January is my least favourite month. I deal with it by cracking on and trying new avenues of research, opportunities and making. I have a few projects on the go: commissioned installations at a popup in Bridgwater (coming soon in February), working on a large-scale textiles piece for Tout Quarry later this year, as part of One Island - Many Visions, and teaching new courses.
Seed Pop Up
I’ll be recreating two art installations in a popup space at Angel Place, Bridgwater, commissioned by Seed Sedgemoor. The first - Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand - relates to the tragic plight of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Made from recycled and found materials, it invites visitors to get immersed and consider environmental and conservation issues. This installation, together with a gentle film Life in the Undergrowth, revealing small hidden worlds in my garden during lockdown ‘20, can be experienced at the Seed Creative Popup (Shop 8), Angel Place Shopping Centre TA6 3TQ from 18-23 February, 10.30-4pm. This will be followed in April 8-13th by Flags of the Forest, which explores the beauty and resilience of nature.
Alongside the installations, I’ll be running free drop-in Eco Sculpture Workshops from Tuesday 18 to Saturday 22 February, 11am-2pm at the Popup. Open to all aged 6+ (children accompanied by an adult). No need to book.
I’ll be there daily - come and visit!
Seed’s primary aim is to enable more people in Sedgemoor to actively engage in the creative arts, particularly those who don’t usually do so. This activity is supported with funding from Arts Council England via the Creative People and Places programme.
New Work
‘Riot’ (working title - above) is developing steadily, planned for an installation in Tout Quarry, Portland, part of One Island - Many Visions exhibition with fellow Royal Society of Sculptors members (Sept/Oct). I started early as things can get busy as the year progresses. Hoping the final work will be used in a performance as part of the show. It’s going to be a fantastic event with symposium, exciting speakers and more.
This work is inspired by Lichen (Xanthoria Parietina) found on rocks at Tout Quarry, their colour, form, and radial growth. It has been created from waste and recycled materials including textiles (some home-dyed with natural pigments including turmeric), wire, beach litter & debris rescued from the sea. These have been hand-stitched, woven, wrapped and bound together to form a layered mass of line, texture and colour.
Among the oldest living and slowest growing organisms on Earth, and first to colonise new land, Lichen absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide. The rocks are made up of skeletal micro organisms such as diatoms built up over millennia, and the ancient life forms now growing on them - lichen - are a symbiotic relationship of algae, fungi and cyanobacteria.
My labour-intensive processes relate to care and repair. Reflecting on ‘troubled beauty’ in our unstable world, symbiosis and vascular threads as universal rules of nature. Detritus, the fabric of earth, in collaboration, weaving together to make new worlds.
Now to stitch it all together! If I have time I’ll make another smaller piece. Hoping to try it out soon as a wearable artwork.
Grateful to Chris Black for letting me use the space at Zig Zag building, Glastonbury.
New Courses
I‘ve been enjoying running courses in person and online. My Creative Sketchboooking course offers a variety of processes covering drawing (indoors & out), painting, and collage. It’s been good fun! My next series start in a month - if interested please book soon as places are filling up!
(Images below include participants’ work by Sarah Bayly, Alice Irving, Ingrid Sosrin & Sanita Gourley)
Other News
Two of my drawings are currently on show at Drawing on Dorset, The Sherborne, Drawing Room, Dorset, DT9 3JG, daily from 23 November - 23 March, an exhibition which has toured venues in the South West.
The venue has been spectacularly refurbished, thanks to the late Michael Cannon’s enormous generosity.
My drawings represent the overlooked - often small organisms - which fascinate me. These forms recur in my work in different guises including sculptural and textiles work.
