Instinct Is Worth A Thousand Years Of Memory

I see that the last time I posted – or even updated – this website was November 2020.

Earlier that same month, my husband of almost 17 years was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died less than 7 months later.

Followers of my Instagram may well have seen my scant posts since then. As I’m sure you can imagine, I am completely rearranged. Almost everything in my life is different. But I am still making, and in the another of the posts I will publish soon, I invite you to see the first pieces of my new body of work.

In January 2020 just before the pandemic hit, I was in Costa Rica as one of the artists in residence at the Mauser Foundation. Whilst I was there I had an encounter with a snake, which I believe was a portent of the transformation to come.

Like all wildlife, I was delighted to spot the animal, so unhidden in my path. I carefully and respectfully moved as close as I could to take this photo. It wasn’t until several days after that I identified the snake as a Fer-De-Lance – the deadliest, most aggressive and unpredictable snake in Central America.

This experience was so significant for me and I couldn’t stop thinking about the snake, and how close I was, literally, to serious injury and likely death (despite my respectful approach, I was certainly in striking distance).

After completing several other projects, I finally realised I needed to express this experience in my work, and created the personal piece I am sharing here.

Before completion, we got the news my husband would die. After finishing the piece, in a sort of catharsis, I no longer had the desire to make work in the same way as I had been since 2013. It just wasn’t in me anymore, and I didn’t know what I would create in the future.

For many years I had wanted to make masks. Originally the idea was to make Death Masks for extinct species. The reason I never explored this is because I felt too caught up in the process of making my flat and framed canvasses, and felt I didn’t ‘have time’ to step away from this and experiment with making three dimensional objects, a process that may have been messy and unsuccessful.

However, the ‘enforced’ hiatus combined with, despite it all, my compulsion to make and process my life through making, meant that in March of 2021 I did begin tentatively the process of figuring out the mask. I have learnt all my skills in this way – learn by doing – so, now feeling that ‘no one was watching’ anymore, I framed up and drew a shape.

I didn’t work on it more than this until September, when I completed my first mask, named Portal.

I continued to experiment and create, processing my grief through this medium.

Now it is November 2022, almost 3 years have passed since I met the Snake on the path. I am back in Costa Rica as artist in residence at the Mauser Foundation as I write this. I’ve rewritten my Artist Statement, revised my offerings as a teacher and mentor, and updated my portfolio.

The work I’m making now feels very exciting and the most personal I’ve ever made. There is huge vulnerability in that. I still deeply care about the issues I was making work about before, but as I am changed, the work has changed. Interestingly I believe the 3 pillars my work explored before, are still intact: Grief, transformation and divinity are still very present.

Instinctively grief instantiated in me a self love practice I’d never experienced before. Like all practices it takes work and vigilant tending, but I felt I would not be able to go on without giving myself the love that I had been receiving before he died. Part of that has been leaning into my work. Creativity externalises what you can’t voice. Processing my grief has helped me continue the bond I had whilst adjusting to the new life with his physical absence.

Grief opens a new room in yourself. Often an uncomfortable room, but a part of you. Others can meet you there. It is my hope that my masks will ultimately provide a liminal place where viewers/participants/wearers can experience transformation.

In reflection of all this, I am having a studio sale. Almost all my unsold previous work needs to go to make room for the new. Prices are up to 2/3 off the original, please contact me if you wish to purchase anything.

Finally, I am no longer going to be using this blog to write long form essays on methods of construction or meaning. I will update it as and when I feel the need and desire, and will still update it with any news of shows, events, sales etc.

Thank you for reading.

STUDIO SALE

The Emancipator – was £1500 now £500

Hello everyone,

Most certainly NOT because it’s Black Friday (I didn’t realise this) but I am having a Studio Sale. My work has shifted in a new direction and in service to this I would like to clear out the old to make space for the new. Almost all my older work has been reduced, almost all are at least 2/3 off the original price. Please contact me if you wish to purchase, shipping will be extra of course. I am happy to accept payments in instalments.

Head to my home page to browse

The Alchemist – was £700 now £300
Hallowed Ground series – were £895 now £295
Saint Benjamin – was £895 now £295

Ritual Burials: Original work now in my shop!

Just a short update to let you know that my Ritual Burials series of remaining works are now live in my shop.

This deeply personal and spiritual series from 2016 explored stumpwork, elements of goldwork and surface embroidery.

You can read the background to this series here, and each piece in my shop explains the meaning and symbolism.

Each piece is mounted and ready for framing, and the price includes worldwide tracked and insured shipping.

While you’re in my shop, don’t miss my Textile Art Boxes! I’ve now sold out of the Stag Beetle kit, but have a few of the Tansy Beetle and Ghost Beetle designs left.

All of my kits donate £2 to wildlife conservation charities with every sale, contain zero plastic packaging and are suitable for all abilities!

Creativity in Embroidery Art Workshop – January 13th

Creativity in Embroidery Art Workshop – January 13th

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Join me in January for my next workshop!

Suitable for students with some hand-embroidery experience looking to extend their skills or ready to plan their own projects, this class focuses on preparation and will give you the confidence and skills to turn your ideas into original art. Maybe you have only completed embroidery kits, or other’s designs so far. Or maybe you’ve mastered one technique – like cross stitch – and now want to push out into other techniques. Or maybe you’ve simply got a burning desire to embroider mushrooms and don’t know where to start! This is the class for you.

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In this workshop we will examine how I bring an idea through to realisation in stitch, in 4 stages: Conception, development, planning and pattern transfer. In the morning we will begin with group discussion of your ideas and take a look at some of my embroidered art work – from initial sketches to completion. Then we will begin working on drawings and designs and approach relating these to techniques.

After lunch we will examine all the different materials I use in my textile art and how each could be used in your design. We will look at fabric, threads, embellishments and tools, and use the afternoon to develop a stitch plan which will include a good investigation into the various ways of transferring patterns.

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Students will get the most out of this class if they come prepared with a clear idea of the piece they want to work on, as this will provide the focus of the day.

Everything you need will be available to use in class but feel free to bring your own sketchbook if you use one, and any reference materials or materials you would wish to use in your embroidery.

As a self-taught artist, ultimately this day is about inspiring confidence in your own abilities to be empowered in your own creativity, and overcome any fears or hesitations you may have.

This 4 hour workshop takes place at SEWMANCE, a community space dedicated to bringing creatives from Brighton and beyond, together to explore.
SEWMANCEhome, The Crypt, St George’s Church, Kemptown, Brighton BN2 IED.

Places are very limited and cost £65 each.

Contact me to book, or book through my Facebook page here.