Key Words
embroidery; cross stitch
Questions to ask
Do you think that Ann Donelly is a textiles designer or an artist? Does this distinction matter?
What kind of sources might this work have been based on? Flowers and plants were very popular designs around this time. Do you think Ann Donelly used images from a pattern book as a basis for her design?
What is the function of this sampler? Would it have been used in a church or a school?
How this might inspire your work
Research English Embroidery and the role of samplers in the 1800’s. Research the four basic embroidery stitches, and make notes about them.
Consider what a modern sampler might look like. Is there a call for samplers in contemporary society? What kind of subject matters might a contemporary sampler illustrate?
Design a simple motif that could be used on a contemporary sampler. Take squared paper, and draw your motif in the squares in a ‘cross stitch’ style. Is your design effective from both close up and far away?
Sampler 1867 wool and cotton by Ann Donelly.
This rectangular woollen sampler is worked on a fine double canvas. It is decorated in cross stictch with a red flower and leaf border, with the alphabet in the top third, trees and shrubs in the central part, and religious text below.
This sampler was hand made by Ann Donelly at primary school Holme Head School in Carlisle in 1867.
There are these inscriptions on the exhibit:
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, gift of James Taylor 1950
Image © Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery
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