Walsall Silver Thread Tapestries

The Walsall Silver Thread Tapestries are a set of eleven artworks, in the form of tapestries, designed by the artist Hunt Emerson in conjunction with the various communities of Walsall, England and hand stitched by local people there during 2016. They depict the people, places, history and wildlife of the towns and districts that, since 1974, have formed the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
The works were commissioned with grant funding of £73,740 from Arts Council England, to commemorate the 25th (or silver) anniversary of Walsall Council's Creative Development Team. The team was disbanded before the project was completed.
The tapestries are in three sizes; a large one for Walsall itself, six of medium size and four smaller pieces. In total they cover over . Work was carried out under the auspices of Creative Factory, a community interest company.
In January 2017, they were exhibited at The New Art Gallery Walsall, and afterwards at several venues around the borough, including St Matthew's Church, libraries, and Walsall Leather Museum. As of 2019 the tapestries are exhibited at Walsall Arboretum Visitor Centre.
The work is dedicated to Maxwell Bailey, manager of Creative Development Team, who secured the Arts Council grant, but died before work was completed.
The tapestries.
Each tapestry depicts several subjects:
Barr Beacon.
One of the smaller tapestries.
Birchills.
One of the smaller tapestries.
Butts.
One of the smaller tapestries.
Palfrey.
One of the smaller tapestries.
Walsall.
The largest tapestry. The central panel depicts:
This is surrounded by smaller panels, depicting (clockwise from top left):
This tapestry also carries Hunt Emerson's signature and a cartoon of Maxwell Bailey.