My response to the Adamson Collection

I have been thinking how I can pull together all my research into the Adamson Collection. I decided to begin with Edward Adamson's own notes, both from the archive and his book. I selected passages that spoke to me and embroidered them in red onto yellow fabric. 

I also wanted to bring in Adamson's own sketches of the artists in the studio, so I selected several and embroidered them in blue. I also included an embroidery of Adamson himself in the bottom right hand corner.

I painted some of my favourite paintings from the collection with acrylic onto calico. Throughout making this hanging I have been very conscious of the process of selection - my choice of certain images over others. I want to be transparent that these are a very small fraction of images from a vast collection, of which there is much more yet to be discovered.

I am now in the process of stitching the squares together onto blue fabric. I wanted the piece to be colourful as there is so much colour in the Adamson Collection. Initially I thought of this piece as a memorial to the artists of Netherne Hospital, but that doesn't seem right, as there is so much life in their work.

The finished hanging