Episode 016 - Elna VanGreuning

In this episode, I welcome Elna VanGreuning! Elna graces us with a masterclass on the history of lace and lacemaking, from its very beginnings to how we can get involved today. Originally from South Africa, Elna brings her rich knowledge of lace and her own experiences in lacemaking to dive deep into one of the loveliest art forms. 

 

The International Organization of Lace: https://internationalorganizationoflace.org/

Artfully Told links: www.facebook.com/artfullytold | www.artfullytold.podbean.com | elevateartskc@gmail.com

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Intro & Outro Music Credits:

Bad Ideas (distressed) by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3412-bad-ideas-distressed-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

 

SHOW NOTES:

Episode 16 - Elna VanGreuning

Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art.

[00:00:06] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life.

[00:00:12] Roman: All I can do is put my part into the world.

[00:00:15] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It doesn't have to be perfect ever really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it and you're trying your best, that can be good enough.

[00:00:23] Elna VanGreuning: Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experience as, as so beautiful.

[00:00:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told. My name is Lindsey, and I am so excited to share with you a wonderful, wonderful guest that I get to have on my episode today. Her name is Elna VanGreuning, and she is originally from South Africa. And I'll let her tell you a little bit more about herself, but I have the privilege to call her my aunt adopted. I had the privilege of growing up, and getting to know her, and have many, many fond memories of spending afternoons at her lovely house, having tea, learning the correct way to have tea.  I just am so blessed to have her in my life, but I am extremely excited to share her with you all today. She is a very, very accomplished woman in many avenues. And one of the things that she does is lace making. And so I'm just thrilled to hear all of her stories about that. So thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:01:36]Elna VanGreuning: Thank you, Lindsey. I feel honored that you even invited me for this. Yes, I'm from South Africa, but I've been in the US now almost 26 years. I'm also a US citizen. So I am very much American and love living in the Reston area. So a little bit about my life, in how I got involved in that. Way back in 1975, when I was a young school teacher, a friend of mine, in the middle of the country that actually taught lace classes and she started with that. And then we got married in 1976 and she made us a beautiful lace handkerchief embroidered with all the details.

[00:02:26] So that's how I initially even got to know about lace, and how you make lace. Previous to that, I was in Belgium in 1974 and I went to Bruges and Brussels and saw all the beautiful lace, little shops and was intrigued, but I didn't really know how you make it. So then time went on and we ended up in Toronto in 1980, for 18 months. And I couldn't work. I couldn't get a work permit. Only my husband could. And I got bored, looked at the newspaper and found a woman, a Dutch woman, teaching lace. So I thought, well, I might as well try this. Well, I've got nothing else to do. And that's how I started making lace. So when I went back to South Africa in 1981, it was wonderful to connect with my friend, and we started this lace adventure together. And I got very involved. I even taught lace for quite a while, had quite a few students until we came to the US in 1994. Since then I've not made a lot of lace. Life just took over here. I did connect with a lace group in Reston for a while, and then it sort of dwindled, but I've got a nice lace collection that I've put together over the years and added to. And so, I've always kept my interest and therefore, you know, that's how I got involved in lacemaking.

[00:04:09]Lindsey Dinneen: That is wonderful. I did not know that story. I love the fact that you, were bored, so you just decided to take up this new adventure. That's amazing.

[00:04:19]Elna VanGreuning: Yes, I've always loved doing handcrafts. I was a home ec[onomics] teacher. So you can imagine that I did weaving, and I took a weaving course in Toronto as well. But lace was sort of the unusual thing, and I thought, Whoa, this is on my doorstep. Why, why don't I pursue this? So I've loved embroidery and all of this, and I also think that handiwork for me, it's really been a wonderful-- it's a pastime, but also it's a way of relaxing. There's a way of expression expressing your feelings and your artistic capabilities. I can't draw, but I can do fine handwork and appreciate it. So I think that's the way I, I really enjoyed getting involved in lace and it's, it's so beautiful for the eye in any way. And you can sit down, work on your pillow with beautiful classic music in the background, or sit outside and enjoy fresh air so it is something you can take with you. I mean, you can take your pillow when you go to a friend or you can take it on vacation. Not, not practical if you're flying, but if you're driving in a car. So yes, that's, that's how I got involved.

