Jan Rutherford Alistair Moffat speaking at the St Andrew's Book Festival
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CreativityTranscript
00:00We're at the St Andrew's Book Festival on St Andrew's Day and we just had a very enjoyable
00:07event with Jan Rutherford about the book written by Alastair Moffat about the great tapestry of
00:13Scotland. I just want to ask three quick questions about it. First of all, a lot of the books at this
00:18book festival have got a relatively short life. This is a book with a massive legacy of building
00:24a project that's going to represent all of Scotland's history. How does that feel to have
00:30been part of that? Well I mean I think it's great that we've both been part of it because
00:36we're in a situation where you know as you say so many things are transitory but with the help
00:42of a thousand stitchers, almost all of whom were women across Scotland, what's been created is a
00:47very different way of telling Scotland's story. You know we've done that in tapestry which is
00:53where we started we thought this is quite an old-fashioned way of telling a story. It's not
00:56the usual thing at all but it of course tells it in a completely different way. I mean I did the
01:02prescription but you know the women who made it and the woman who made it possible who ran the
01:07project, Jan, basically changed it out of all recognition because it's the first time I think
01:13something as monumental as this about the story of Scotland has been created by women and it gives
01:18it a completely different character and I'm very proud of it but my part in it was nothing like as
01:24great as the part that they played because thousands upon thousands upon thousands of
01:29hours of stitching went into this object and when you see it you know that. You just know that because
01:36it oozes love and care and authenticity and accuracy as well. The story is right and so I love that.
01:47Yeah and I think you don't go into a project like this thinking of the size that
01:53it's going to ultimately be but this has been 13 years of our life now which is a long
01:59time. It's a long part of being an adult human being actually to be involved in an embroidery
02:04project but you know as you say we thought it sounded quite an old-fashioned way of doing
02:09something but it's very modern. It's very off its moment because it's a storyboard as you would
02:16use in a film or in the theatre as well as being a graphic novel in many ways as well you know so
02:22it's a format that people can relate to at all ages. Which of the 163 panels is your
02:31own favourite? The last one because it means we've got it done. No mine is the Song of the Sea.
02:41I think it's just beautiful. It is beautiful. I find it difficult to pick out one but what I
02:49really loved was the way in which Andrew used these profiles of faces and figures to build
02:58the story. I mean David Hume has got a stack of books on his head for example and you know
03:04Bonnie Prince Charlie. His coat is so beautifully made and his campaign was all about appearance
03:13rather than fact in some ways so I think there are three or four of them but the one that I
03:19if you had to press me is the Border Reavers one because of the way in which Andrew drew the
03:24manes of the ponies and used the hair on their manes to hang names on and so on and the steel
03:31bonnet of the reaver is beautifully but then it's beautifully stitched and gorgeous. You want to
03:38sort of pat the horse's mane. It is like asking you to choose your favourite child it's incredibly
03:44difficult. I think the other one that I'm particularly fond of is James Small and the
03:48Plough. The invention of the swing plough which is it was a really important moment in Scottish
03:54history and in fact in farming history not just in Scottish history. Small changed the world he
04:02changed the way the world looks because he was able to plough and the prairies of Canada and
04:06North America were ploughed by James Small's swing plough so yeah. I gather that there's some news
04:12going to talk about this week about the tapestry trail to do with the work of the designer of the
04:20tapestry. Yes so Andrew Croomey who is the illustrator who drew the images which appear
04:26on the Great Tapestry of Scotland has gone on to work on other tapestries as have we.
04:30You know we've all been very involved but Andrew's really led the way and I've written down a list
04:35because we're launching this tapestry trail around Scotland which will tell people where
04:40they can see tapestries in a similar style to the Great Tapestry on a much smaller scale.
04:45So obviously the Great Tapestry is the mothership and then we've got the Dundee Tapestry in the B&A
04:50in Dundee, the Declaration of Arbroath Tapestry in Arbroath Abbey, we've got the Gordon Highlanders
04:56Tapestry in the museum up in Aberdeen, we've got the Clackmannanshire Tapestry in the Alloa Hub,
05:03the Spirit of the Highlands and Islands Tapestry which isn't quite available yet but due to open
05:08in the spring of next year, there's a big exhibition on at the Dovecott Studios in
05:12Edinburgh at the moment of embroideries from all over Scotland from the past,
05:16the Kirkcaldy Tapestry in Kirkcaldy Galleries, there's a panel at the Transport Interchange
05:23in Galashiels, there's a People's Panel in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Prestonpans
05:29Tapestry in Prestonpans, Allermuir Tapestry in the Medical Centre in Edinburgh, there's sections
05:36of the Diaspora Tapestry displayed in many different areas, the Craigmillar Tapestry which
05:41is at the Hayes Centre in Craigmillar and lastly the Renfrewshire Tapestry in the Thread Museum in
05:48Paisley, that was quite a tonne of twisting. Wow and that's an exclusive from the St Andrew's
05:56Book Festival isn't it? Yes that is an exclusive, it's being launched next week and I'll get into
06:00all sorts of trouble for telling you. Thank you very much Jan Rutherford.