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| A clever logo |
I've been to two wonderful exhibitions recently and the first was Voices from the Inside at Doddington Hall (1). Each summer the Hall has an exhibition and this year showed the way that the dedication a a relatively few number of people can turn lives around.
Fine Cell Work is a social enterprise that trains prisoners in paid, skilled, creative needlework undertaken in the long hours spent in their cells to foster hope, discipline and self esteem. (2)
The work shown was from all skill levels - the less skilled learn by making small things like lavender bags. The more experienced produce amazing, very varied work and take commissions from the likes of English Heritage.
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| Fine Cell Work (1) |
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| Fine Cell Work (2) |
A look at the website is hard evidence of the impact this initiative has had.
Alongside this work was a range of quilts both ancient and modern a list of which is available on the Doddington Hall website (2). Many have been made by Fine Cell Work.
My favourite of these is The Cell Quilt (3). This is a quilt that shows a birds eye view of a two man cell (life size) with all the items that constitute daily living even down to correspondence. The men planned, drew and stitched the quilt over a period of period of a year. At first the group was stable but a sudden change of stitchers meant that less experienced men took over. The website tells us that "the varying quality of the applique and quilting stitches reads like the signatures of the men working on the project at different stages". (3)
It is a very sobering and moving piece of work.
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| The Cell Quilt - Fine Cell Work |
I saw famous quilts like Grayson Perry's controversial "Right to Life" quilt. The colours are amazing and it is well sited in the Hall.
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| Right to Life Quilt - Grayson Perry |
It's really well worth a look at the website - there are some amazing works by Stella McCartney and The Sleep Quilt commissioned from Fine Cell work by Tracey Chevalier.
(2) Fine Cell Work brochure
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