Scotland's Great Tapestry

In some respects we continue our theme following last week's fantastic visit to The House for an Art Lover - our speaker is Susan Whitaker and she will be talking about The Great Tapestry of Scotland. The pictures shown are the panels depicting Charles Rennie Mackintosh, his wife Margaret MacDonald and the Glasgow School of Art

So how do you sum up 420 million years of Scottish geogaphy, history, culture and people in 165 tapestries? The answer was in the creation of the ‘Great Tapestry of Scotland’.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland was the brainchild of one of the world’s best-loved writers, Alexander McCall Smith. The 44 Scotland Street author, together with historian Alistair Moffat, and with the artistic talents of Andrew Crummy, (not to mention more than 1000 stitchers from all areas of Scotland!) formed a team set to produce the world’s longest tapestries through one of the biggest community arts projects ever to take place in Scotland

Sue Whitaker entertained and informed Kilmarnock Rotarians recently at the Park Hotel about this ambitious project which started in 2011 and was completed two years later. The  stitchers worked a total of 60000 hours to complete this massive task. A permanent home for the Great Tapestry has been found in the Borders.

Each panel, measuring 1 metre square, can be placed side by side to create a stunning visual exhibition. Sue worked on panel 116, which depicted the life of Charles Rennie McIntosh and the Glasgow School of Art. 

Further details are available at www.scotlandstapestry.com