WA L L A C E ’ S A R T H O U S E S C O T L A N D
NEWSLETTER FIFTEEN 7TH JUNE 2011
I have been thinking it is time to write another newsletter but I have been
concentrating on my new website (www.wallacesarthousescotland.com) and my
BLOG which is found inside the website. I have also been planning a newsletter to
promote my lovely website and trying to find interesting “offers’ to entice you guys
and your friends to come to my Arthouse.
I just checked the like for like bookings from last June to this June and am happy
to tell you that - although it is not full house - it is up by about 33% occupancy. A
reason to be delighted thanks to everyone. I just hope the following months give
me similar results !!
I was casting my eyes about the house and thought “What about some tales of
how I found the few rugs in my place”. So this is what you are getting, My first
“brush” with rugs was one I wove at Glasgow Art School for my degree show. It
was made mainly of fur. I had come across scraps in the street in the fur making
area of the city. I snaffled them and started weaving. It was so sensual !! Almost
as good as the traditional bearskin rug !! - well really better - to be not modest !!
MY FIRST PURCHASED RUG - A KILIM This was my first purchase of a
rug. I bought it in Bloomingdale’s in New York as a celebration when I first
found my apartment on 86th Street. I was so pleased to see the exciting pattern
and bright colours. I laid it in a wee passage between my bedroom and my
bathroom. it was a dark space with no natural light so the colours had to work
hard to cheer me up of a morning !!
I was so proud of having bought a place on the upper east side of Manhattan and
then of having found a lovely middle eastern tribal Kilim rug. I have no idea how
old it is but I bought it in 1978 so it is at least 35 years old but possibly closer to
105 years old
Kilim rugs come from ancient shrouded historic times. They seem to have
appeared as a technical advance on animal skins, The flat woven textile was
evolved as a utilitarian article.
1000 B.C is the conjectured time of their origins. Around then organised flocks of
sheep were started and the quality of their fleece became suitable for accepting
dyes and polychromatic weavings. Possibly the first rugs were in naturals ,fawns
and blacks which were the colours of the undyed sheep. Even today, these
monochromatic colourways are among my favourites. I guess around this era,
they had to have invented the process of weaving ! I.E.looms.
It is thought that tribes in Sumeria were weaving great yardages of woven cloth.
RUG NUMBER TWO - FROM TURKEY
I was in Istanbul for the first time and was idly standing in a taxi queue when a guy
in the same queue beside me started a friendly chat with me. He was interested in
knowing about The United States where I was living at the time and we got into a
good conversation about everything. I think that was one of the times I sorted the
world’s problems !!
I discovered that Cuneyt (pronounced choonayt ) was working part time while he
was studying at University. He was working with a man who sold traditional and
ancient rugs. By this time in my stay in Istanbul, I was saturated with info about
Traditional Turkish carpets - none of which appealed to me no matter how much
apple tea I was obliged to drink while being ‘sold’ a rug. Those of you who have
been to Turkey will know the ritual of looking at rugs there !! Good manners are
essential even if you do not buy anything.
What a blessing it was to meet a well informed young man and I told him I wanted
to find something more original than I had encountered in the bazaar. He offered
to introduce me to his boss - and my pleasure grew when his boss produced this
one above. I love it because it is obviously made by an artisan who worked in an
original way. The pattern is unusual and there seems to be a very relaxed attitude
to where the small bits of contrast are introduced and how the colours are used ( I
can hear the weaver saying to himself “Oops, .I have run out of this navy - ah, this
dark brown will do the trick to finish the border. It is the same tone.” This rug kind
of reminds me of a Gabbeh rug from Persia or Morrocco. Have you ever looked at
those ? They are quite quirky and unusual. Look these up in the Internet for a
moment of joy for yourself !I don’t kid you.
Anyway back to my rug here. Cuneyt whom I still am in contact with is writing a
story about the origins of this rug for us all. Cuneyt after all these years now lives
in New York and has a rug business there !! What a lucky meeting in an Istanbul
taxi queue.
MY CHINESE RUGS
When I first went to Hong Kong, the famous store China Arts and Crafts really was all
about arts and crafts - and antiques. It was a fairly unsophisticated operation and really
had the air of a Chinese store from pre-revolutionary days. One could buy old things
which were I guess surrendered from people in the mainland to bring in some spare
money. I was so lucky to be in Hong Kong in those days and could buy old Yi Shing
teapots and these two vintage rugs from the nineteen thirties. I love them and quite
soon they will be antiques. It is hard to find such rugs nowadays.
I was once with a psychic who felt their presence in my life although the psychic could
not see them from her studio, of course. She told me they were lucky for me and that
one had an animal in it. You can see that is true of the one on the left side - I always
keep it beside my bed and love standing on such a spiritualish thing.
Sorry the photos are a wee bit skew wiff ! I even went up a ladder to get farther away
from them in the hope they would be somewhat square.
MY SOUTH AMERICAN RUG. I found this when I was messing about Miraflores
which is a district of Lima in Peru. It was at the entrance of an antique store and
when I asked the lady what its’ price was, she looked at me in pity and said it
was not on sale it was only for wiping feet. She was so amazed at the nutty
customer who was wanting to throw his cash away on such rubbish !! I have no
idea what it is or where it came from but I love it and its cartoonish character. It
does not bark !