Category: Current Work

Whaler Cloak

I belong to the Artist’s Programme run by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich. The group, run by the wonderful education department, encourages artists through a programme of workshops and regular meetings to consider issues around a range of practice related topics. Although I love the built environment of the displays there are not many objects that relate to my particular subjects of interest (Moby-Dick and British Arctic Whaling).

Over the last year I have been thinking about the context of the collections and made an experimental piece of work that deviates from my normal practice. It is a double-sided semi-circular cloak, rather like a Bishop’s Cope. The imagery on it is inspired by the whaling, maritime and Inuit collections I’ve seen on my travels.

Whaler cloak European side

Whaler cloak European side

One side is about European Arctic Whaling – a large chart of the region from the 1800s with parts blank where they had not yet been explored and a border of quadrant and compass – the tools that enabled navigation and mapping of the area.

Whaler cloak Arctic side

Whaler cloak Arctic side

On the other side are Arctic images of the Northern lights (from the city crest of Murmansk), an Icebound sea, species of whale that were hunted and a representations of the little whale figures that Inuit attached to spears and buckets (from the museum at Nanortalik, Southern Greenland/Kalaallit Nunaat). There are also images based on designs from a ‘19th C Alaskan souvenir whalebone mug’ in the reserve collection at the Sainsbury Centre. It is fastened using a reindeer antler toggle (bought from a Saami stallholder in Tromso).

 

Whaler cloak Arctic side folded

Whaler cloak Arctic side folded

Whaler cloak European side folded

Whaler cloak European side folded

It has taken a while to complete, or rather, I think it has taken the amount of time it needed. The design – the border and fastening have evolved as the garment was made and I have been surprised at how much presence it has and how I feel when I wear it. If I wore it at the seashore, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could charm the whales to come to me!

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Right Whales Historically Regarded

This is one of the pieces made for the Verdant Works Exhibition ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’, Autumn 2018.  The Arctic whalers main target were the right whales, Eubalaena glacialis.  These were the ‘right’ whales to hunt because they had thick oil-rich blubber and had long baleen.  The long baleen plates sieved out small shrimp  and other food from huge mouthfuls of seawater.   Baleen was used in such things as whalebone corsets and umbrellas.  It was mouldable and therefore a very useful material in a time before plastics.  Right whales had another advantage – when they were killed they floated rather than sinking making them easier to tow back to the ship and process.

The Right Whale Historically Regarded

The Right Whale Historically Regarded

Northern Right whales were very nearly hunted to extinction, but they ceased to be hunted in the middle of the last century.  However they are once again on the verge of extinction because of ship strikes and ghost netting, which entangles them.

The skeleton is from a mother and foetus on display at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  The harpoons are examples from the large selection of harpoons and harpoon guns I’ve seen in museums in Greenland, Norway, UK, Canada, Iceland, and the US.

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Stoved!

This is one of the pieces in the Verdant Works Exhibition ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’, Autumn 2018.  Early, non-industrialised whaling was a dangerous activity.  When lookouts on a whaling ship saw a whale, the whaling boats were lowered and quietly rowed towards the whale. These boats were smaller than the whales they were hunting and whalers had to approach a whale close enough to throw or stab a harpoon into the side of the whale.  This did not kill the whale but enabled the boat to remain attached to the whale, the whalers paying out rope as the whale dived.   The weight of the rope and boat dragged on the whale slowing it down. If the harpoon remained in the whale after what could be many hours of pulling the rope and boat, the whale might tire enough for the harpooneer to stab the whale with a long sharp lance that would pierce the internal organs and kill the whale.  This was the most dangerous time.  The huge tail flukes could easily splinter the wooden boat scattering the whalemen, most of whom could not swim, into the sea.

Stoved!

Stoved!

This image is derived from an image on one of a set of whaling cigarette cards.  I first saw the set in the online catalogue of the McManus Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum.  I was able to find them for sale online, so I now own a set myself.

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Sealing

This is one of the pieces in the Verdant Works Exhibition ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’, Autumn 2018.  As whaling decreased the populations of whales, the whalers hunted other marine mammals to maintain their profitability.  Seal skins were a valuable commodity and to maximise the economic return, whaling ships could leave earlier from British ports, pick up men from places like St Johns in Newfoundland and head to the nearby sea ice where huge numbers of seals were born each year.  The skin of the young seals was particularly sought after.  The seals were killed and roughly skinned.  The skins were collected together prior to being dragged back by the men to the ship, which was moored to the edge of the ice, often some distance away.  The skins would be dropped off at agents in Newfoundland or brought back to the home port before starting the whaling voyage proper.

Sealing

Textile panel (80 x 60 cm) from ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’ exhibition at Verdant Works, Dundee, Autumn 2018, Fabric marker pens and freehand machine embroidered layered sheer fabrics on unbleached cotton.

It was the innovation of using auxiliary steam power which made this possible.  Ships could approach the edge of the ice more reliably using steam power rather than having to rely on the sails.  The arrival of these first steam-powered whalers from Dundee in St Johns, Newfoundland triggered the development of the auxiliary steam-powered sealing fleet from Newfoundland.

The McManus,  Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum holds a fantastic collection of early photographs of the Dundee whaling trade. I have used three of these as the basis for this triptych.

 

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Victualling

This is one of the pieces in the Verdant Works Exhibition ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’, Autumn 2018.  Whaling ships setting off to the Arctic had to be self-sufficient in all they would need for the long summer whaling season. They took everything from harpoons, spare whaling boats and rope to extra clothing and canvas.  They also had to take a  lot of food.  In a time before preservation by canning or refrigeration, fresh food was only available for the very start of the voyage. Salt beef and dried vegetables, potatoes (and a surprising amount of alcohol) were the usual staples.  In later years they also had to have enough food to survive the harsh winter if they became trapped in the ice.

Victualling

Victualling

In the Archives at the University of Dundee there is a collection of whaling account documents with the invoice slips for the items bought for whaling voyages around 1830.  The text is from these accounts and the plan is of Dundee Docks.

 

 

 

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Calling At Shetland

This is one of the pieces in the Verdant Works Exhibition ‘The Arctic Whaling Year’, Autumn 2018.  Many whaleships from English and Scottish mainland ports called into Orkney and Shetland to pick up further supplies and additional crew.  The whaling agent Hay and Co in Lerwick, Shetland recruited local men, who were good sailors and cheap to employ, to act as crew for the whaleboats.  Hay and Co also supplied other goods to the ships for use during the voyage.  High-quality Shetland knitted goods and other provisions were bought in bulk to be sold to the sailors from the slop bag or slop chest – a common store of goods the sailors could obtain against their pay whilst on board. The Shetland Museum and Archive at Lerwick has a collection of documents from Hay and Co including accounts for individual Shetland whalemen.

Calling At Shetland

Calling At Shetland

I spent a month in Shetland in 2017 researching their Arctic whaling archives and after about a week the penny dropped.  I realised that the Hay Dock café at the museum was named for Hay and Co and that the museum and archive were actually built at the Hay Dock. Later one of the archivists  told me that the Builders Merchants on my route to the supermarket was still Hay and Co!  I bought some rope and a pair of gloves there and was delighted to see Hay & Co at the top of the printed receipt!  The building shown here (a digital photograph printed on fabric) is in front of the museum in Lerwick, and forms part of the Hay Dock.

 

 

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