[00:05:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. You have some stories to share with us about the origin of lace and different techniques or styles, but I would love for you to take it away because I am very excited to learn along with everyone else.

[00:05:52]Elna VanGreuning: Okay, thank you. Well, let me start off with the history of lace. Lace is indisputably a very old form of art. It's rather sad that very little is known about the birth of lace as we know it today and the existing resources are very few and very superficial. Indeed the history of lace cannot be separated from the history of clothing construction. And as a matter of fact, fashion has always driven the lace production, whether it was hand or machine lace, as we know it today. It's obvious that humans from the earliest times had a need or longing to decorate clothing, and it never changed or diminished. Lace thus evolved out of this need. The Egyptian lace making techniques unfortunately disappeared for many centuries. It was only through pictorial evidence from the late 15th century we could see that simple platitude laces appeared on costumes, for example. And, when printing became popular or available, we now know of books. There was one book, 1561, printed in Zurich that mentioned the amount or the look of lace that was actually ordered from Italy in the previous century, in the 15th century.

[00:07:20] So we know that after the Middle Ages, lace definitely came back. Lace was surely inspired by the open effect of the renowned Venetian embroidery . In time, instead of cutting out expensive fabric, foundation threads were laid onto a temporary backing and with a needle, a form of lace was made and it was called Punto in Aria. This was all done in Venetia, or Venice, because we know that the Venetians were very big on trading with the East. And on the Island of Burano just outside of Venice today, they still have a whole community of lacemakers that actually makes this. The Venitian trade with the Far East also brought very fine silk threads to Europe.

[00:08:11]There is no proof that Asia ever made lace. They did various forms of embroidery, but not lace. So therefore the Italians still claim that they inspired and birthed lacemaking. The lace that they made in Venice at that time with a needle then became a known as needle lace, which is very different from bobbin lace that I'll talk about later. So bobbin lace generally is much quicker to work than needle lace. And skilled workers were soon able to copy needle lace designs. So yes, bobbin lace was inspired again out of needle lace. Bobbin lace uses multiple threads, which are wound around wooden or bone bobbins, and therefore it's called bobbin lace. So that's the big distinction, between the two. Although the Italians even claim that they started bobbin lace, the first history book on lace, it's called--it's a very  famous book-- it's called "The History of Lace" by a Mrs. Palliser was written at the end of the 1800s. It clearly states the fact that we will never know the truth.

[00:09:33] We'll never know whether the Italian started the bobbin lace or whether the Belgians, the flounders at that stage, started the lace.  So regardless of the country of a region of bobbin lace, it did spread rapidly and was established as one of the most delicate of all handmade art forms ever. So, I mean, there might be people that would say no jewelry could be finer or whatever, but that's from the lace makers perspective. The first lace was very simple and not so delicate because of the thicker thread and very simple geometric forms that were used. But as skills were refined and much thinner threads became available, artists soon produced very complex and elaborate patterns. Lace-making reached a high point with the Brussels Point d'Angleterre. Or in Dutch, it was called bloom work, which means flower work. It was very delicate.

[00:10:39]So by the 1550s, lace-making became a very common career choice and not only a pastime skill. Initially convents took the lead in making the lace and also taught lace-making. Women were involved in spinning, weaving, and embroidery since the Middle Ages and therefore those industries, which were all home-interest industries, were well-established by the time the woman got involved in lace-making, so they were already set up for this. And I also think that some of the weaving the big tapestry were then taken over by companies and took the work away from the women in, in their home industry. So lace making filled this void at the time. Many pictorial evidences exist to show us of women either busy spinning, weaving, making lace, or depicting these articles in paintings and drawings.

