Hand Of Glory 1

A Hand Of Glory was supposedly the pickled hand of a hanged criminal, cut off whilst the body still hung from the gallows. It was used by burglars to send sleepers in a house into a coma from which they could not wake. The hand has its fingers lit, and if one of the fingers refuse to light it is a sign that someone in the household remains awake.

Mixed media collage with acrylic and gouache, gold leaf and black card on board.

Dimensions: (framed) 20 x 25 approx. cm.

About the artist:
Artist Carole Fenwick is based in Leeds, West Yorkshire and works as Maggie Magoo Designs. Carole is inspired by folk art, mid-century design, vintage ephemera, and the natural world. Her work covers printed textiles and surface pattern design to collage mixed media and album art. While much of her artwork is produced digitally, she has felt a need to reconnect with a more analogue way of creating, especially in response to the growing presence of AI in creative spaces. The artwork in this exhibition uses acrylic paint, paper collage, hand drawn elements & gold leaf. It is based on folk traditions and how they intertwine with the natural world, creating imagery through pattern, colour, and symbolic storytelling. Last year she began researching folklore, myths, customs, and pagan festivals from around the British Isles. For many years she has marked the changing seasons at the solstices and equinoxes, visiting ancient monuments, standing stones, and stone circles.