The Regency Town House Introduces Stephanie Smart to The Public.
Our Artist-in-Residence is a rather quiet and very modest woman, and was a little surprised that so many people showed showed so much interest in her work this weekend. We weren’t.
As we’d expected, most of the people who came to our Open Door in Brunswick Square last Saturday had, like me, not come across Steph’s particular branch of Paper Art before.
Initially I saw quite a few visitors glance into the room where Steph was, prosaically enough, busy with her sewing machine; there was a lacy parasol beside it, with some gowns in various states of readiness on mannequins behind her. People at first stood, looked and nodded: yes — here was someone making clothes. “Unbelievable that everything Steph produces is made of paper, isn’t it?” one of us would say…and the first trickle of people stepping forward in astonishment soon became a flood.
Stephanie’s project is, like all her installations, specifically being produced for the venue in which it is being exhibited — in this case, The Regency Town House. During the course of her year-long residency she will be soaking up the atmosphere, listening to the stories and history, observing the — often overlooked — clues to the building’s past within its design and decoration, and learning about the people who in 2020, work at, and are passionate about, this classic of Regency Architecture at 13 Regency Square. (Hove, actually)
When her installation is thrown open to the public during HODs (Heritage Open Days)next year her work will feature in every room of the house. Each finished piece will tell a story — not on paper, but with it. The significance of each garment/object/concept will be related to some historic perspective with which the people who once lived in the house — through the Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian and subsequent eras — would have been familiar. Others of her creations will signify the building — and those who currently people it — as it is at this time of restoration and reconstruction.
The next time visitors will be able to wander in to the Town House and be amazed at Stephanie’s artwork will be during the Brunswick Festival, in late summer. We’ve realised that we’ll need more space next time — getting close-up and personal with Steph’s creations is part of the amazement: the attention to detail, the different techniques, the mixed effects of different kinds of paper, have really, to be seen to be believed. Until one does so, it’s quite difficult to believe that what one is looking at is paper and not lace, muslin, linen, embroidered felt, or any of the myriad of textiles with which we and our forebears have fashioned our world.
For those who would like to hear more about Stephanie and her work, she has kindly agreed to take part in the Women’s history event I shall be running on July 13th. The event is called “Women — Subject or Object.” It will be a chance to get answers to all those questions you never asked, like “What did women wear under those gowns?” “How did women give birth back in the day?”. It will also bring to the foreground all the women — and all their achievements — that have been withheld or erased from our history.
It is only very recently that textiles have been included under the banner of Art. As traditional women’s work, textiles were considered trifles and placed in the category of domestic work.
Stephanie’s Art ignites the questions which revolve around “Women’s Art” in an individualistic and wholly idiosyncratic way — in this case her completed installation will present Brighton and the Regency Town House as components both of our shared present and shared history.
Worth waiting for.
