12 Mar 2013

Between 11 and 13 March, the exhibition Alice Kettle: The Garden of England is being set up in the Queen’s House. In this post, Alice Kettle shares her experience of the first day of installation. “Queen Henrietta Maria is on the wall. She is above the fireplace and surrounded by the Queens Elizabeth I and Queen Anne. It is a strange feeling of pride and incredulity that my portrait of her sits with these iconic portraits. My approach was to be complementary, to echo the famous Van Dyck portrait but to shift her gaze into the room away from the profile. She has the red flower next to her which picks up the one on the dress of the courtier in the portrait to her right. I wanted to make her a modern Queen, or at least as modern representation which is part of a tradition of portraiture and can be part of the collection. It is meant to be a discreet interpretation where you sense that something is different. We have wrapped the frame with thread, so that the perspective of the piece shifts and moves with the light as it catches the levels and layers of thread work. Image removed. Image removed. Image removed. From her vantage point above the fireplace she gazes through the threads which become part of her and weave around her as you move through the room. It was incredible to watch the Art Handlers carefully positioning and placing on the wall. Image removed. Image removed. The gilt frame was lifting on a machine into place and then chains attached from the rail, the curators Amy Miller and Melanie Vandenbrouck deciding on the height and relationship with the other pictures which had to be rebalanced. Then the lighting was adjusted so that the metallic threads came to life. Image removed. The Queen needed some adjustment since the light picked up and emphasised bits that I didn't want, so I continued stitching her, perched on a ladder. Then we shut ourselves in the gallery whilst the visitors continued to look round the rest of the beautiful Queen’s House. Today [Tuesday 12 March] we install the Flower Bed at her feet. I have Emma Blackburn and 4 undergraduate students (Anna Columbine, Grace Sindall, Hannah Sulek and Elnaz Yazdani) from Manchester School of Art helping me. We have many flowers made from students at the University of Chichester and their tutor Victoria Brown. These will sit alongside my work. Tomorrow we shall install the Flower Helix made from the multiple contributions I have received from all over the country and some from Italy and Ireland. It has been an extraordinary gifting of small flower heads in needle lace. I left last night suddenly overwhelmed by the enormity of my work sitting alongside these iconic portraits. Maybe partly the kindness and excitement of all the staff as well. We have been made so welcome by everyone. I am learning much about the departments and protocols of caring for a National Collection and the rich community that welcome the public and are guardians of this history. I feel very proud, very humbled and nervously excited." - Alice Kettle