William Allen Word & Image

Pyramid Flag, 1971.

380 x 340mm embroidered flag on original blue metal pole.

Installed in the Dorothy’s Umbrellas exhibition at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 4 November – 4 December 1971, where it would have hung alongside other flags by Astrid Furnival. The Dorothy’s Umbrella project run by John and Astrid Furnival and John’s students from the Bath Academy, focused on interaction with the community and the exhibition featured “feely boxes” and other interactive pieces. This flag is called a “banner” in the Ceolfirth 14 catalogue, and these banners would have decorated the walls in a sand-pit space where children and their parents might play. The flags were also installed within a pole structure at other locations. The designs by Astrid were inspired by traditional Japanese typography. Therefore, this triangular motif would have been citing the Uroko design where a wall of triangles in two colours mimics the look of fish scales (and is supposed to signify good luck). With Astrid’s flag there is only one triangle and numerous rainbow colours within that motif. The Dorothy’s Umbrella project is seen as a significant part of the 1960s British experimental pedagogy. The students included Ann Stevenson (AKA Ann Noel) and Annea Lockwood.