As part of the public art programme Deep Time: Commissions for the Lake District Coast, Yelena Popova designed a theatre curtain for The Solway Hall in the English coastal town of Whitehaven. With the experts from the TextielLab, she developed a visual, fire-retardant stage curtain, which was installed in the summer of 2023.
For the commission, Popova began by exploring the history and characteristics of this English coastal region. She incorporated these into a visual theatre curtain as icons, symbols and figures: from castles and hunting grounds to mines, textile factories, a nuclear power station and a cat – a nod to Muncaster Castle’s coat of arms. She named the resulting fabric ‘Hunting Scene with a Ray Cat’.
Using a rich colour palette, a graphic grid was woven behind the icons, symbolising the hilly landscape and sea. The challenge was to seamlessly connect the pattern of the four woven panels measuring 3.3 metres wide by 4.5 metres high, even when the curtain is closed and the two halves partly overlap.
As a theatre curtain, the fabric had to meet fire safety standards. Consequently, the curtain was woven with fire-retardant Trevira CS yarns. At the same time, the fabric had to be light enough to open and close easily, which the team was also able to achieve.
Yelena Popova (1978, Urals, Russia) lives and works in Nottingham. She initially studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School and Byam Shaw at Central Saint Martins. In July 2011, she graduated with a master’s in painting from the Royal College of Art in London. She employs a wide variety of media, including painting, video and installation. Her work reflects her upbringing in the Urals and is influenced by the teachings of Russian Constructivism. A recurring theme is the constant development of industrialism and the landscape of contemporary capitalism.
‘Stage curtain for The Solway Hall – permanent installation’, Community Centre in Whitehaven, 2021
