A weekend workshop with Amanda Hislop gave me a big creative boost. Looking for the abstract in land and sea was the contrast I needed after many hours working on a detailed wild flower piece. I felt I was never going to finish with the tangle of text, leaves and stems but a change of focus gave me the impetus to complete ‘Vagabond Plants…’ in time for a http://www.fusiontextileartists.com exhibition in November. The exhibition will be at the Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick until January 2021.
The workshop took place over Zoom, for a weekend in October. Amanda guided us and showed examples of her work ing methods. Now I am focussing on taking my interpretation of the workshop ideas from paper to textile. First to be completed is a piece mounted on driftwood. This is, I think, going to be the start of a new collection – Journey Mapping, exploring the landscape in a slightly more abstract way. I want to incorporate ideas and objects I find as I walk the land, whether that is here in the North East or in Scotland, although this year all Scottish pieces are inspired by memories of past visits – I haven’t been further North than Bamburgh this year ( but the sea swimming there was great!)
I am working with my preferred processes but interpreting images in a different way, trying to capture the mood and feel of a place rather than a clear visual representation. Here, strong grid marks relate to the division lines found on maps. I’m using hand stitch to soften some marks and also to build texture as with the gold yellow section shown below. Textures refer to the movement of the sea, debris on the shore, and rocks. This part of Arran has geological features known as the Dyke Swarm, long fingers of prehistoric rock, some complete with fossilised dinosaur footprints, that reach out into the sea. These rocks make many inlets along the shore, trapping seaweed, shells and driftwood but also providing lots of basking spots for seals. A walk of just a couple of miles can be filled with wildlife and beach combing ‘finds’.
As 2020 has given me a lot more studio time than usual, I’ve been backing up visual research and investigation with reading, this book, by Simon Barnes , has some wonderful, uncomplicated, advice on how to see more when out walking. I’ll definitely try some of his tips when I’m out next.
Donna Cheshire Textiles 