The Walsall Silver Thread Tapestries are a set of eleven artworks, in the form of tapestries, designed by the artist Hunt Emerson in conjunction with the various communities of Walsall, England and hand stitched by local people there during 2016. They depict the people, places, history and wildlife of the towns and districts that, since 1974, have formed the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
The works were commissioned with grant funding of £73,740 from Arts Council England, to commemorate the 25th (or silver) anniversary of Walsall Council's Creative Development Team. [1] The team was disbanded before the project was completed. [2]
The tapestries are in three sizes; a large one for Walsall itself, six of medium size and four smaller pieces. In total they cover over 12 square metres (130 sq ft). [3] Work was carried out under the auspices of Creative Factory, a community interest company. [2]
In January 2017, they were exhibited at The New Art Gallery Walsall, and afterwards at several venues around the borough, including St Matthew's Church, libraries, and Walsall Leather Museum. [3] [4] As of 2019 the tapestries are exhibited at Walsall Arboretum Visitor Centre.
The work is dedicated to Maxwell Bailey, manager of Creative Development Team, who secured the Arts Council grant, but died before work was completed. [2]
Each tapestry depicts several subjects:
One of the smaller tapestries.
One of the smaller tapestries.
One of the smaller tapestries.
One of the smaller tapestries.
The largest tapestry. The central panel depicts:
This is surrounded by smaller panels, depicting (clockwise from top left):
This tapestry also carries Hunt Emerson's signature and a cartoon of Maxwell Bailey.
Walsall is a large market town and administrative centre in West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Birmingham, 7 miles (11 km) east of Wolverhampton and 9 miles (14 km) from Lichfield.
Aldridge is a town and former civil parish in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. Historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974.
Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire. It lies upon the River Tame, and is part of the Black Country.
Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Walsall, a similar distance southwest of Lichfield and 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-northwest of Birmingham. It is part of the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the large suburban villages of Pelsall and Walsall Wood. Before boundary changes in 1974, it was in the county of Staffordshire.
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Darlaston, Pelsall and Willenhall. It also serves as the post town for nearby Cannock Chase District and Lichfield District respectively.
Bloxwich is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England, situated in the north of the borough and forming part of the Staffordshire/West Midlands border.
A civil parish is a subnational entity, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 18 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of West Midlands, most of the county being unparished; Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 89,621 people living in the 18 parishes, accounting for 3.5 per cent of the county's population.
Blakenall Heath is a suburban village of Bloxwich and Walsall, West Midlands, England. It straddles the border of Walsall and Bloxwich.
Walsall North is a constituency created in 1955 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Eddie Hughes, a member of the Conservative Party. The local electorate returned a Labour MP in the seat's first seventeen general elections; in the following election Eddie Hughes became its second Conservative MP following an earlier by-election win by his party in 1976. The seat consists of green-buffered urban areas with golf courses, parks and sports fields between the half of the former metalworking and manufacturing-centred town and main other settlement, Bloxwich within its boundaries.
New Invention is a large village around three miles north of the town of Willenhall and four miles east of the city of Wolverhampton in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is situated halfway between Walsall and Wolverhampton on the busy main A4124 and A462 roads.
Pelsall is a large suburban village situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Forming part of the borough's border with Staffordshire, Pelsall is located 4 miles north of central Walsall, midway between the towns of Bloxwich and Brownhills and 3.5 miles northwest of Aldridge. The southern edge of Cannock Chase,is 5.5 miles to the north. Pelsall is also 7.5 miles southwest of the cathedral city of Lichfield and 8 miles northwest of Wolverhampton.
Pelsall Comprehensive School was a secondary school located in Pelsall, an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England.
Pheasey is a residential area of Walsall Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England, often considered to be part of Great Barr. The area was predominantly developed for housing, as the Pheasey Estate, in the 1930s, but work was not completed until after the Second World War. Barr Beacon, a hill, is a local landmark.
Walsall Wood is a large village located in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Located between Aldridge and Brownhills.
Walsall Council, formerly Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
The Walsall trolleybus system once served the town of Walsall, then in Staffordshire, but now in West Midlands, England. Opened on 22 July 1931, it gradually replaced the Walsall Corporation Tramways network.