Michaela Dunn
A multidisciplinary artist with a focus on combining digital and physical working, as well as a passion for history. I will be continuing my studies at Loughborough, in Graphic Design and intend to pursue a career in the industry.
A multidisciplinary artist with a focus on combining digital and physical working, as well as a passion for history. I will be continuing my studies at Loughborough, in Graphic Design and intend to pursue a career in the industry.
For my Final Major Project, I chose to explore the folklore, belief and history of the county of Northamptonshire. My goal is through visual storytelling, to promote the leaning of history of Northamptonshire.
From the 1612 Northamptonshire Witch Trials, connections to the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle, the Battle of Naseby and occupation dating back to before the 1st Century, Northamptonshire has a myriad of stories and rich history, that for the majority of these tales, have been overlooked or lost to the passage of time.
The first of my three main characters from Northamptonshire folklore. Inspired by the multitude of superstitions surrounding horses and their connections to multiple other stories from the county. Throughout history, a horse in Northamptonshire could be anything from the steed of the fabled ‘Dullahan’, observed across the county, a faerie or witch in disguise, perhaps even the Devil. Or maybe it’s just a horse.
The second of my triad of character is ‘The Ghost of Mary Queen of Scots’. Mary I of Scotland was found guilty of treason and executed on the 8th February, 1587, at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire. I wanted to explore the idea that her ghost still resided in Northamptonshire, the place of her death.
The third and final of my main three characters is ‘The Far-Travelled Fiddler’, the titular character in Kevin Manwaring’s Northamptonshire tale ‘The Far-Travelled Fiddler’. Set at Rushton Hall, home to Sir Francis Tresham, a conspirator in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, the ‘Fiddler’ with help from his wife, establishes an elaborate ruse lasting two years. Whereby, he claimed to have fallen down a hole in the tunnels beneath Rushton Lodge and emerged in Australia in order to have his wife claim compensation for his disappearance and subsequent re-appearance across the globe. For in reality, he had taken his fiddle and the candle in his hat and hidden until his wife could join him with their newfound sum of money.
Together with ‘The Devil Horse’, these three characters make up the main front for my promotion of history and storytelling in Northamptonshire.