[00:11:40] Paintings of rich embroidered tablecloths. And clergy attire are plentiful. If we look through the art books and, and art history, we learn about that as well. The elegant, elaborate clothing decoration reached a peak under Louis the 16th. And Marie Antoinette, obviously, and that was 1774 to 1792, and paved the way for lace to become very sought after. From Italy amongst the nobility they had this need and greed for all these wonderful things. So that also stimulated the production of very fine fabrics and decorations. In 1665, there were already 10 different kinds of known lace, of which the Belgium Mechelen, which was a little town just outside of Brussels, lace was by far the most popular for the nobility, because it was considered the prettiest of laces--fine, transparent and effective. In 1834, there were eight houses where Mechelen lace was produced. So that's just more, more or less, an idea where they started and how it spread. So I don't know whether you have any questions

[00:13:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. That's really helpful to have a little bit of a background and, and who knew there was such tension about it? I, that is so interesting to me.

[00:13:17] Elna VanGreuning: Thank you. Well, since, Belgium, and I'm going to switch between Belgium and Flanders and I'll explain in a minute why, is generally seen as the country that produced the most and the most beautiful of all laces throughout the ages. I'm going to talk about Belgium lace first of all, but that doesn't mean that the French lace wasn't special, that Spain didn't have lace Germany Switzerland, Scandinavia, Russia, and so forth. I can't talk about all the countries. Certainly the French lace was also something in that time. French lace in particular was beautiful, but not such a huge industry because of the religious persecution, because of the Edict of Nantes, and then the revolution. So it was never as big as the Belgium lace. So, Flanders became Belgium in 1839 and, you know, there were also change in, in borders, because at some stage some cities like Mechelen was in France, and then it became part of Belgium, and Brabant was first in Flanders and then it became part of Holland, so it's really difficult to know which, which part was where when, but, so just excuse me, if I, I mix between Flanders and Belgium.

[00:14:44] Paintings from the low countries, as early as the 15th century, depicts people dressed in clothes, richly adorned with lace. A series of engravings around 1585 shows lacemakers sitting at their lace pillows and working and, well, the interesting part of you, I can't show you the pictures, but if you see the pictures, they were young girls, they were not older women. And I'm going to tell you why in a little bit. In 1651, the Flemish poet, Jacob Van Eyck, wrote a famous poem about the lace maker in Latin. I'm gonna read it to you in English because I just love it. And it goes like this: "Of many arts, one surpasses all. The threads woven by the strange powers of the hand. Threads, which the dropping spider would, in vain, attempt to imitate and which Pallas [which was the Greek goddess, Athena] would confess she has never known." And she was the goddess of handicraft. So that's a, I think really a nice way of expressing. It's almost like a spider web, but it's very fine.

[00:16:06] Lindsey Dinneen: That is beautiful.

[00:16:07] Elna VanGreuning: Yes. Yes. I do love that one. Because of the religious prosecution. Flanders lost many skilled lacemakers, and in 1698, legislation was even passed in, in Flanders, which kept the employer responsible if his employee fled the country. So you had to tell them why  she left and where she went to, because it was such a big industry for the country.

[00:16:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my goodness.

[00:16:40] Elna VanGreuning: Yes. Now I'm going to give you a few statistics to prove how large this lacemaking industry in Belgium was. Up to 1900, the lace industry was the most valued home industry in Belgium because it accounted for a sizeable portion of foreign currency flowing into the country. As early as 1785, it was recorded that the average lacemaker was was technically blind by the age of 30, and children as young as five years old were signed up for apprenticeships. At age 10, girls earned enough to financially support themselves. It wasn't fully grown girls. In 1768, England, England alone ordered 250,000 pounds worth of lace from Flanders and by 1861, one out of every four women were involved in the lacemaking industry in Belgium. That high demand for lace in England and Europe quickly led to an embargo on the implant  and resulted in a substantial and dangerous Black Market. Between 1820 in 1836, at least 40,000 dogs were used to carry lace around their skinny bodies, and then covered in a second layer of fur from his deceased dog, between Belgium and France alone. They were very various other ways of smuggling that you also read about. But I thought this one is just a particularly horrid one because the French, even after the revolution-- mean, Napoleon also loved lace. And if you go to the Island of Murano, there's a shop that also is a museum and they have examples of some of the lace worn by Napoleon. So, yes, the revolution didn't complete it, it stopped the lace making in France, but not the need and the love for lace.

