Kathleen Whyte
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Helen Kathleen Ramsay Whyte
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
(1909–1996) was a Scottish embroiderer and teacher of
textile arts Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...
.


Early life

Kathleen Whyte was born in Arbroath, on the east coast of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, in 1909. From 1911 to 1913, and 1920 to 1923, she and her family joined her father who was working in India. The move to Jamshedpur had a huge impact on the young Kathleen. In particular the rich variety of textiles and brilliant colours made vivid impressions on her. On their return from India, Kathleen attended
Arbroath High School Arbroath High School is a six-year, all-through comprehensive school situated on the west side of Arbroath, Angus, Scotland. It moved into its present building in 1985. Accommodation The new building was opened in 1985 to serve the west side of ...
. When at school in Arbroath she followed the curriculum derived from the system published by Anne Macbeth and Margaret Swanson published in their book ''Educational Needlecraft'' in 1911. In her final year she embroidered a huge panel of Saint Elizabeth of Bohemia. On leaving school Kathleen went to
Gray's School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ranked among the Top 20 ...
in Aberdeen to follow a Diploma Course in General Design from 1928 to 1932. Amongst other things she studied
embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...
and was strongly influenced by her teacher Dorothy Angus who inspired her with what she later described as, "the vast potential of stitchery". She was a particularly successful student, winning the Founder's Prize as the best student in the second year of the general course, the Alexander Barker Prize as a result of the competition for third year students, and in the fourth year won the Former Students Association Prize for her entry The Fish Wife. In 1932 she was awarded a Diploma in Design and Decorative Art with distinction.


Teaching

After a year at Aberdeen Teacher Training College Kathleen became assistant art teacher at Frederick Street School in the East End of
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
. On leaving Frederick Street in 1940 she taught briefly at the Central Secondary School and then went on the
Aberdeen High School for Girls Harlaw Academy is a six-year comprehensive secondary school situated 200 yards from the junction of Union Street and Holburn Street in the centre of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is directly adjacent to St Margaret's School for Girls. The academy dra ...
. As well as teaching children she taught adults in evening classes at the Art School. Later, during the war, she taught service men and women to do leather work. Kathleen had been making her own clothes since the mid-1920s and in the early 1940s, because of the wartime restrictions, she began
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
fabric, not only for herself but for her mother, sisters and friends too. Despite the scarcity of material and the clothing coupon limitations she always seemed able to lay her hands on plenty of yarn. In 1948, on the advice of Mr. D. M. Southerland, Head of Gray's School of Art, and supported by Dorothy Angus, Kathleen successfully applied for the post of embroidery and weaving lecturer at
Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...
. This was the time of an embroidery revival in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. As Kathleen was making improvements at Glasgow School of Art, the Needlework Development Scheme was becoming more active and was beginning to make an impact on the wider public. In particular, modern stylish examples of Scandinavian embroidery and weaving were hugely influential. Over some years Kathleen travelled in Scandinavia, visiting weaving and craft centres and developing relationships with leading needle workers and weavers. There were frequent exhibitions of Scandinavian designs throughout Britain, including Glasgow School of Art whose staff and students also visited Denmark. The Glasgow School of Art design courses were constantly being improved in response to commercial demands. Kathleen visited several English art schools to assess and evaluate the new Diploma in Art and Design courses they were teaching and was later invited to serve on the Dip AD visiting panel as the embroidery expert. She continued to be extremely influential in the development of higher education courses and became an Art Adviser to the Scottish Education Department, planning new examinations. Three of her former students became heads of the Embroidery Departments at
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art schoo ...
, Gray's School of Art and Glasgow School of Art. In 1969 she was awarded the
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
for services to Scottish Art Education.


Commissioned work

Although honoured for her contribution to education, it is her own distinctive work for which she is best known. Throughout her career she has had many prestigious commissions, including her very well known ecclesiastical work. Many of these were pulpit falls and communion cloths undertaken for the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
, depicting simple, elegantly stylised religious imagery. However, her commissions were not limited to those for the church. In 1966 she was commissioned, by the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, through the Scottish Craft Centre, to embroider a stole as a gift for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The stole was to be presented to the Queen Mother to commemorate her opening the
Tay Road Bridge The Tay Road Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rathaid na Tatha) carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in E ...
. This inspired Kathleen to create a design incorporating pearls from the River Tay. These were supplied by a jeweller in
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, pierced for sewing, and ranging in size from tiny seeds to 9.5 mm in diameter. The Tay Bridge Stole was worn by Her Majesty and was exhibited at the "Skill" exhibition staged by the
Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
, The Craft Centre of Great Britain and the Scottish Craft Centre in 1968. It was shown again in 1987 in a retrospective exhibition of her work, organised by the Scottish Branch of the Embroiders' Guild and held in the
Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
. Kathleen's book ''Design in Embroidery'' was published in 1982 and ''Kathleen Whyte Embroiderer'', her biography written by Liz Arthur, was published in 1989. The work of Kathleen Whyte was featured in "A Scottish Celebration", a touring exhibition of contemporary textiles to mark the centenary of the foundation of the Embroiderers' Guild, which opened at
Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...
in October 2006. Examples of her work can be found in the
Royal Scottish Museum The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
, the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, many churches, and in other public and private collections.


References


Further reading

*''Design in Embroidery'' by Kathleen Whyte, B. T. Batsford Ltd. London, 1982. *''Kathleen Whyte Embroiderer'' by Liz Arthur, B. T. Batsford Ltd. London, 1989.


External links


Embroiderers' Guild
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whyte, Kathleen Crafts educators British textile artists Embroidery designers Members of the Order of the British Empire 1909 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Gray's School of Art People from Arbroath Women textile artists British embroiderers