Freedom of the City Scroll
(for Hillary Clinton)
Above: I was commissioned to do the Freedom of the City vellum scroll for First Lady, Hillary Clinton, in May 1999. Mrs. Clinton was bestowed with the Freedom of Galway City on 12 May 1999. The event was attended by 1,200 people, at NUI, Galway (the City University). The programme cover, above, shows the vellum scroll (though the designer has deleted the lacing effect at the foot end of the scroll), and also the scroll rolled and tied with red satin ribbon, and nestled in its custom-made bog oak casket.
Above: working on the hand-painted crest. The scroll featured gilding with loose gold leaf (on the crest, and in the decorative Roman capital letters atop the scroll), hand-painting, and was written entirely by hand on vellum (calfskin). The text was in Irish (Gaeilge). The scroll measured 15 inches x 30 inches.
Left: a full-length view of the finished
scroll. It was laced at foot-end with red satin ribbon.
Left:
another full-length view.
Left:
Photograph of the First Lady holding the rolled-up scroll. The Mayor of Galway is also
pictured.
Above: detail of some of the half-uncial style lettering (done in Japanese sumi ink). The italic lettering was done in designer’s gouache. The gold dots in between Mrs. Clinton’s name were gilded with loose gold leaf. The Celtic style initial was based on lettering from the Lindisfarne Gospels (8th century).
Above: detail of some of the half-uncial style lettering (done in Japanese sumi ink). The Celtic style initial was based on lettering from the Lindisfarne Gospels (8th century). The green italic style lettering was written in designer’s gouache.
