In Translation

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A collaboration between the artist Jacqueline Poncelet and Caron Penney of Atelier Weftfaced.

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The project began with a chance meeting in the summer of 2024 at the Matt Black Barn, the home and studio of artists Andrew Sabin and Laura Ford, near Chichester in West Sussex. The following spring, in 2025, Jacqueline visited the studios of Katharine Swailes and Caron Penney, bringing with her a watercolour that would become the starting point for the commission.

 

What followed was a process of looking, discussing and experimenting. Samples were made, colours explored and further visits took place as different ways of translating the qualities of the watercolour into tapestry were considered. Eventually, one interpretation was selected.

 

Atelier Weftfaced has been operating since 2013, and between them Caron and Katharine have more than sixty years of experience creating handmade tapestry artworks in collaboration with artists.

 

This commission presented a particular challenge. Jacqueline’s watercolour is made up of delicate, transparent and repetitive marks, with subtle variations of colour and density. Translating these qualities into tapestry required something more than simply reproducing the image. The process began with the hand-dyeing of multiple colours of wool thread, carefully developed by Caron and Katharine to create the range and subtlety needed within the woven piece.

 

The tapestry was then woven slowly and precisely by Caron, drawing on many years of experience in interpreting artists’ work through the language of tapestry. Each decision - the colour of a thread, the density of the weft, the rhythm of a mark, became part of the translation.

The finished work is neither a copy of Jacqueline’s watercolour nor a departure from it. It occupies a space between the two: the marks, colours and spirit of the original passing from one medium into another.

This is the essence of In Translation - a conversation between painting and tapestry, between the hand of the artist and the hand of the weaver, and between two different ways of making this artwork.