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HISTORY of Wanaka Embroidery School

At the 1984 Southland Embroiderers’ Guild regional meeting, Invercargill, Gay Eaton proposed that an annual school of embroidery be established in Wanaka the third weekend of March each year.  This proposal gained much support as it was difficult for smaller guilds to be able to offer their members a wide range of techniques and styles of embroidery.  At that time Gay was both   the President of the Otago Guild and the Southern Regional Education Officer for the Association of New Zealand Embroiderers’ Guilds. 

Very much earlier  both Mrs Kay du Toit (Sheffield) and Miss Helen M. Moran were able to visit country groups and those women living in isolation. This was under the auspices of the University of Otago adult education programme. Unfortunately this scheme of  providing country women with embroidery skills by these two talented tutors had been discontinued by about 1960. 

Because Gay taught embroidery at St Hilda’s Collegiate School, Dunedin, she was often asked by her country pupil’s  mothers for help to complete embroideries begun by a family member, or where they could go for needlework tuition. Thinking about all this under the shower one morning the idea popped into Gay’s head that it would be worthwhile having all those interested, in one place and  to offer classes in a wide range of needlework skills. She also proposed  that those attending the embroidery school did not need to be a member of a guild. This  was to introduce isolated country women to a guild and a way to add to the membership of our  southern guilds. Wanaka seemed to be the ideal place to hold the school as most enjoyed  to visit  that very beautiful region and some would have holiday homes, so accommodation would not be a problem. 

The first Otago Embroiderers’ Guild annual school of embroidery was held 15 - 17 March 1985 at the Wanaka Area School,  Tenby Street and since then it has always been held the third weekend in March. Registration forms had been posted  to the regional guilds late September 1984 and  Gay had also sent many of her  school pupils home with one.  Registration forms had also been available over the holiday season to the general public viewing the Display of Embroidery that she had placed  in the  window of the Wanaka branch of the Otago  Savings Bank, Helwich Street. This school of embroidery created a great deal of interest. Registrations came in  steadily and  by  early March eighty eight  had been received along with some lovely letters from country women most appreciative of the opportunity to attend. It was the first time for many years that embroidery classes had been so accessible  to all those interested. 

For the first three years the main Otago Guild committee made all the arrangements, selected the workshops and engaged the tutors. They were keen to make sure that a wide a range of classes were offered and that no technique would be considered to be more important than the others.  The committee decided to  keep the  class costs the same for all students, whether guild members or not.  Accommodation was to be  left to each student to arrange for themselves, from camping grounds, cribs,  motels and  tourist hotels.

The workshops & tutors offered at the  first OEG Wanaka embroidery  school were:

• Design,  Colour and Stitch with Diana Parkes, Wellington  

• Linen embroidery including Hardanger with Dorothy Barton, Gore 

• Designing with fabric and thread, Margaret Sharpe, Dunedin

• Gardens in canvas work,  Jan Wilson Dunedin

• Bobbin Lace with Nan Smith and Belle Thornbury, Winton

• Because of the demand for places in the ‘Gardens in canvas work’ class   a sixth workshop with Margaret Jeffrey, Balclutha was added  to cater for the extra students.  

In the newsletter Gay sent to the regional  guilds, she asked  each to bring information about their guild to the March school as this  would be a good opportunity to build up their membership.   A display of students and tutors work was  exhibited in the school library, Friday evening, this was open to the general public and had been advertised in the town. Phyllis Aspinall had arranged with  members of the Wanaka Art Society to sit with it.  A Saturday evening  buffet meal  was held at the Wanaka Lodge, this was followed by a slide lecture with Diana Parkes  in the Presbyterian church hall. The weekend was completed Sunday evening by the very generous offer of  a meal and hospitality at Betty and Les Swift’s home, that   about 20 participants gladly accepted.  Setting up the Wanaka area school for adult classes was quite a task, as many of the classrooms just had furniture for little people and some of the young children’s desks and chairs   had to be used. How Wanaka has grown since those days. Over the weekend there were  5 hours teaching each day, with an hour and half  for lunch to give time to view the display of work and visit Threads Needlecraft  which was then in the village mall.

 As a follow on from the March school,  Dunedin 25 May 1985  The Otago Guild offered  a wide range of Embroidery Clinics  at the Kaikorai Valley High School Hall. These first Mayday clinics were to give  another opportunity of spending time with the March school tutors and gaining further help with the project started or other projects begun  earlier. Because of distance Diana Parkes was the only tutor not able to be at this event. May was decided upon as the best time for this follow on as country parents were returning their children to boarding schools and would give them the opportunity to attend.  Since  May 1985  the Otago Guild has continued to  offer this annual May Day event.  It   attracts embroiderers’ from the South, North and Central Otago and keeps our members busy preparing small projects for the many work table options offered.  

