Issue date: 26 October 2007
A former Maths teacher turned illustrator currently studying as a mature student at the University of the West of England has designed a children's colouring book, based on a pig shaped soup tureen from Tyntesfield's dining room, as part of her work placement on the BA (Hons) Illustration course.
The idea started with a children's trail that brought the pig to life, to enhance children's enjoyment during visits to Tyntesfield. Student Mary Rouncesfield explains, “The soup tureen was a present to Lord Wraxall and sits majestically on the dining room side-board. I thought that it would be a great idea to use the pig character to engage children in aspects of Tyntesfield. I have since developed the idea into a colouring book that I submitted for the Jerwood Illustration prize and was recently astounded to discover that it has been selected and consequently highly commended.”
Rebecca Aubrey-Fletcher, Visitor Services and Enterprises Manager at Tyntesfield, said, “We were delighted with Mary's work; the children's quiz is much more exciting and the graphic panels will be an exciting start for everyone's visit to Tyntesfield. We regularly have placements on the estate, from helping in the garden to working on projects like this one, so congratulations to Mary for making hers such a success.”
Mary worked as a Maths teacher for 20 years alongside raising her children but she always enjoyed drawing and attended life classes at weekends. For Mary the Jerwood recognition is the icing on the cake as this year she has had different work selected for not just one but two categories in both drawing and illustration. The Jerwood Drawing prize is highly competitive with only 3% of over 3,000 entries selected for the exhibitions.
Mary continues, “The Illustration course has given me the chance to explore in depth something that I had previously enjoyed as a hobby and I have decided to try to really make a go of this now that my children have grown up given me more freedom to develop opportunities. The placement at Tyntesfield has also resulted in a commission to design and illustrate some panels showing what might have happened if the National Trust had not stepped in to purchase the stately home. I have created drawings showing what might have happened if a pop star had built a swimming pool in the main garden and sold off all the fascinating artefacts.
“The course placement organised by UWE has given me a very thorough grounding and also opened up the chance to work to brief which has proved a challenging but non the less exciting discipline.”
Ends
Editors notes:
Tyntesfield - 7 miles from the centre of Bristol - is a spectacular, High Victorian, Gothic Revival house with gardens, outbuildings, woodland, farmland and a magnificent chapel. It was maintained as a private estate up to the time of the death of its owner - Lord Wraxall - in 2001. The National Trust acquired Tyntesfield in 2002 following a successful public appeal. It is only now that the public are being given the opportunity to experience its splendours first hand.
A number of programs providing work experience for adults and young people have already been run at Tyntesfield, alongside dedicated conservation, access and learning projects designed for young people, and for those with physical and learning disabilities. Over time, the Trust is aiming to provide access to up to 160,000 people per annum and to develop innovative learning and education programmes, enabling a wide range of audiences to engage with work going on at Tyntesfield.
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