HEIDI WENYON
SMALL HISTORIES
Exhibition catalogue, May 2021
In memory of GIANNA GAMBA 1945–2021
CONTENTS Foreword by C. Joy Journeay 7 Catalogue 9 Button boxes 11 Motherhood 19 À la mode 27 Loss 33 Love + friendship 39 At war 45 School of life 49 Acknowledgements 55 About the artist 57
FOREWORD Long after our clothing has disintegrated to dust, the buttons which allowed it to function remain – whether snipped from that clothing for frugal reuse or to be kept as things of beauty. In my personal experience, a stained, worn plastic button from Grandmother’s housedress brings tears to the eyes of her daughter and granddaughter every time it tumbles from the sewing box. That single button brings memories of her voice, her opinions, her touch and scent flooding back: the hymns she hummed while kneading bread, the smell of loamy soil tamped over vegetable seeds and the giggles that accompanied the capture of earthworms for fishing. Heidi Wenyon has recognised the power of this small, humble object to evoke deeply personal memories. Whether worn on a shirt, uniform or dress, a single button may have been touched a thousand times. For centuries, buttons have touched us, from the moment of our birth and throughout our lives. How very fortunate we are that Heidi gifts us with these memories and, through sharing her paintings and their stories, allows us to open our minds and hearts to the personal and societal value of history and memory through artefacts. Buttons hold our clothing. Heidi reminds us that they hold our soul. C. JOY JOURNEAY VP, US National Button Society
7
CATALOGUE
BUTTON BOXES
A COLLECTOR’S FAVOURITE “I’ve been a collector for over twenty years and own many wonderful historic buttons. But the one I love most is a small blue plastic flower that came from my mother’s sewing box. She kept loose buttons in a butter container. “I remember looking at these buttons often as a child. My mother sewed the baskets and leaf buttons on costumes she made for me – but she cut them off when I outgrew them. I now have the butter container and the sweet buttons filled with memories. My favourite is this precious blue flower with its openworked petals.”
12
HAPPY FAMILIES “In the early post-war years, toys were scarce and expensive, but there were always household items waiting to entertain. The king of these was the button jar! I would climb up to get it and empty the contents on to the floor, ready for the games to begin. “One favourite game involved lining up the buttons in order of attractiveness, like a beauty parade. Possibly the best game of all was Families. The large, ugly button was Father, a pretty, medium-sized one was Mother and two tiny pearl buttons twin babies. A once-shiny, now scuffed leather football button would be a big brother and the shiny satin one a big sister. Anthropomorphism was alive and well and living on the kitchen floor!” 13
PLAYING WITH PLANES “Like many ‘oldies’, I have a button box and enjoy looking through it. This is one of the buttons that brings back memories. It’s a little aeroplane button left over from a cardigan I knitted for my eldest grandson. He is 16 now! “It didn’t work really well as the wings were tricky to get through the hole. But he enjoyed the little different coloured aeroplanes. Perhaps my story is not as interesting as others in this project, but that is me: sewing, knitting and grandchildren!”
14
GOING TO THE HACIENDA “When I was a kid, we used to go on a road trip to the hacienda, a journey that took many hours. “I used to sit in the back of the car next to my grandmother and she would always take out a box full of buttons that kept me entertained throughout the trip. I grouped the buttons by colours, dividing them into textures and shapes and groups, and picking out the lonely individuals that had belonged to old clothes. I built them into towers and always had my favourites. “Now those buttons live at my mother’s house and my own kids play with them, too.”
15
ROYAL CONNECTIONS “I found this little blue ‘woggle’ button in my late mother’s button tin. It once belonged to a blue duffle coat that I wore as a three-
year-old. I have a 1959 photograph showing me wearing the coat on a day out in St James’s Park in London, alongside my mother and a family friend, a royal policeman who had ‘looked after’ the Queen (then the Princess Elizabeth) and Princess Margaret when they lived at Clarence House. “What I particularly remember about that day is falling over and getting my long white socks dirty, and my Mum tying her cotton hankie round my knee!”
16
WONDER(WEB)WOMAN “My mother avoided sewing at all costs. When she was forced to pick up needle and thread she could mend a hem in around three long stitches. She must have been one of the first to buy ‘No Sewing’ Wonderweb. “Her sewing box still smells slightly of cigarettes and there are two lighters in there – one a very fancy Art Deco piece ... and some even fancier buttons!”