[00:18:59] Okay. Back to Flanders, the first Flanders lace exported to England was named Brussels point d'angleterre or point English, as I mentioned earlier. Because it was specifically exported to England and loved by King Charles the second. And in 1662, the English parliament issued a law to prohibit the import of this lace. And this was actually the height of the production of this point d'angleterre because of the English loving this, you know, they created a demand and a market but it was soon stopped because of the English. This boosted the English lace making industry when they prohibited the import of the Brussels lace, but they still had a long road ahead to compete with the quality and the quantities of lace made in Brussels. As a matter of fact, the British never achieved this milestone King Charles, the second, between 1660, and 1685, he ruled. He even invited some Flemish lacemakers to come and live in England, but that was really not a successful venture. The lace traders kept on smuggling huge quantities of best and finest Flemish lace, and sold it as English point lace, and not Brussels point d'angleterre.  In 1678, one of the boats smuggling these goods-- there were tons of colors, handkerchiefs, gloves, fans, you name it and 750,000 yards of lace on this boat that was seized across the English channel. Nobody knows what they did with it, but it was a huge loss for the Flanders industry because they didn't get the lace back and the British didn't pay either. So, there was a  war on a lot of fronts, not only on the political front. 

[00:21:01] Right from the beginning they only used linen thread produced in Belgium. The linen threads were so fine, it could hardly be felt between the fingertips. Linen was kept in dark and damp rooms where it was spun, stored, and used to avoid direct sunlight and from it becoming dry and brittle. The working rooms were often quite dark and only lit by one candle encircled by glass balls filled with water to reflect the candlelight.  So you wonder why they got blind at age--they were technically blind at age 30, because they've worked at very low lighting. And in 1859, just an example, one pound of Belgium linen would cost 500 pounds. That's the thread. And if they use it produce lace, the lace was only worth 700 pounds. So you can imagine that the linen was much more expensive than what the girls were paid to make this lace. They only made, made 200 pounds for all these hours of work.

[00:22:14] Linen was, therefor, far too expensive for the British machine manufacturers, and they soon switched to only using cotton. So after the industrial revolution in England, you know, there was no need for lacemakers. The machines did the lace, but they couldn't really afford making lace with linen because it was too expensive. So this was one of the reasons why Belgium lace remained high in demand, amongst the well-to-do, because the cotton was much paler in color than the natural linen and it wasn't as durable as linen. So to mimic the color of linen, the machine manufacturers, even dipped cotton lace into coffee to see whether they can't mimic the real linen look and entice their customers. But, people with money still preferred the handmade Belgium lace and the trade went on whether it was allowed or smuggling.

[00:23:21]Well, a last story about Belgium lace is about the Mechelen lace. Mechelen was a little town just outside of Brussels, and it also made very fine laces and the distinctive characteristic of this lace, was the use of this thicker, silk thread that they interweaved. It was called a gimp thread and this made it special. It looked very different. And it was woven on a net background. The production of this lace also ceased in 1834, and by then there were only eight producers of the Mechelen lace. And one of the reasons for this was because by that time knit or tool, as we know, it, was actually a machine produced in France. So, that's how, you know, it took over the place, and people used a machine-made knit to do embroidery that looked like lace and was cheaper obviously. 

[00:24:25] Churches in Belgium are the fortunate and proud owners of some of the most exquisite and valuable existing lace collections in the world and Bruges are today seen as the lace center of Belgium and a lot of tourists go there. It's a pretty little town, but it also has a lot of lace shops. Not everything is made by hand though, but they've got the museums, and it's actually ironic because Bruges wasn't the largest lace making center, but it just evolved as such. So that's more or less the story about the Belgium lace.

