Artist Statement
An affinity to the landscape was born from a childhood growing up within the land carved and scarred by extractive industry in Cornwall. Inspiration is drawn from cartography, topography and geology. The hidden under lands are exposed and brought to the surface exposing the narrative of geological persuasion of industrial heritage. This, along with the restrictive tactility of the physical map, its purpose of wayfinding and the intangibility of contour lines informs my creative practice.
Through exploration of these elements a renewed view of a region manifests using modern digital fabrication and the traditional craft skills of tapestry weaving. The combination of these working methods create balance within practice; immediacy and meditative; hard lines and organic pattern; intangible and tactile. Landscapes teeter on the edge of actual and imaginary.
Artist Bio
As a creative practitioner my area of focus is craft innovation. I explore forward thinking concepts around traditional tapestry weaving and digital fabrication techniques. The coalescence of these contrasting outputs of making combined with applied methodologies have resulted in new outcomes and altered the wall bound nature of tapestry into a sculptural artefact suggesting a new direction for the craft.
Inspiration arrives from the unseen; microscopic imagery, wider global issues such as climate and sustainable mining and the intangible nature of landscape. These concepts can be difficult to apprehend on paper, but through the allegorical nature of tapestry my goal is to inform, invoke discussion and encourage re-evaluation from an alternative perspective. The application of woven tapestry to 3D printed scale models of landscape aims to initiate new thinking towards the role of a historical communication medium in a modern context. My current body of work includes petrological imagery presented through weaving which relates directly to the focused landscape.
My practice has been synthesised through a passion for the sciences, craft and sustainability. This has produced a transdisciplinary approach to practice where research is fundamental. This takes the form of study to understand new concepts and ideas. These then form the basis of a project which is explored through iterative planning, designing, and sampling. Current projects include the addition of movement to my designs, and to develop programmable ‘landscapes’ where topographical information can input thus allowing one woven landscape to morph into another.
MA Design, The University of the West of England, Bristol (2016-19)
Development of practice, craft innovation and new methods of working with traditional craft mediums. A passion for research has been realised throughout MA study. Working to develop techniques and processes combining digital fabrication and traditional making skills to produce a new take on tapestry weaving and sculptural textiles.
Design Crafts BA (Hons), De Montfort University, Leicester (2009-12)
My Undergraduate degree gave me the opportunity to explore materials, processes and develop my knowledge of making in a contemporary context. I developed a specialism in Mixed Media Textiles with a focus on hand making techniques.