Final piece and exhibition

 

With recommendation from the tutor, the wooden box was discarded and the basket and honeycomb tower were exhibited in a sunny, sheltered corner of the raised bed area of the Wash House Gardens.  I felt as exposed as the piece without the box to hide it in.  My work was completely out on show and I needed to be brave in taking responsibility and ownership of this, but I was still full of a lot of self doubt.

Without the box, though, it was possible to appreciate the sculptural element of the piece better.  It looked quite at home in this outdoor space.

The natural space and foliage offered by the Wash House Gardens enabled the piece to blend in easily, yet still be noticeable as a stand out sculpture in the area.  Without the box frame, the spaces in the chicken wire honeycomb were more obvious and light could come through. I am pleased that I chose these materials and considered the scale of my work for this environment.  Thread baskets might have worked, but for me, I felt more aligned with the sculptural piece made from reclaimed and foraged materials that were in-keeping with the natural habitat space available. 

I liked how visitors and I could sit beside it whilst I talked to them about the thoughts and creative processes that I undertook to create it.  Right from the offset of the exhibition, a group of people met and enjoyed a coffee sitting around my work. 

The corner seemed to attract people to come along to sit, maybe chat about the work and just 'bee' themselves.😀🐝

Talking with interested people was confidence boosting.  What I thought was a simple concept and technique was actually inspiring people to question me more and I was beginning to accept that my work could be worthwhile after all. Listening to how visitors perceived my creation was encouraging me to consider myself through a more positive perspective, especially the tutor who came round with her students, commenting on how art can provide the means to promote a message on the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Sustainability Goals.  My own understanding of habitat and its fragility within these uncertain times of climate change and species extinction is a concern of mine.  Protecting and appreciating our natural world is important to me. To hear someone make this comment with my work was a validation that I hadn't expected and it really bolstered my self confidence. 

Being in this supportive environment, outside and alongside my fellow students and tutor has made me believe in myself better and I was glad to be a part of an arts festival and a bigger global message.  

The thread of sustainability has been the foundation for the research and creation of the piece and on the recommendation of my tutor, I went to see the artist Freddie Yauner and his paintings in the unusual media of 'bee pollen'. Using this media didn't sit well with me and so I researched how it is collected and whether it is done sustainably and ethically.  I'm not sure that it is.

Art can certainly offer a prompt for discussion and research, raising awareness of ethical issues and promoting change.

I enjoyed speaking to Nina on the Wild Bee Cafe.  She was able to tell me a lot about the project and the plight of the lesser known bees that add to the biodiversity of the species.  We talked about burrowing bees and I was excited to share my story of watching a bee attempting to hatch from a mound of earth, earlier in this spring. Nina was easy to talk to and I was pleased that she did remember and manage to come over to see our exhibition, even though we were putting it away. 

Meeting and speaking with other artists has been encouraging.  Talking with various makers gives me insight into their inspirations and working practice.  It is fascinating to hear their stories and I feel a part of a larger network of like minded people.  They told me of their trials and experiments and the shows that they attend.

Freddie was less talkative as he was painting his pollen circles.  Peter tells me that they are fields.  It was good to see the art being produced.

Though I didn't really get the art of Freddie at first (too much writing and facts) I do now and see it's impact as a statement about the importance of the biodiversity of bees and the highly industrialised farming methods that threaten their existence and that of many more pollinators and the whole ecosystem that depends upon them.

For me, the bees in my work came about because I was moved to take photographs of the hives at the allotments of Saltaire for my research on the theme of Habitat.  They were my first port of sketchbook investigation as I attempted to make a collage of the man made hive structure out of my old brown papers. Thinking of structures, a bees honeycomb is an obvious natural structure to incorporate into my investigations, and so, my work kept returning to these creatures and their sculpted home.🐝

To me, habitat means the natural world around me.  The habitats of animals and plants.  I didn't really consider my own, human habitat as I am always outdoors anyway.  Habitat is the environment.  It is nature and in choosing to consider structure in my work, the honeycomb kept grabbing my attention.  I liked the bees. 🐝 I am aware of their importance to the allotment site and the ecology of this planet in general, but now, further research brings greater awareness of their significance within the 17 UN Sustainability Goals.

https://rdcu.be/ddmYN

This article by Patel, V., Pauli, N., Biggs, E. et al. Why bees are critical for achieving sustainable development. Ambio 50, 49–59 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01333-9 

explains their crucial role within 15 out of the 17 Sustainability goals.

The Habitat theme for the Saltaire Arts Trail and our course focus on sustainability has ensured my own education and awareness of the UN 17 Sustainability Goals.  I have been inspired by my own work, the comment from the tutor visitor, Freddie Yauner and Nina and feel that I have contributed to a bigger picture.

The exhibition has BEEn an enjoyable experience for me.

🐝

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

 Looking through the menu of this event, I notice some basket makers are amongst the textile and Green Grads sections.  I'm not sure that this is a practice that I will be exploring for a career, but it is interesting for me to see what is out there in the line of creating with natural materials. Helen Munday and her baskets, Juliette Hamilton and her willow sculptures.   Maybe I will look further into paper making from plants.  I am going to try to refine the product this year anyway.