17
MOTHERHOOD
LIFE DECISION “This button reminds me of a very tough decision I once had to make. I was three months pregnant with my second child when I started to bleed heavily. The doctors warned me that if I went ahead with the pregnancy, the baby might not be healthy. But I felt in my bones that all would go well and ignored their advice. “That baby is now a 25-year-old IT specialist. So it was the right decision, wasn’t it?”
20
COMING HOME “My mother lived through the horrors of World War Two in Germany, experiencing the bombing of her family home and working as a Red Cross nurse. She and my father – a refugee from East Germany whom she supported while he completed his thesis in Agriculture – moved to Africa, travelling home on leave every three years. “My mother was a beautiful woman with a lovely figure who enjoyed coming back to her roots. This silver button belongs to a traditional dirndl she bought herself, which she would wear only in Bavaria. It suited her really well.”
21
THEY GROW SO FAST “This is a button from my son’s first jacket. I have quite a lot of emotions attached to it. “I bought the jacket before the birth of my son, just imagining how it would look on him. I must confess it looked much better than I had imagined. To my surprise he grew so quickly – as most children do, he wore it so little. I was disappointed with my judgement of children’s growth in their first year!”
22
A DANGEROUS JOURNEY “This button belonged to a purple cardigan worn by my mother on the long journey from Albania to Britain, via Belgium, many years ago and before I was born. “My mum travelled along with five other families in a refrigerated meat lorry. She was very lucky to arrive safely.”
23
SIMPLE, YET ELEGANT “This little button belonged to my daughter Christina’s
christening gown. After five years of living with a boisterous son, Alastair, and thinking he might be our only child, Christina was born. I had every opportunity to choose a very opulent christening dress for her, but instinctively knew that would not suit her. “The gown took some searching for, but the simplicity was key, and the buttons just added a bit of lovely elegance.”
24
FIFTIES STYLE “Sorting through my mum’s buttons always brings back memories of the smart home-sewn suits she wore to pick me up from primary school in the 1950s. She was very creative, a talented seamstress and a milliner, too. Her creations were not always to my taste and as I ran out of school I was sometimes embarrassed by the out-of-theordinary hats and jackets she wore. “This button belongs to one of the Fifties creations she made, of which I’m now extremely proud. Looking back, I can see where my artistic ability comes from. Thank you, Mum! What a woman!”
25
W A ST E N OT, W A N T N OT “It was 1948 or ‘49 and wartime shortages were still in place. I was about two or three years old. My mother cut up a winter coat of her own to make one for me, and I believe the buttons were taken from the original garment to be sewn into the new one. “Our granny (motto: ‘Waste not, want not’) painted the buttons with nail varnish prior to stitching. I was very proud of my unique buttons and wore the coat for a long time – though I don’t suppose I had another at that point!”
26
À LA MODE
FALL FROM GRACE “This button represents my final attempt to renovate a muchloved camel cashmere funnel-neck coat which I bought over
25 years ago. Having replaced all the original buttons, I’ve reluctantly accepted the fact that, after being shortened badly and suffering a vicious moth attack, it will be now be relegated to a more lowly status, as a Kent dog-walking coat. “Never again to be seen again swinging through the smarter areas of central London, from now on my coat will be subjected to over-enthusiastic, muddy dogs and nosy horses wondering what I have in my pockets. What a fall from grace.”
28
FAST FASHION “This little beauty looks as though it should be gracing the finger of Meghan Markle, doesn’t it? In actual fact it’s a
button from a jacket bought for a song from a high-street chain store. My daughter chose the jacket for an important job interview. “I used to work in the clothing industry and over the years have witnessed the relentless growth of fast fashion. Let’s hope that future generations will learn to appreciate craft and quality again. “Still, I’m pleased to say that my daughter got the job.”
29
OLÉ BOUCLÉ “This button belonged to my longline white bouclé collarless jacket with fabulous shoulder pads. I wore it for work between 1984 and 1992, often with matching clip earrings, an ankle-length black wool skirt with back split and black stockings. Those were the days!
The jacket was from Alexon, a brand that no longer exists, and I bought it from Beales in Bournemouth, which sadly closed last summer after 150 years.”
30
RIVIERA “This covered button was on a blouse passed on to me as a teenager by my godmother. She dressed very well, was rather sophisticated for the small town we lived in – smoking heavily and holidaying in Capri or the Riviera – but passed on clothes and jewellery to me which were quite unsuitable for my age and lifestyle and sadly were unappreciated by me.”
