Cecile Escoffery – Crafting her way through art

CECILE Escoffery is no ordinary woman. She is an artist of diverse crafts, style and taste, a woman of unbelievable talent, whose work evokes a feeling of oneness with the earth, an appreciation for nature, and an obvious love for life.

In fact, if we were to wax poetic, she’d be ‘une femme extraordinaire’, a woman whose award-winning pieces have found a place of pride in homes, galleries and offices in Europe, North America and throughout the Caribbean. Indeed this female woodworker – and woodworker is just one of her many talents – was specially commissioned by former governor general Sir Howard Cooke to do a piece of art for the Queen’s visit to Jamaica in 2002, and she immortalised Her Majesty’s love for horses in a piece of art for which Sir Howard gushed the Queen’s praises.

The journey with Escoffery – who may be the only female in Jamaica doing woodwork on such a large scale – begins at her business and workshop at ACE Woodwork in St Andrew, where a large room displays ‘The Collection’, a diverse set of art and craft pieces skilfully designed to showcase the versatility of wood. Also displayed are ceramics, and elegantly designed cutwork garments, carefully cut and stitched from the finest European linen.

Around back, the frisky shitzu KC guards the entrance to one of the workshops, where six men cut, carve and sand, intricately piecing different shades of wood together.

One of the most striking features of Escoffery’s craft is the beautiful arrangement of bright colours entwined with earth tones.

This technique is known as the art of intarsia, a tradition of weaving wood to produce a blend of textures and colours, an art form developed in the 14th Century. This technique is visible in beautiful jewellery boxes, plaques, cutting boards, decorative bowls, platters, vases, wall hangings and small furniture items.

“I don’t use paint, I use all natural woods. I work with the grain of the wood so whatever colour I get, I work with,” she says. “We cut them and piece them together to get the designs.”

Escoffery’s latest endeavour is cutwork embroidered female garments – cutwork is a needlework technique in which portions of a textile are cut away and the resulting “hole” is reinforced and filled with embroidery or needle lace. She makes collars, vests, blouses and entire suits done mainly in black and white to accentuate outfits and suit-up for special occasions.

It’s in another workroom that the female employees sit and cut each garment, a task that can take weeks to complete.

“Cutwork embroidery is my most recent involvement,” Escoffery says pointing to the displays. “I just love cutwork, that is why I started doing it. I got involved in it five years ago.”

The target is the more mature woman, but special pieces are also done for the younger crowd. And all will be on show this December 1 and 2 as Escoffery showcases her latest.

“We can do just about anything,” she says. “Cutwork is an old art that I am reintroducing.”

Escoffery also turns her hands at ceramic items, restoration and refurbishing of furniture and the building of furniture pieces from scratch.

“I have been in woodwork for 26 years,” she explains. “I am a third generation woodworker, my father was a woodworker and my grandfather before him.”

Added she: “I just did ceramics as a means of therapy and I find that it started selling.”

Unlike woodwork, ceramics is an art Escoffery learnt at the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Woodwork … well let’s just say the art was unavoidable.

Born in Kingston, Escoffery grew up with her parents, two brothers and two sisters. Her father Ferdinand Escoffery was also a renowned woodworker who she says learnt the art of carving from Edna Manley herself. He in turn taught Cecile and her brother Paul. Paul later played a major part in Escoffery’s business until his death two years ago.

Her hard work has paid off in more ways than one.

“I made a wooden intarsia horse head and presented it to the GG(Cooke) who in turn presented it to the Queen,” Escoffery says proudly, showing us a picture of her presentation to Sir Howard and his glowing response.

“I congratulate you for the effort and I am pleased to inform you that Her Majesty received the gift with much pleasure, and indeed, it will be a treasured reminder of her visit to Jamaica,” the letter signed and stamped from Kings House reads in part.

Escoffery notes that the bulk of her work is sold at Sandals and Craft Cottage but is also on display and sold at her Leonard Road, St Andrew address.

“[But] I just went into the business by default,” she laughs, explaining that woodwork was in no way her life’s ambition. “I am really a trained accountant. My father was in the hospital for six months with cancer. He asked me to oversee the shop. I did and I changed everything. I took it to the next level. When my father saw it he asked me why I didn’t open my own place and so I did.”

That year Escoffery received a five-star rating at the JMA/JEA show at the national arena and was asked to do exhibitions overseas. After that, there was no turning back.

Now, she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty by cutting, sanding or from the use of heavy machinery. And with Christmas just around the corner there’s lots of work to fill the stockings of all those who want original pieces that take them back to nature.

Her one regret – that her children, son Oliver, a commercial pilot and daughter Adrienne who is presently pursuing the sciences in high school will not continue her art.

“When I die it dies with me,” she says.

But for now living is all about the art, and the art is superbly inspiring.

husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com