Baskets and containers made from such naturally occurring resources certainly meet the sustainability goals and are marketable products for the eco conscious consumer.  This event provides a platform for the makers to promote their wares to businesses who might wish to purchase stock or provide a contract to sell their work. 

Looking at the other artefacts and crafts for sale, I came across Heartfelt Dogs. I am amazed at the attention to detail and the self belief that the maker has in her product.  I am inspired that she is now selling this product when at first she had no idea that this could be a business when she first started with a needle felting kit to try a new craft.  This encourages me to open my mind to possibilities that I might not be aware of, but may come about from making paper perhaps, or there may be another craft idea that I haven't even tried yet. 

Paper bees

 

The thread that I used to create the bee colours and the printing ink were my only non garden resources that I used for the project.  

I was determined to use my textured home-made wisteria paper.  The fuzzy thread texture was created by stitching a layered herringbone stitch in two colours and then cutting through the centre.  My concern here though was the neatness of the image and I decided to stitch along the outlines of the print to emphasize it.  

The paper was more holey than I had realised and this caused some threading problems which I addressed by adding patches to the back of the bees. 

I liked the soft texture that the close embroidered thread offered.  It gave a tactile effect that invited touch.

The new combination

 

It took a while, but I really wanted to consider how to present my basket and chicken wire tower.  I thought about the locations within the Wash House Gardens and took some photographs of the various corners and spaces that were offered in the raised beds.

I could place my basket here.

Or in this cleared space here.

I pondered at home, until I saw my upturned, bottomless vegetable planter.  Aha.  I thought that this framed my basket perfectly and was a man-made container.  Well, a woman-made one, since I had made the wooden box myself several years earlier.

I added my chicken wire

Feedback from those around me suggested that I choose the other wooden planter, as it had a back to it and so that is the one that I took to college.

basket product

 

Made from water hyacinth

It seems that there are many basket products made from plants that are readily available in major retail stores.  This one caught my attention because of the aesthetic combination of metal grids and woven dried leaves.  Is it sustainable?

Research tells me that Water hyacinth is an invasive species that can suffocate other aquatic ecosystems.  I have found a variety of methods to make use of this widespread plant pollutant.  In Florida they treat it with biological control and herbicides, but in Cambodia, for example, they use it to create woven products such as baskets and cloth.

When I undertake research such as this and educate myself through using internet links and Youtube, my new found knowledge only highlights what I didn't know before and I wonder how much does the general public know.  Do the customers in John Lewis really know where the home decor products really come from?  

I am wiser now, but what will I do with that information?

Dyeing art

I've been creating some vegetable dyes to test their vibrancy and to simply experiment with the process.  I have red cabbage, onions and red cabbage.

Mordants 

To fix my dyes to my chosen material, I need a mordant.

I have questions about the chemicals that are suggested on websites explaining the dyeing process. How is Alum manufactured? It's chemical name is hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate.  Who makes this and where?  Is it poisonous?  Is it natural? Where do I buy it from? Can I make it myself?  What are the true costs of this product - environmentally?  

I used iron as my mordant. The only iron I could see were some hideous iron capsules that I was never going to take. 

I cut some samples of the garden twine that I had found in the shed and seeped it in some hot boiled water with the iron powder.  Next I poured some of each of the liquids into 3 separate containers.  I then added the twine samples to the liquids, pushing them in deep and immersing them thoroughly.  

I repeated this but on the second attempt, I boiled the twine in the water with the iron powder for longer before immersing it in the dye liquids.

The bottom row is the first attempt and the middle row is the second. Above left is the original ball of twine, uncoloured and next to it is a sample of twine boiled in iron water.

The left bundles on the two rows are dipped in red cabbage, the middle one is yellow onion dye and the right bundles are red beetroot.

The first attempt at red beetroot didn't really take, except in very small patches.

I enjoyed trying this dyeing process and needed to be aware of a scientific approach to the testing, making sure to only change one variable at a time to establish what worked well and why. It was satisfying to create my own colours from natural ingredients, except for the iron tablet and I was pleased with the results.  

I did this just for the fun of experimenting and research. I might need this one day. It was something I wanted to explore as a possible fibre to use in the habitat project that has sustainability as a core theme.

chicken wire

 

Wrapping the chicken wire in turmeric dyed garden twine made something hard and industrial into something quite comfortable to hold in my fingers.  I liked the colour and with some parts uncovered, the covered areas were emphasized.

When I retrieved the chicken wire from the shed for my project, I had two small rolls of it and one had sections missing.  I thought to use the more complete one and was considering how might I manipulate it into a basket shape, but it's original cylindrical tower shape seemed appealing somehow.  I liked it's height and I didn't want to cut it or bend it. I liked its natural form, if it could ever have one as a man-made object.

I worked on coating it in twine over several nights.  

Somerset House 2023

 

Thinking about containment for my habitat project, I was interested in the structure and construction of this woven basket.  It's a container and it is weaved from a naturally occurring fibre. It was something to bear in mind for my own project.  Unfortunately I didn't note the artists name.

