Drawing with willow

Planning for a workshop at WWT Welney Swan festival, I planned to set the task of drawing a swan with one piece of willow. Surely a result of the workshop last week, I found myself drawing with willow and these are the first results.


They are almost balletic in form, the beginning of something new perhaps. Just realising the diverse variety of entries there are in this blog, the materials and processes; but the thoughts go along together in very similar ways all the time. The pace of growth, drawing and stitching have so much in common.

Weaving conversation and baskets

Mary Butcher lead a master class at NUCA, a chance to play and reflect; 11 of us were invited. to take part. The opportunity to have conversations about the nature of making, the processes involved and the character of materials; it was both refreshing and hard work. Good to see the variety of work approaches.
I found myself taking more and more and more apart! Learning how to leave stuff out was good. Leaving space for imagination and thoughts, always a good idea. Space to breathe. Again it showed me how vital it is to STOP and work slowly. Slow Making includes the spaces, the time to look, not constructing, just feeling materials and tools. There are images on a Flickr page, so just a taste here.

footprints and impressions of 350 Day of actions

Making simple actions in public, the theme was of footprints and walking in conversation. Sun and rain, together with hot cups of chocolate and generosity of spirit were overwhelmingly the feel of the day.
Most people are aware of the need to do something and want to change their dependence on oil products, I found a real concern but at the same time lack of knowledge about how to do that change. Now is the time to be informed and make a difference!

350 International Day of Action

'Coat to cover the Earth'

This work I made 10 years ago. It has a list of endangered species, many of which are now extinct I fear.
I have brought this out again because the 350 International Day of Cilmate Action is coming up on 24th October and I am going to walk next to the river in Ely, inviting 350 people to join me to take part in an action and making transient work. See the facebook group page to see when and where.
Not easy to photograph, the fragility of fine cotton and copper wire crochet does not show itself well. I made it as a model of a much larger piece, where the space between the two layers would be big enough to walk between. Not yet commissioned but I do have a place in mind, so let me know if you are interested.
Again walking and conversation are the priority.

Stitching and expression in Reading

Stitching and expression of community, cups of tea and cake shared by participants in the workshop and opening event for Fair Trade Material Matters at RISC. the Global Cafe is a hub for all sorts of activities where the work will become part of people's everyday lives for the month.

I found leaving the work in place hard this time, almost as if it had taken on a personality. The more relationships and faces collected, the more powerful the work becomes. I had not anticipated this effect. I need to reflect on Slow Making again, what it signifies and how the power of accumulative, collecting, repetitive work expresses Slow.
More details of the work are on The RISC website.

A month with no rain

This month was so dry, the whole of September with no rain. I don't know the records for previous years, but sure I don't remember any September without rain and so warm. I have been outside most days working on the allotment, cycling has been easy in this weather.

Why so preocupied? Because I presented work at CRASSH seminar 'Vegetable Love' about being an artist who grows edible plants.

The action, my allotment drawn and stitched onto a tablecloth, together with some of the vegetables grown there. Conversation about the process of growing, relationship with human and non-human neighbours, I found myself performing in a way that became poetic, lyrical and characteristic of the place.
Again the pattern is
Allotment
Stitching
Walking
Performing.

Slow to keep up

I have been pre-occupied with trying to keep up with all the different aspects of making work. In the nature of Slow Making this is not always bad and as Salt Trails at Salthouse 09 has been the main reason it has been productive and enjoyable.

The pace of work is not always to do with the making, the spaces in between when no work is physically made is equally important. Finding space and time when no-one interrupts and nothing else has priority on my time is hard. Not easy to explain that sitting, being, listening and watching is part of the work that is not yet apparent.
I need the time to absorb what has happened, what will change and enable the work to form.

From Salt Trails in summer to stitching in winter

Walking at Salthouse with a group from Contemplative Fire was a journey in a different direction, or at least one that took a new path. A progression maybe, crossing pathways and carrying baggage from other events and communities. Do we share the baggage or help each other to let go? Which ever it is I learned that it helps to have the right pack, walking aids and companions, and to know how to carry the load. I enjoyed the fact that this was seasonal work and intend to demonstrate more of this in my work. Seasonal fits with Slow Making.


Making space, clearing surfaces is like making a pathway to walk and work in, so that is what I am doing until September, when not keeping the allotment clear of weeds and picking fruit and vegetables. A similar activity I suppose.
Preparing the studio to do concentrated work includes removing all traces of other activities, they are like background noise, or muddy water!
For me story sharing and stitching go together, indoor activities, so stitching work for Fair Trade Material Matters will start again as the summer disappears, it seems to have taken on the character of autumn and winter activity. This autumn it will go to RISC in Reading and make new relationships and connections.

definitions, words and physical actions

Allotment
Stitching
Walking
Performing.

All coming closer together, having relationship, beginning to form a pattern of making and being.

People and places, exhibitions and walks, allotment sheds, studio and garden, computors and drawings, thinking about the relationship between growing, stitching and weaving patterns, making marks in land, fabric and lives.

Origins of the word stitch come from Old Saxon: stiki Old English: stice Old High German: stih Gothic: stiks
Definitions of the word stitch:(noun) A prick, puncture or stab inflicted by a pointed implement. (verb)Fasten together or join pieces of fabric
Phrases: A good stitch - a considerable distance to walk. A ridge or baulk of land, especially a strip of ploughed land between two water furrows. A narrow ridge in which potatoes grow. To stitch: Set up sheaves of grain in stitches, stooks or shocks.

Field Theatre

Littleport Field Theatre walk is planned for June 27th, a Mid-summer event and an opportunity to make more Green Corridors work and invite others to take part.
Physical textiles are taking second place or are the metaphor for field trips and walks. Interlacing people and places, weaving walks between communities. Salt Trails, Landline Arts and The Field Theatre - here is a strong theme that I hadn't planned.
Well that was the plan, but things change and the walk is not taking place. Summer is hot and apart from keeping the allotment free of weeds and with a succession of crops going, I have been spending time doing more stitching for Fair Trade Material matters. The online quilt is growing and currently has about 160 portraits.