Contemporising Toile de Jouy Print on Linen – facilitated by artist Robert Peters

As part of R-Space Gallery's commitment to improving wellbeing through engagement in the arts, the Linen Biennale 2023 was being accompanied by art workshops highlighting the innovative use of intaglio printmaking in 18th Century Ireland.

Artist Robert Peters worked with nine different community groups across Northern Ireland exploring the technique of Toile de Jouy print on linen highlighting the innovative use of intaglio printmaking in 18th Century Ireland for fabric printing.  This community engagement project engaged a range of groups across Northern Ireland in creating their own printed design onto linen. Using the pastoral patterns established by Nixon and made famous at Jouy, participants designed a contemporary image reflecting the use of rural and city green spaces, areas that saw an upsurge in use and appreciation during Covid. These workshops were free to participate in for selected groups. The community participants selected images relating to contemporary use of the countryside, mythology or animals.

The finsihed banner is now on display at R-Space Gallery (January 13th - February 9th) and will tour to a range of venues over 2024 including, Belvoir Communnity Hub (March), Top of the Rock Healthy Living Centre (April), 2 Royal Aveune, Belfast (May) with more to be confirmed.

Groups
Wise the BAP, Bangor

Downpatrick Men’s Shed

Upper Springfield Development Trust

Action Mental Health, Lisburn

Action Mental Health, Belfast

Armagh Men’s Shed

Action Mental Health, Craigavon 

Belvoir Community Hub, Belfast

Antrim Men’s Shed

Mourneview Ladies Arts and Crafts Group Lurgan

History of Toile de Jouy
Francis Nixon and Theophlius Thompson were pioneering printers who, at the Drumcondra Printworks near Dublin in 1752, were the first to use copper plates successfully to create patterns on linen. By 1757 he had moved to England, joining George Amyand in his calico-printing factory at Phippsbridge in Surrey. The partnership continued until their deaths in the mid 1760s, and the firm continued as Nixon & Company, under which name this fabric was produced, until 1789. The technique quickly spread to London before J.P. Oberkampf took the technique to France creating the distinctive and prolific Rococo style typical of “Toiles de Jouy” prints, though the spread of this technique to Jouy is also accredited to Scotsman, Thomas Bell.