[00:25:08]Lindsey Dinneen: That is amazing. Oh my goodness. Thank you for sharing.

[00:25:13]Elna VanGreuning: So now I can tell you a little bit about the English lace, because it also became a very popular pastime actually in 1976. It was actually in England that lacemaking really bloomed again. So the declaration of the Edict of Mantis in 1595 caused Protestants, known as huguenots, to flee from France and Flanders because they were both Catholic countries to various corners of the world. For almost 200 years, this flight of huguenots went on. In the process, the skill of lacemaking went with them. And that's actually how it went to Holland. Many went through Holland and that gave their lacemaking a boost. Holland did have lacemakers because they were so close to Belgium. But it was never at the scale and the quality of Belgium. So with the lacemakers fleeing France and Flanders, many of them went to Holland and many went to England. After some of the huguenots settled in England, in 1695, there were more than a hundred thousand lacemakers from France in England. During the French revolution, the lace schools and linen factories closed and stock got so low, which then boosted the English lacemaking industry and forced the British to  import more lace from Belgium because they couldn't provide in all the lace for the nobility.  King Charles the second loved lace and he ordered 600 yards of lace to adorn his nightgowns alone. Only for his nightgowns.

[00:27:04] Lindsey Dinneen: That is amazing and very lavish

[00:27:08] Elna VanGreuning: That's right. So when you watch these old movies again, just watch and see whether you see the lace, because it's there, but unfortunately, with the industrial revolution, machine-made lace soon took over the handmade lace industry in England. And by 1765, as I said earlier, the net background was made by a machine . And so handmade lace in England changed into a hobby, and not a career, and died for almost a hundred years. There were hardly anybody making handmade lace in England. Until the 1970s, it surfaced again. So that's just a little bit about the lace in England and the Victorian Albert Museum in London, if you ever get a opportunity to go there, they also have a magnificent collection of lace from all over the world and it's worth visiting. So what about America? I'm sure you're wondering, did it ever come to America?

[00:28:15] Lindsey Dinneen: I am wondering,

[00:28:17]Elna VanGreuning: So, it indeed did. Lacemaking was brought to America by European immigrants and soon became a popular hobby in several communities. One of the earliest and best known lace home industries was in Ipswich in Massachusetts. They started in 1639 and by the 18th century, they were quite a home industry and produced beautiful lace as well. And it was in the fashion of the European lace, mostly torsion. It's still a beautiful lace. Today, there still is an international organization of lace in the US and most states still have an active Guild. So if anybody would be interested in seeing what they're doing and, you know, I noticed that the Guild here in Virginia has a big exhibit right now in Culpepper, but because of COVID-19, you know, the museum there's closed. So that is something to go and visit after everything opens. And then in 1907, Mrs. James W. Pinscher suggested to the Smithsonian Institute to put together a collection of lace. She and some of her well-to-do friends collectively donated or loaned 500 pieces of lace to the National Museum of American History. And it is still there today. So not all of it's on display, but they are the proud owners of the lace. So, yes, it is something that you could even make in the US and get involved in.

[00:30:09] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, wonderful. Well, first of all, thank you. That was deep and rich. And I really appreciate knowing more 'cause,  I shared with you beforehand, this is new to me and I'm very excited to learn more. So first of all, thank you for that. . So if somebody is interested in getting involved, is there a good way to start that you recommend?

[00:30:30]Elna VanGreuning: I would recommend going through the International Organization of Lace in the US and then you can go to your state, contact them, but I think they also give places where you can order all these things, but you'll have to get a good book. It's the books that you can teach yourself. It's not impossible to teach yourself, but it would be wise to, or helpful to join a guild. And I'm sure most guilds will have somebody that loves teaching other people the skill.

[00:31:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Thank you. And then do you have any particular recommendations if someone maybe isn't able to start, you know, making it themselves, but they would like to support artists who do-- do you know of any kind of resource or would you also suggest going to the guild to kind of try to find those makers where we can maybe support them?

