Virtual Farm Visit

The Story of Ilam

Ilam Art Club decided to create an 18 metre long painting depicting the history of the village of Ilam. The painting will be in the style of Swedish folk art, using egg tempera paint on canvas with a gesso ground. The Club members are making their own paints using natural pigments and egg yolk (from local eggs). The twelve large canvases have a layer of gesso (rabbit skin glue and chalk).

Club tutor, Sue Prince has become one of the only people to practice this ancient style of painting and every year runs art classes in Sweden, for Swedish people. She discovered it as part of the BESST project.

The painting is know as a Bonad, 'decorative wall hanging' in Swedish. There is a Bonad museum in the village of Unnaryd in the Halland Region of southern Sweden. Sue is fascinated by narrative folk art, the Peak District folk art expressions are the wonderful well dressings that decorate villages through the year- but they only last a week. Hopefully, although it will be delicate, the Story of Ilam will last for many years. The Story of Ilam has been on public display in The Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam at the Ilam Art Club exhibition at the end of May 2009, in Ashbourne Town Hall in June and September.

May 2009

At last the Ilam Story is finished. Here is the first of the twelve panels.

The Ilam Story 1

and here is the last of the twelve panels. The 18m bonad painting is on display from 22nd to 31st May at the Church of the Holy Cross in Ilam. It will be seen in June at the Town Hall in Ashbourne from 21st to 27th June as part of the Ashbourne Festival. It is in Ashbourne Town Hall on 12th September 2009.

The Ilam Story, displayed in Holy Cross Church, Ilam in May 2009.

March 2009

We are getting there! The first two parts of the Ilam Story are nearly complete, just the lower borders remain to be finished.
Part one:

Part two:

Work continues on the rest, including the great snowfall of 1947.

And the coming of the Victorian Watts Russell family who moved and rebuilt the village to match the landscape.

February 2009

The media has started to take in interest in "the Story of Ilam". First of all we had film maker Ron Branscombe, who is making a documentary for the EU about the outcomes of their projects.

Sue discovered Bonad painting through the EU funded BESST project

Everybody was filmed, painting sketching and mixing paints, while Sue had to do an interview (the Art club members were so noisy during the interview that they had to be shut into the toilets!!)

Then, the Ashbourne News Telegraph came along, posed Sue and Cathy for photos and filmed everyone working.

Sue and Cathy pose for Ashbourne Telegraph reporter

January 2009

Painting started, each participant has taken a particular theme. Pamela is painting famous figures from history.

The beginning of the second bonad.

Pamela working on Wulfric Spott

Bonad number two

Sheila is working on buildings through the ages.

Ann preparing another image

Sheila

Joan is painting flora and fauna.

Eva is taking legends and groups of people, bell ringers, the Ilam WI for example.

Joan painting

Eva working on the building of Ilam Church

Cathy is working on Ilam School and its history

Ann and Sue discuss images. Ann is doing farming through the ages.

Cathy working on Ilam School

Sue and Ann discussing images

Laura is concentrating on the weather

Ilam Art Club- completely absorbed!

Laura painting the Ilam floods and droughts

Ilam Art Club working

November 2008

Ann and Pamela laying out the sketches.

Sketches for 20th C plan

laying out sketches on the plan

Plan for 21st C

Gesso is made of rabbit skin glue and chalk.

Sue applying gesso to the primed canvas.

Mixing Gesso

Sue applying gesso to canvas

October 2008

Ilam Art club working on their designs for

The Story of Ilam.

Art Club members practice egg tempera painting for the first time.

Practice pieces