31
LOSS
CHILDHOOD IDYLL “I always remember how my father dressed. Suit and tie for work; flannels, sports jacket and cravat at home. And cardigans. “The buttons always intrigued me. Stout and round and leather, with four distinct quadrants. I’ve only recently discovered that they’re called football buttons, originating, I believe, from overcoats worn by officers during World War One. “Whenever I see one of those buttons it reminds me vividly of my father, and makes me yearn for the countryside idyll of my childhood.”
34
SPARKLE AND GLAMOUR “My mom was so good at sewing, knitting, just creating anything she wanted to; she did try to teach me, but I
struggled and was barely able to crochet a couple of hats and scarves. But she never gave up on me and this is why for years she would give me different items such as fabrics, yarns and, especially, buttons. “I never used the buttons because I cannot sew! But I did look at them, once in a while, as it was a way of remembering my mom and the time we spent together. This button belonged to one of her fur coats: this is so ‘my mom’! She loved the sparkling part: it was so important to her. She was so fashionable and elegant.”
35
A FRIENDSHIP “I bought this button at a wonderful haberdashery shop in Paris I visited with Gianna a few years ago. We’d been friends since we were five and were celebrating our seventieth birthdays. I had just bought a coat with no buttons on it for around fifty euros. At five euros, this single button was quite expensive! “Some time after our Paris visit Gianna developed Alzheimer’s, and although she could no longer communicate with me I often wondered if she remembered that trip. I hope she did.”
36
FOND MEMORIES “This flower button is from my mum’s favourite cardigan; she had it for years and it really suited her. “When Mum died in September, I took the cardigan with me. It still has her smell and brings back fond memories.”
37
LOVE + FRIENDSHIP
BOUQUET “I inherited a set of four of these buttons from my grandmother in 2011, and when I got married in 2012 I used one of them in my brooch bouquet. “Our wedding was Steampunk/Victorian Gothic-inspired.”
40
A PRIZED POSSESSION “This arts and crafts enamel button was produced for Liberty & Co. After reading about the design, its simple elegance stuck with me for many years. I spotted this example for sale at the annual button convention in Portland, Oregon. Its (entirely justified) cost was several times more than I had ever paid for a button and, after a long internal debate, I decided not to buy it.” “My husband does not share my passion for buttons so, when he ceremoniously presented it to me on my birthday, I was very moved that he had understood how much this one meant to me. This well-travelled button will be one of my most prized possessions for the rest of my life. I will always wonder if it meant as much to its original owner.” 41
G O I N G A WAY “This was a spare button for my ‘going-away’ outfit at my wedding. It is a covered silk button, 5 mm in diameter. “The outfit was a two-piece, mainly red silk, a top with matching pleated skirt. The top had buttons at the cuffs and down the back. I gave it away years ago after I could no longer fit in it, so was delighted to discover this spare button recently and am treasuring it to remind me of the original.”
42
KINDRED SPIRITS “This button belongs to some beautiful linen curtains that I bought in 2010. My late friend Mary, then in her 70s, was visiting and being incredibly helpful as I settled back into my home, which had been transformed by six months of building work.
“Mary and I shared a love of India, where the curtains were made, and when we spotted them while out shopping we were both attracted to them. The curtains still look great on my French doors and will always remind me of Mary, who was a true friend and had an extraordinary life: born close to the border of Afghanistan in what is now Pakistan, but was then India, she was 11 years old when her family fled to Britain after Partition.” 43
LA ZIA “Great-Aunt Marianna, a Venetian countess no less, was mad about buttons and regularly passed on to my mother any she thought would brighten up my clothes. We never called her by her name – she was just known affectionately as ‘la Zia’. This is a hand-painted button she gave me which I cherish to this day. Zia Marianna was lively and fun, and simply adored my father.”
44
AT WAR
COMFORT “During the first lockdown in 2020, along with a friend and former colleague from the fashion industry, I made ‘hairbands’ for nurses at Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals in London. ”The nurses were able to loop their masks over the buttons, which helped avoid pressure on the skin around their ears.”
46
INTERNATIONAL TRADE “While serving as a sergeant major in Germany during World War Two, my great-grandfather spent many nights on guard duty, while his squadron slept. On these occasions, a young German girl often would strike up a conversation with him. Before moving on, she would hold out her hand as if expecting my great-grandad to give her something, at which he would hand her his biscuit rations. One night, much to the girl’s delight, instead of biscuits he gave her some spare buttons from his uniform. “Soon after, when his squadron passed through a nearby village, my great-grandad spotted the girl and her family. The mother thanked him profusely, explaining that with the money obtained from selling the buttons she had been able to buy food for her family.”