[00:31:31]Elna VanGreuning: Yes. I think the guild, the International Organization would be the best place to start, because, I saw exhibit of people in Sutton, Virginia, over Christmas through the guild. They had an exhibit and they actually sold some of their products. So they may made little Christmas decorations, crosses, they even had Easter eggs adorned with lace. So people are not necessarily making typical lace anymore because very few people would wear, or use lace fans and things like that. So when you get a beautiful pattern--I've made quite a few lace collars. I framed them and I framed things for my grandchildren.

[00:32:15] Or you can make a handkerchief, and have it embroidered with the dates of somebody getting married. So yes, you can make practical things, but I think people are thinking of adapting the lace and making more, you know, things for the house that, or you could use, or that's more fashionable today. And, the various guilds would be more productive and more and more initiative. I wouldn't be able to say--some would be more traditional and only do the old patterns, and they're beautiful old patterns. I mean, if you see it, you would just wish, "Oh, I'll make two yards of lace." I made 14 yards of lace for my children's christening dresses. That's, you know, 37 years ago. Maybe people still do that, or people that are into making porcelain dolls, they make their own clothes. They would also make the lace for those, for the dresses. I'm sure there are a lot of uses for that.

[00:33:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Thank you. Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Yes, that's helpful. Okay, okay. Well, I have a couple questions that I love to ask my guests--just personal opinion about art. Is that okay if I ask a couple of questions?

[00:33:25] Elna VanGreuning: Yes. Yeah, sure.

[00:33:27] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. So how do you personally define art or what is art to you?

[00:33:34]Elna VanGreuning: I think art is anything that's so beautiful for the eye that you either wanted to touch it, hear it, see it, you know, and you could even eat it, if it's like, in cake. So it's something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experience as so beautiful.

[00:33:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I love that. I love that answer. Okay. What do you think is the most important role of an artist?

[00:34:02]Elna VanGreuning: I think they give other people a way of escaping. Not everybody, you know, has the talent to be an artist. Or maybe everybody's got the talent. We just don't work on it, maybe. You know, I always think I can't sing or draw. So therefore I want to, you know, stress that art can be different forms. And I think artists brings a form of art to us that maybe we cannot make ourselves or participate in, but can appreciate. And I think it's very important because I think we can't just work all the time. I think it's a stress. It helps with stress and I just think for your own psyche, it's wonderful to enjoy something beautiful.

[00:34:56] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Alright. And my last question--I can define my terms a little bit in it--but, do you think that art should be inclusive or exclusive? So what I mean by exclusive is, an artist create something and they share it with the world and they allow whoever is experiencing it to take from it what they will. So the artist doesn't necessarily provide any context or background to what they've produced. Versus inclusive, meaning that the artist shares maybe their intention behind it. What inspired it? Just so that you kind of as an audience, or viewer or whatever, have a little bit to at least start with when you are evaluating it for yourself.

[00:35:44] Elna VanGreuning: Yes. I think a little bit of both, you know? Sometimes when you go to a museum and you just stand in front of something, you can see "Oh, this is a painting of a river and it's a sunny day" and you can make your own conclusion.  But other times you might look at something and because you don't know the history or the setting, you can't fully appreciate it. So therefore, when I go to a museum, I always love taking a tour because I always feel I learn so much and I see it in a different perspective. So, I think there's a place for both.

[00:36:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Okay. Wonderful. Well, thank you.

[00:36:29]Elna VanGreuning: Thank you very much, Lindsey.

[00:36:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Well, I just want to say again, thank you so, so, so much for taking the time today to share with us about lace and its origins and how we can participate. I just want to say in general, thank you also for creating art and sharing it. And, I appreciate that you make the world a more beautiful place. So thank you.

[00:36:56] Elna VanGreuning: Thank you very much. Bye bye.

[00:37:00]Bye!

[00:37:01] Lindsey Dinneen: If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much. And I hope your day has been Artfully Told.

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