Square 20
Post boxes

Designed and made by Julia Sexton with additions by Deirdre Counihan

"I have always been interested in letter boxes, their dates and sovereign's initials on the front. I decided to look around the area and depict the ones we have here. I wanted to show the huge Sycamore tree at the top of my road where there is always a Prestonville Community Association notice pinned to it.

We were all very upset when some of the old street lamps were taken down and replaced with new ones so I added one of those and that made up the square". Julia Sexton.

My additions to the square celebrate three things in the area;

The Artists Open Houses.
These are open each year in the Brighton Festival. They are Anandas House (all things woven) and Scheherazade Artists.

My House
It is the editorial office of 'Scheherazade' a small story telling magazine mainly fantasy and science fiction, established 10 years ago. The Open House is a chance to see the other work of 'Scheherazade' illustrators. This motif was taken from one of our white t-shirts, screen-printed and hand coloured in fabric pastels. I used gold thread and beads to make it al look a bit more exotic and eastern as 'Scheherazade' should ( she is the lady who tells the stories in the Arabian Nights). Some of the gold threads and silks came from the old Sacred Heart Covent that is what Cardinal Newman School was until the 1960's. My mother and aunts were pupils there as were both my sister and I.

'Fabulous Brighton' is the book we published in the Millennium. The circle was printed using 'image maker' from a photocopy of one of the prototype designs for the front cover of 'Fabulous Brighton'. I sewed this onto a circular fabric badge to make sure that the circle was a circle!

I enjoyed having the chance to do it all as I thought I might have left it a bit late. I made up the sections at home and then was able to go next door to Sara's and sew it in place while others were quilting the rest of the panels, so I didn't completely miss out on the community aspect.

It means a great deal to me to be able to be part of something which celebrates so many aspects of Prestonville which is real community and a place where I am delight to be able to live. As I had rather missed out on the communal part of the sewing, it was lovely to be able to go to the hall in Exeter Street for the group photograph and see the whole thing hanging.

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