Another container.  A basket with no sides.

The Loewe Foundation Prize winning entry by Jeong Dahye is a basket made of horsehair, woven using a hat making technique that is 500 years old.  I am fascinated by how horsehair has the strength to hold the shape of the basket.  I assume that is to do with the technique and structure which must create some tension in the fibres.

This piece against the window, reminded me of my homemade paper.

In this piece, by Claire Malet I thought it was clever to use plastic from milk cartons and aluminium from cans, to create leaf shapes and collage them together to create a matted leaf carpet, like you might find on a woodland walk.  The 3 discs were titled 'Tread Lightly'.

This exhibit 'Sargassum Tide' by Louise Frances grabbed my attention mainly because of it's featured component and title as this was the subject of my son's dissertation for his Master's Degree. Sargasssum is an invasive Japanese seaweed encroaching the coastal space of Britain.  I was fascinated at how the artist had created a new medium with which to form shapes and bowls, stitched together in a giant mass.  The invention and process of creating a new product takes time, effort and patience and is something I can relate to in my own plant paper making process.

Vessels

New creations

Driven by renewed enthusiasm, I collected my wisteria vines that I had stored in the shed from last year and soaked them in water in the bath to soften them.  Instinctively I knew what to do and the order in which to do it and was able to just get on with it without interruption.  I felt alive with my new ideas and in the flow of making and the processes involved.  Nothing was distracting my new mission as I worked with focus and intent.  My new idea felt right and natural to me.  Using the resources that I had stored in my shed offered me new purpose and satisfaction.  I was giving myself permission to play and create with these natural materials.  

I left these vines soaking in the bath for about 3 days.

Random Weave basket

The random weave basket started like this.

Three hoops were created with the pliable, bendy wisteria vines and interlocked with each other.  They were secured with a plastic tie which could then be removed later.  My hoops were not the same regular size as each other and so I manipulated the larger one to fit inside the smaller one and then laid them flat on the towelled surface.  One by one, I threaded my remaining vine lengths through the hoops, under and over in a weave.  As more vines were added, tension was building and I became more involved in deciding where to thread my vines next in order to balance and enhance the structure carefully.  Though this is random weave, there is intention in its construction.  Cuddling the basket in my arms was helping it to develop a container shape, but it kept relaxing, so I pushed it into the cylindrical kitchen sink and left it there overnight, sitting in water. This helped to mould it better into shape.

Meanwhile I was looking at weather my turmeric dyed garden twine would work with the chicken wire.  I tested some.

I split the twine into 3 strands of fibres and began to wind it around the wire.  It felt cosy in my hand.  I had made a harsh, industrial resource into something comfortable to hold. I liked it, but I doubted the simplicity of just wrapping the twine.  I thought there might be a more impressive technique, even though this was working for now.  I still want to create a basket structure with it.

CHANGE OF PLAN!

 

Containment by Ruth Woods

Awakened with new inspiration from reading the book Finding Form with Fibre by Ruth Woods, I thought about the left over vines from last years Wisteria plant that I had in the shed and decided to rejuvenate them by soaking them in water in the bath

This morning my only plan was to get stuck into my college work and with a deadline looming, I needed to work quickly and decisively.  I've not been enamoured with the thread basket attempts.  They're flimsy and I'm not happy with their appearance either, especially when they are combined with my natural paper.  

I considered all my thoughts and sketches and collected samples and decided to be more resourceful with what I had available in my own back garden

Hexagonal, honeycomb chicken wire,

Garden twine, naturally dyed in different colours,

Home-made plant paper,

Wisteria vines.

Ideas and decisions were forming in my mind.  The chicken wire could replace the honeycomb thread structure, but I would wrap yellow thread around the shapes.  I may add some embroidered bees to it,

My dish vessel could be created by coiling some fibres.

and I still want to create a paper bag of embroidered images of what habitat means to me.

Still 3 vessels, but made with materials found in my garden.

Habitat pieces made from my own back garden habitat.

Waking up early and freely moving around my home space, playing and sourcing the natural materials, I was able to find a flow in my thinking and being.

Ruth Asawa

 

Thinking of possibilities for a thread container, these suspended, connected wire containers are beguiling. I am particularly drawn to their hanging state as I have noticed this as a recurring aspect of the art that catches my eye and in other things that grab my attention, such as waterfalls and wisteria flowers.  

The piece is very effective as a visual art form by it's structural and fluent shapes, with other overlapping shapes within, creating shades of grey and shadows on the white walls.  Each hanging structure is different in size and length and their positions interplay and offset one another.  It is something to consider for my thread basket idea as something to hang from a tree.

Further work from Ruth Asawa could provide a lead on containers. This looped wire basket is simple and elegant.

All these are made with wire.

Reading her life story is inspiring and relatable since she grew up on a farm and was fascinated by the details in nature.  Growing up on a farm myself, I was always aware of the plants and animals that I found in the wooded area by the farm and the fields.  I always felt a part of it.