Eastbourne Towner opens first and only UK exhibition of multi-media artist

Eastbourne’s Towner art gallery is holding the first and only UK exhibition of Eileen Mayo before the work joins a private collection in Australia.
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Eileen Mayo was a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and tapestry designer who lived in Sussex for a while.

Since her death in 1994, an unseen tapestry called ‘Duck Pond’ was found by her great niece Dr Lucie Standford in Australia. This tapestry has been made into a large piece of textile work which is taking centre stage in the ‘Eileen Mayo: A Natural History’ exhibition at the gallery in College Road.

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The Towner has worked with Eileen’s stepson John Gainsborough, Lucie, and West Dean College in Chichester, to create this finished exhibition.

Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160753001Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160753001
Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160753001

Running from tomorrow (Saturday, February 12) until July 3, this will be the first ever UK exhibition of Eileen’s work, a spokesperson for the gallery said.

Sara Cooper, head of collections and exhibitions at the Towner, said, “We’ve been working on this a long time with John. It was about promoting awareness of her work because she’s not well known in the UK so we wanted to fly the flag for her here.”

Although she remains largely unknown in the UK, Eileen is popular in New Zealand and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire.

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Despite the ‘natural history’ theme, the exhibition covers a range of styles and subjects shown through a use of different mediums such as prints, paintings, and of course the tapestry.

Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160741001Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160741001
Eileen Mayo: A Natural History. Photo from Towner Eastbourne. SUS-220202-160741001

Sara said, “She was so skilled in all those mediums, it’s astonishing. It’s quite rare that she was prepared to try different mediums. Lots of different techniques were used too.”

Sara was working with the family in the UK when news of the tapestry came in, and linking Eileen to Sussex made the project even more relevant.

She said, “The tapestry came later actually. The catalyst was meeting the family and seeing their collection and realising there was a connection to Sussex. She worked in London but lived in Sussex for a period so it speaks to our audience.

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“The tapestry has a family connection and Lucie has a big collection of Eileen’s work in Australia. Then it all fell into place getting West Dean involved. It was so nice joining people together to make something happen.”

West Dean College was approached by John a few years ago to create a tapestry from the A4 design Lucie had found.

Philip Sanderson, studio leader at the college, said normally studios are reluctant to work with deceased artists but in this case there was enough information in the design to allow the weavers to create the finished tapestry which is now on display.

Emma Straw and Margaret Jones, both former college students, took six months to weave the tapestry which is the size of a double bed.

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He said, “It’s great to see it finished. It’s good to see the finished piece hanging and with her other work too.”

Once the exhibition finishes in July everything will head to Australia to join Lucie’s private collection so ‘it’s the only time it will be all together’ according to Sara.

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