By March 1986 the  form 1 - 7  Mount  Aspiring College had been built in Plantation Road, Wanaka. That year because of the extra classrooms we  were able to  offer ten workshops,  1987 it was 12,  1988 it was 14. Over the years setting up Mount Aspiring College for  our embroidery school has been a huge task. Large heavy tables had to be shifted from the labs and used in the West Common  room for the Display of Work, we then  had to find spare classroom desks  to  replace the high lab tables so we could use those two rooms for classrooms.   Gay was always grateful for the stirling help that she received from Jerry Aspinall, together they did most of the big shift.  Nearly every year since 1987 further classrooms have been added to the school so that we can now  offer  22 workshops, use the library for the Display of Work,  the East Common room for serving teas and coffee and  use the labs  for the shops. Fortunately we now no longer need to move desks from one room to the other.   Mount Aspiring College does not have an area large enough and accessible to us to hold all the students in one place. However the school is built around a quad and that does give a feeling of being together as a group.

Our small committee of five rarely change from year to year. They are  Gay Eaton Chairman;  Pat DeBono, Registrar;  Jan Kettink, Secretary; Jo Henderson Treasurer;  Marion Caffell, Minute Secretary.  The Otago Guild President is  on the committee during her term in office, at present Jeanette Trotman, her role being the  liaison between the  main committee and the Wanaka committee.

As well as the workshops held at Wanaka  our small committee  arranges further classes with the overseas tutors and offers  places to those interested in our region. We also  give the smaller  guilds the opportunity to hold classes with some of the visiting  tutors.  In  2006  we held 22 classes  at the Wanaka School weekend and an extra nine workshops around the South Island, four of these were held in Dunedin. For visiting tutors our secretary arranges the itineraries and books most of the travel. These costs are shared amongst the guilds that have requested to have that tutor. Though our class fees are low we are able to run this school as you would  a business. All committee work is voluntary and it is only the tutors and our two catering staff  at Wanaka who are paid.

The Otago Guild has been very fortunate with the sound support and tuition that Miss Helen M.  Moran gave her many pupils,  including City and Guild qualifications.  She certainly set the standard for our guild.  From  the early sixties to the early seventies we had the opportunity  in Dunedin to study for City and Guild of London qualifications at the Otago Polytechnic.  The tutor was the British Mrs D. Allan. At least  5 of our members gained  certificate I and two  gained the advanced certificate II. After Mrs Allan resigned the embroidery classes, both day and evening continued for  a further twenty years until 1992 with Jan Wilson and Margaret Sharpe.  From 2000 Jan Wilson has facilitated the study  for the City and Guild International programme,  15 have gained  certificates  and  5 advancing  to    Diploma level 3.  Because of this sound embroidery education  programme offered in our city over many many years,  we  have a good number of   Guild members who are able to  tutor  for us often in a voluntary capacity.  This  annual embroidery school also gives  the opportunity for tutors to up skill and become proficient in further techniques that  the committee ask them to research and prepare  work for classes.

By using mainly our own members  to tutor we do not have to add too many expensive travel costs  to class fees.  This  allows us to keep  the school affordable to allow anyone who wants to come.   Keeping the cost of workshops affordable to most  has always been important. Another factor of importance  is to be able to offer a wide range of embroidery techniques and to reintroduce those that have been long forgotten. Each year we always seem to be able to find yet another little known technique to add to our list of classes. Another important part of the Otago Embroiderers’ Guild school of embroidery has been to   give our tutors the opportunity  to gain teaching skills.  The first  workshop that we held  for tutor’s was in  the  second year of the school. The aim of that  course was   to   encourage  them to use the whiteboard and teach from the front as well as spending time with each student. The first  5 day masterclass for tutors  held over a number of weeks, was with our own Jan Wilson, she encouraged students to extend their horizons,  share their knowledge and develop their teaching skills.  She holds both an M.A. and  M.F.A. in textile art.  Since then we have arranged  on five different occasions,   five x five  day Master classes  with some of the very best British tutors.  We have twice had a five day Master class in Dunedin with Jan Beaney,  and twice with  Jean Littlejohn.  The fifth  five day class  was with Anthea Godfrey and her mother Margaret Nicholson, the renowned author of  Goldwork and the head examiner for the City and Guild of London, Embroidery certificates.   

The fourth Thursday in September, from our large mailing list,  registration forms are posted to  guilds and country students,  sent by email overseas  and available at out  monthly guild meeting.  From 2007  they will also be  on our website  www.oegembroideryschool.co.nz.   Because classes fill quickly we ask students to select  four  workshop options.   Class requirement lists are sent out as an indication that  a place in a class has been secured. Over the years we have had many overseas students from Australia, U.K., the States and Alaska.

The Otago Embroiderers’ Guild  annual Wanaka Embroidery school has  publicised the local guilds,  we each have gained further members and new guilds have been formed in  our region. In 1985 the regional guilds were Southland,  South Otago, Otago,   Eastern Southland,  North Otago and Queenstown. By 2007  further guilds had been established at Wanaka, Te Anau,  Central Otago, East Otago, Maniototo and West Taieri.  Over the 24 years of the  OEG  school of embroidery in Wanaka  we have   brought before our students an exciting, rich needlework heritage,  offered a wide range of embroidery techniques and styles,  reintroduced  a considerable number of  techniques  that had been long forgotten.  Many of the workshops  have also kept up with  the overseas trends and introduced   the various methods of fabric colouring, rich machine and hand stitchery and the latest tools of our art / craft.  We will celebrate our 25th year March 2009 and plan to continue offering this embroidery school to the women of southern New Zealand and all those beyond that are interested.

Gay Eaton