A nice guy named Tom Venturini was introduced at the podium. Tom is not a tatter, but he has major MAJOR tatting in his family by way of his great aunt, Lucy Concistre. Mrs. Concistre was incredibly prolific. Let me show you what I mean by prolific.
This is Mrs. Concistre, Tom's great aunt, in front of one piece of her tatting. The tatting is not enlarged - that's really her standing in front of it. It's her version of The Lord's Supper, taken from a painting. This picture was taken for a 1951 article in McCall's Needlework Magazine. There was also an article in the February 1951 Catholic Home Messenger.
This is not a joke. The tatting is ENORMOUS. It's six feet by eight feet. The tatting is done in squares of 4 rings, many many many squares.
And she tatted it ALL in three years. THREE YEARS! This is phenomenal to me. This should be in the Smithsonian Museum.
And this isn't all that she tatted! There's tons of things, some of which are detailed here on Tom's family website. You can read the magazine article there too.
The sad thing is that the big pieces are not in the family's possession, and they'd like to have them. No one seems to know where they are. The reason that Tom came to Tat Days was to meet Georgia Seitz, because she had been looking for this Lord's Supper piece for decades. Tom was blown away that someone would want to preserve some of his family's heritage - he was moved to tears. He presented Georgia a gorgeous large doily that his great aunt, Mrs. Concistre, tatted.
What a great guy!
Georgia will continue to look for the Lord's Supper. And we were mighty happy to have family of a great tatter there!! Here are Tom's pictures of the Tat Days.
I leave you with a lovely picture of a recent sunset...
I really fell over when I saw this COLOR photo because I knew this was the 'painting' you were referring to in your previous Palmetto post, but I thought it was going to be the fuzzy black and white photo from the magazine! Georgia must have been overwhelmed, herself, to meet this gentleman! I knew about this masterpiece (via Georgia's site) but only recently. I remember being stunned just to see the b/w photo on the Net. It's totally incomprehensible that it hasn't been located! One can only hope it's being cared for. It's just overwhelming to realize what she accomplished! It's beyond my comprehension! What a huge loss if it can't be found! At least we now have the color photo! Thanks so much for this information!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! Let's all spread the word and hope somebody has seen it!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Mrs. Concistre actually held that tatting sale mentioned in the article. It seems unlikely that she would have sold this particular piece, but still, somehow it did leave the family's possession.
I can't imagine tatting a piece like that in a lifetime, and she did it in three years!
Difficult indeed to wrap one’s mind around this piece! I cannot imagine how she managed it. Obviously an artist in the truest sense of the word. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteFox : o
Amazing picture, three years of work, I don't know how she managed it, I know I would have got fed up with it after a year. How she designed it and then work in all the colours, a totally stunning piece if work, I would love to see it, if it ever gets found.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it with us.
Margaret
Wow. My jaw is dropped. INcredible work.
ReplyDeleteI just want to thank everyone for letting me into your world of tatting. It was a pleasure to meet everyone at Tat Days
ReplyDelete