47
A REMARKABLE WOMAN “This brass ‘Crown and Flying Eagle’ button is a 24 mm domed coat button from the RAF uniform of my aunty. It is one of eight. She served in the Women’s Royal Air Force during World War Two and helped prepare and decommission Lancaster bombers at RAF Binnbrook. “When not servicing aeroplanes she worked at a searchlight battery close to the base. One night, when cranking the searchlight upward she got her two middle fingers caught in the mechanism. They were both amputated at the first joint. At the end of the war she received £7.12s compensation for her injuries.”
48
SCHOOL OF LIFE
J AC K E T, G O N E “It was my first term at art college in the 1970s and I had a new, bright blue felt jacket with yellow buttons. That morning I hurried to catch the bus for the life drawing class and a button came off my jacket. With no time to sew it back on I left it in a saucer on my desk. Later, we went for a coffee break and I nonchalantly left my blue jacket on my easel in the classroom. “On my return it had gone. I was surprised, not expecting that people on my course would do such a thing. So the yellow button reminds me that I was foolish and naïve – an 18-year-old away from home for the first time.”
50
A CROATIAN STORY “This big button was once attached to a jacket from the national costume worn in Sini, a small town near Split in
Croatia. Sini still has a Venetian fortress that was the last defence against the Turks, who never quite managed to conquer the town or reach its shores. “The button was given to me by our maid, who was from that area. She was only 14 when she came to work for us, a poor, uneducated country girl (this was in the 1950s). When we asked her to lay the table (the word we use in Croatian is ‘mend’) she indignantly replied that the table was fine and in no need of repair! She stayed with us until she married and her life changed, but we remained friends and I still treasure the button she gave me.”
51
MY SCHOOL BLAZER “This button was once attached to my school blazer. To save money, my mother would always buy clothes that were much too big for me. In winter I didn’t need gloves because the sleeves were so long that they kept my hands warm. “I wore the blazer from the age of 11 until I left school at 16.”
52
EDUCATION INSPIRATION “This button belongs to some old jeans which I started decorating with patchwork during the lockdown last year. “I enjoyed this task so much that I resolved then and there to go back to college to get my art degree – and that’s exactly what I did. I’ve loved every minute of it.”
53
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Heartfelt thanks to everyone listed below for their invaluable contribution to this project. Anonymous Samina Abid Samira Ali Shaheen Ali B. Ruth Bennett Valerie Bingham Georgie Boyle Eithne Brennan Julie Briggs Matthew Brown Suzanne Caldwell Ester Chighine
Nadia Chobanova-Hristov Angela Clark Sophie Corben-Griffin Caroline Davenport Judy Dibiase Sue Dickout Luisa Duse Jayne Ferdinand Maria Fernandez Bob Fish Mary Fish Louise Fournier Emma Gray-Cornell
Emma-Jane Hinder
C. Joy Journeay Jacqui Kean Simone Kinkaid Karin Lloyd Doug Lord Pam Luke Loraine MacCallum Valeska Maclachlan Rob Miller Bruna Nardelli Ursula Osborne Max Palombella
Cinzia Pusiol Cortese
Henry Rama Ursula Raven Mary Rebello Georgina Reeves-Saad Billy Rodger Gary Scholes Joseph Sharp Simonetta Starrabba Mary Lynn Sutherland Veronica Thornton Caroline Thornton Caroline Todd
Penny Vincent
Marion Webber Joyce Wenyon Liana Župevc Anguissola Organisations British Button Society National Button Society (US) The Sewing Directory Sewing4Kingston (Surbiton) Sewing in the UK
55
ABOUT THE ARTIST Heidi Wenyon was educated in England and Wales. During 16 years spent living in Italy she worked as a
translator and interpreter and as a fixer for film and TV crews, besides taking many other jobs that helped pay the rent. Her experiences there inspired a visual memoir, Letters from Venice (2020). After returning to the UK, Heidi worked in communications and branding in the publishing and financial sectors. Heidi said goodbye to the corporate world in 2017 to pursue a new career in art and design.
Contact Heidi via her website: heidiwenyon.com Instagram: @heidiwenyon
57
COLOPHON
This unique edition of Small Histories was designed by the artist. The book was set in Avenir Next, from the Avenir type family designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1987 and released in 1988 by Linotype GmbH Small Histories was printed on British-made, acid-free 135 gsm Stockwell Cartridge paper. It was hand bound by Mark Cockram, Studio 5 Book Arts, London May 2021
