animal ABC was published by Pavilion Children’s in October 2016.
YSP has led successful exhibitions with some of the UK’s best-known artists and designers including Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton and Rob Ryan. YSP Shop showcases original work by international artists and contemporary designers and makers.