Vicki Aimers - Book Artist and Authorial Illustrator

Vicki is a Book Artist and Authorial Illustrator based at Krowji in Redruth. She works with a number of heritage organisations such as Kresen Kernow, Hayle Heritage Centre, Museum of Cornish Life and the Royal Cornwall Museum, bringing archival stories to life in creative ways through workshops and public events.

She is also a PhD researcher at Falmouth University with their Fashion and Textiles Institute, studying the stories surrounding the archival stitched samplers in the county’s museums, finding out what happened to the young makers and their educators and what can we learn as a community from their lives. This is a collaborative doctoral research project working closely with the museums and local groups, who are now the custodians of these important textile narratives.

Vicki is the founder of the Palimpsest Project (insta: palimpsest_project). This is an initiative recording the stories of women, however fragmented, through a variety of creative projects and at various events. She has been working for some time exploring the history of piecework and researching the photography of Lewis Hine (American photographer and social reformer, 1874-1940) with a collaborative project entitled ‘Take One Square’.

As well as her PhD, she is currently working on a number of projects with several organisations looking at the lives of amazing local women from the past including Elizabeth Carne (1817-1873, a project in partnership with Hayle Heritage Centre and other researchers) and Catherine Payton Phillips (1727-1794). Her travelling installation and education programme ‘Catherine’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ has been shown at a number of locations and festivals such as Morrab Library, Fun Palaces, Open Studios, Krowji, Kresen Kernow, and Redruth and St. Ives Libraries.

As part of this initiative, she has homegrown with her family over 300 apple trees from several Cornish apple varieties to give away at various artist residencies and events. These saplings have acted as a token of Catherine’s idea to grow fruit trees to feed communities and to ‘beautify wastelands’. The project is called ‘Kitty’s Orchard’, and she says “they may never grow edible apples due to the genetics of apples, but there is an inspiring passion for life in every seedling. It is also a lovely legacy for Catherine that there are at least 300 new trees in the world. Hopefully one day, by continuing with this project it may become one of the biggest and widest spread ‘orchards’ in the world - all thanks to the idea of an extraordinary woman in Cornish history.”

She lives in Camborne and is happily married to Lee who she met when they were 14 at school, and remembers being told off by a teacher for holding hands in the playground!

Krowji

Insta: vicki_aimers

‘Sweeping the heavens’- screen print and part of a zine collection about the life of the Astronomer Caroline Herschel, 2019

1. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement is having my two daughters. They are my everything and I’m very proud of them and all they do. Medically, I wasn’t meant to have children due to suffering from severe endometriosis all my life and having numerous operations, so to have two beautiful girls has been the biggest blessing. They are very artistic and talented, and just lovely, kind and thoughtful people. Both have made wonderful lives in Cornwall, and I am very lucky to have them so close.

My second achievement is following an unconventional route through art and education. I’ve always studied in my own time since I was 18, even while working full time in local government or being pregnant. I attended many evening classes, part time courses and then as a mature student gaining a Degree and Masters to eventually lead onto my PhD. I value every course, workshop and evening class to be where I am today. Education is one of the greatest privileges; it should be valued and never taken for granted.

Finally, moving to Cornwall was a huge achievement, as it was a moment of thinking only with our hearts. It’s a place of inspiration and wonder for me. I feel very happy to live here, to have my family close by and to have made wonderful friends and contacts over the years, who have supported me with all my ideas and projects.

2. What motivates you to do what you do?

Working with archives is a constant source of motivation for my creative practice. I feel I have the best job in the world. Just being absorbed in research and finding out what happened to inspiring women from history drives me forward.

Also having that haptic process of making in whatever I do. While I’m researching I’m also sewing or drawing. Even when I’m waiting in the car, I’m writing, stitching or sketching something. I was the mum at the school gate in my car sewing, while waiting for my daughters to come out at the end of the day.

I’m not digitally minded at all. I love papers, scissors, glue and a sketchbook. That’s my ‘happy place’ and fuels my practice. My daughters kindly help me with any digital work, which I really appreciate.

3. What do you owe your mother?

I’m very fortunate to have two special mums in my life – my mum Linda and my mum-in-law Brenda. They are my rocks when times are hard, and they have always surrounded me in kindness and care. I owe to them my ability to love, overcome challenges and to follow my dreams.

