Hello and welcome

Thank you for taking the time to view how I have been spending my time at Coughton Court. I hope you enjoy my entries and are able to come along and visit the Court to join in with some of the arts activities.
Please feel free to comment and maybe share some of your own stories.

Monday 30 July 2012

Sketches re: Katherine Vaux

Here is a peek at some of my initial sketches








Some intial thoughts on Katherine

Katherine marries Sir George Throckmorton before 1512 and astonishingly has 19 children, even more astonishing is that ALL 19 survived! What a women. Those 19 children go on to produce 112 grandchildren firmly securing the future of the Throckmorton family.
Katherine has a connection to many important events in history, I won’t detail them here so as not to spoil a visit to Coughton and you making the discoveries for yourself but a few key words would be:
Gunpowder plotters,
Husband imprisoned by Henry V111
Related to Catherine Parr
Her family live through the Reformation
The division of her family.


In her portrait on the stairs I noticed that her lace was detailed with strawberries, as she was a very fruitful women I thought that this was quite poignant and I began to make some studies.

 

Saturday 28 July 2012

The residency begins

I am delighted to be working at Coughton court throughout this summer and creating artisict responses on the women of Coughton and their untold stories.
I began the residency after graduating at the beginning of July. My first visit to the Court left me with the sense that this is a family home and as I journeyed around I felt that I was sharing in the family's highs and lows and that I had really begun my introduction to the family.
 I decided to allocate myself a month to research the history of the Throckmorton family and particularly the women of Coughton and the influence that they have had over the 600 year history of this family at Coughton Court. It soon became very obvious that the timescale of a month was ambitious at best, more accurately totally foolish to have considered that I could even scratch the surface of the history and personal stories of the family in such a short time. One interesting story leads to another and onto another and so on.
 
So to make a beginning I was taken by a portrait of a lady who looks down on you from the staircase,
Katherine Vaux (b. about 1490)
 Parents: Nicholas Vaux and Elizabeth Fitzhugh


 I'm going to get to Know Katherine and I'll get back to you with some ideas I have........