A new artwork is on display at the National Trust’s Cotehele House. This is the first time Cotehele have displayed anything on this scale before. The artwork is made up of 20,000 printed paper flowers and surrounds the walls of the Great Hall in the Tudor property.

The National Trust commissioned Westcountry artist Dominique Coiffait to create the artwork to complement the traditional Christmas garland and to reflect on life in the local area during the First World War to mark the centenary of the Armistice.

Dominique has created a giant collage which depicts the seasonal changes in the Cotehele garden, interwoven with First World War memorabilia from the five years of centenary exhibitions held at the property.

He spent a year in virtual residency at Cotehele, sketching the flora and fauna in the garden across the seasons, which he has then carved into lino blocks and printed in different colours. Each printed flower has been cut out by hand, a mammoth task which Cotehele’s visitors and volunteers have helped with throughout the year. Dominique has run workshops with visitors and volunteers and also led a series of activities with local schools.

“It has been a humbling experience to have so many people engage with the project,” Dominique says.

The resulting commemoration garland is designed to work in harmony with the traditional cut flower garland Cotehele’s garden team grow and build which is now in its 63rd year. Cotehele’s flowers and foliage are its main feature and the artwork shows the changing seasons in recognition of the ebb and flow of life during the war. In addition to the flowers, Dominique has included screenprints of sketches of the house and garden views.

Also included in the artwork are fragments from the First World War diaries of Joseph Snell, a local market gardener whose words have been transcribed by a team of volunteers.

Reproductions of postcards and other memorabilia from the centenary exhibitions at the property are interwoven with the flowers and foliage of the artwork.

Dominique continued: “This handprinted paper artwork should be a respectful commemoration of those who went before, to those who fought and died and those who survived and sowed the seeds for future generations.”

The commemoration garland is on display at Cotehele daily until 6 January (except Christmas Day and Boxing Day).