Pattenmakers and WW1 a creative journey through pattens, army

Pattenmakers and WW1
a creative journey through pattens, army boots and mud
Pattens were the starting point for an inspirational, HLF funded, WW1
commemoration project completed in March 2015 by the Worshipful Company of
Pattenmakers with artist Jane Churchill and Mulberry School for Girls in East
London.
Students were inspired by Jane
and her work “Degrees of
Separation” to think about the
notion of loss and separation
caused by war and to use their
imagination to express these
emotions. The context for the
project was the humble army
boot. In this creative journey
through pattens, boots and mud,
students learnt how pattens
saved the wearer from muddy
London streets, they took part in
a boot making workshop at
Northampton where two thirds of
WW1 boots were made. They
learnt about the history of the City
Livery Companies and the
Pattenmakers’ liverymen who
fought in the war. They talked to
designers of orthopaedic footwear
for injured servicemen and met
one of their clients recently
invalided out of the army.
Some of Jane Churchill’s work from “Degrees of
Separation”
All this research was then woven
into a magical exhibition of artwork
created by Jane with the students
and curated for the Livery
Showcase Event on 4 March at
Barber-Surgeons’ Hall. Their work
included pattens modelled in clay,
tiny bottles with messages of loss,
“sole searching” letters home from
the front written on boot soles,
exquisite moths evoking the lives
of those lost, hand made paper
boots embellished with emotive
words.
Lost things
“Sole” searching letters
The centre piece was a giant boot featuring trench maps and extracts from diaries,
letters and photos, made as a team, demonstrating the students’ understanding of
boot making and their empathy with the physical well-being of soldiers.
Students had tremendous fun
working with Jane and their work is
now going to be curated at the
school for an exhibition open to
parents of all year 7 students.
Those who were involved in the
project will also be sharing their
project with the rest of the school in
assemblies.
Giant boot
I am immensely grateful to Liveryman
Steve Huxham who spent a morning with
the students at the beginning of the
project to help set the scene. He named
the liverymen from the Pattenmakers
who fought in WW1 which focused the
students’ minds on how individual
soldiers might have felt and gave flight to
their imagination about how they might
have written home and how they felt
about their physical surroundings.
Letters to fallen Pattenmakers Douglas Ffitch was the then Clerk’s son
Clay pattens and paper boots
Thanks too go to the Heritage Lottery Fund who made this project possible, staff and
students at Mulberry School who worked incredibly hard at every stage of the project,
and the Worshipful Company of Barbers who were so accommodating, generously
giving the space for the exhibition at the Livery Showcase Event.
Artist Jane Churchill continues to weave her magic and we look forward to
developing the Livery World War 1 Commemoration Project using the Pattenmakers’
project as the template for exploring other trades and industries represented by
Livery Companies in the supply chain to the First World War.