Page 51 - Constructing Craft

struggling with materials and equipment Ida Lough was advancing to the next stage

– weaving as a form of art. Ida had worked as a governess for three years in France
during the early 1930s and it was during this time she saw the Mille Fleurs

tapestries at the Musée National du Moyen-Age Thermes de Cluny in Paris. This
experience seems to have influenced her but she was in her forties before she

began weaving, following a visit to Scandinavia in 1954. In 1975 Lough was
commissioned to weave a large tapestry for the interior of the Cathedral of the

Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch. She completed it in close collaboration with

sculptor Ria Bancroft. For ten years Lough exhibited with The Group, an association
of contemporary Christchurch artists. She was Patron of the Christchurch Guild of

Spinners and Weavers and her work has been exhibited widely in New Zealand and

internationally.

Ida Lough. Photo: Canterbury Museum.

The sisters, Sybil and Josephine Mulvany, were single-mindedly devoted to their

craft. Sybil and Josephine, were born in 1899 and 1901 respectively, in Auckland.
Both left for Britain in their mid-twenties and undertook a three-month course in

weaving at the London School of Weaving. Before returning to New Zealand they
purchased all the equipment they would need and upon their return set up Taniko

Constructing Craft