4. Which women inspire you and why?

Caroline Herschel (1750-1848, Royal Astronomer, Comet Hunter and House Keeper for her brother William Herschel). I studied her life and scientific discoveries for my MA at Falmouth University, and I was struck by how humble she was about her achievements and how much she had contributed to the world of astronomy and science.

When she asked about her work and her devotion to her brother William (Royal Astronomer, World Class Telescope Maker and Composer, 1738-1822), Caroline said,

“I am nothing, I have done nothing; all I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only the tool which he shaped to his use – a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much.”

She never wanted anything more but to be of use to her brother and her nephew (William’s only son) John Herschel (1792-1871), who also became a famous scientist. When John was a child, they would carry out experiments in teacups, pepper boxes and tea canisters on her kitchen table. This devotion to her family was the thread that ran through everything Caroline achieved, and I feel there is a similar thread that ties me to my family. Their happiness always comes first.

Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010): When I’m lost creatively, there are certain artists I look to and Bourgeois is one of them. Her writing, sculptures, books and drawings, inspire me in so many ways. I don’t think there has ever been an artist like her. She had a deep connection to her childhood memories, which I can really relate to.

Rebecca Elson (1960-1999): She was an astronomer and poet who died very young. Rebecca was extraordinary because she was on the cusp of finding out unknown phenomena about the universe and particularly Dark Matter (a hidden astronomical mass), when she sadly passed away. Fortunately, she left us with her beautiful legacy – her research, notebooks and poems, published in her book ‘A Responsibility to Awe’ (2001). Her poetry speaks of science, spirituality and a love for life – for me, her words put everything into perspective.

‘Wastelands to Wonderlands’ - Artist Residency Programme 2022 onwards

5. What are you reading?

I just love everything about books… book shops, libraries, the way they feel in your hands, the quality of the paper, illustrations, typefaces, their smell, annotating books etc. etc.

At the moment, I’m reading a lot of books for my PhD studies that I wouldn’t usually read, which is really interesting. It’s taking me out of my comfort zone, particularly texts by Dr Maureen Daly Goggin, which are fascinating.

I’m also enjoying reading Phillipa Gregory’s ‘Normal Women’ (2023) and a beautiful book written by my Director of Studies at Falmouth University, Dr Kate Strasdin ‘The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes’ (2024). They are inspiring books for research and for pleasure.

6. What gender barriers have you had to hurdle?

I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never personally experienced an obvious gender barrier. Saying that, the historical women I have researched did hit barriers throughout their lives because they were female and in a different time. They were also educated and determined at a point in history when women were not expected to have a mind of their own. This made them a threat to some of the men they encountered, and they received criticism and little acknowledgement for all their wonderful work.

One such woman was the astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin (1900-1979), who I greatly admire for her intelligence and quiet confidence. She discovered what stars were made from, which changed the world of astronomy at the time. Yet, she was never given recognition for her discovery, which was credited to her male colleague who took her idea and published it as his own.

7. How can the world be made a better place for women?

I believe there are several things that could happen to make the world a better place for all women..

Access to education should be a global priority
I also feel strongly about providing full health care at every stage in a woman’s life - our bodies go through so many changes in one lifetime, but still there is little funding and research to fully understand all the repercussions of these changes for both our general health and wellbeing
More done by governments and policing authorities to make women feel safe both at home and out and about - no girl or woman should ever feel fearful for their safety and stop doing the things they love
Finally, for women to have more say in world politics and on environmental issues, which would make it a better place for all

8. Describe your perfect day

Waking up to the sound of a blackbird is the most beautiful music to start a day. I would also like to spend the morning in my studio at Krowji sketching and exploring new ideas. In the afternoon, being in a café with good coffee and cake while sewing or reading. For the evening, watching the sunset down by the sea with my family and a flask of tea. Finishing at bedtime, listening to a podcast while I sew.

9. We've noticed there aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you like to see remembered?

For my degree I looked at the plight of the migrant mother and her search for a safe home. At the time, I was working with the Royal Cornwall Museum looking at the Cornish Diaspora to Mexico in the 1850s and the number of women and children who didn’t make the long journey, in search of work and a new home. While studying, the Syrian crisis was shockingly unfolding. Seeing daily on the news women surrounded by their children and their belongings walking for miles to find a safe home, made me think how those Cornish mothers would have felt not knowing where they were going.

Today, with the various wars going on in the world those images are sadly repeated – women, their children and possessions all searching for the safety of home. A statue to honour migrant mothers would say a lot about the families who have gone before us and those who are suffering today.

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