Haverhill Arts Centre

The former Town Hall at Haverhill was converted into an arts centre in 1994. The original benefactors of the Victorian building were the Gurteen family, local industrialists and agricultural clothing manufacturers. In 1998 the Town Hall Arts Centre was awarded a Lottery grant to upgrade facilities, and provide an artwork.

The design is intended to reflect the current use of the building as an arts centre and local history archive, and the wider social asociations with Haverhill.

My principal influences were the ornate patterns found on the agricultural and industrial smocks made by the Gurteen’s Chauntry Mills. They are an appropriate motif for the window since the patterns are visually strong, and they reflect the Gurteen family’s important historical connection with the building.

The design is composed of layers of patterns from a number of actual smocks, including those of the Dorset Woodman, the Buckingham Shepherd and the Shropshire Butcher, together with a wagonner’s smock, a zigzag motif and buttons.

By changing the scale of the smocking patterns, the design begins to resemble a magic carpet, suggesting storytelling, theatre, fantasy, and the suspension of belief necessary for an appreciation of performance art.

Commissioner: St Edmundsbury Borough Council

Art Consultants: Commissions East, Cambridge

Address: High Street, Haverhill, Suffolk