Welcome, everyone, thank you so much for joining us and joining us here live.
And we are in Oxford, the body library. This is the third talk in the textiles and library series, which we've been running for the past month.
The project is a wider project run by the Bodleian between the conservation and collection teams at the Centre for Study,
the book focussing on textiles in libraries.
So approaching this really broad topic from all different angles, invited speakers from lots of different professions and perspectives on this.
We've had that book conservators so far and curators, and today we are joined by wonderful Alice Fox,
who is a textile artist and maker before, and she's Alice properly and hand over to her.
I'll just do some webinar housekeeping.
This is a Zoom webinar and it's been recorded, but that means that your camera and your microphone are turned off so you won't appear in the video.
But we do really want you to be involved in this conversation at the end, and we're going to have a section for a question and answer session.
So please use the chat box, the Q&A box to write questions as we go and we'll be joining answering any of them at the end.
We're joined here by my colleague Andrew as well. He will be helping us with that at the end and passing of you, the questions.
So the format of today's talk will be. This is going to tell us a bit about our practise, a bit about her work.
She's also brought some objects here, which is amazing, and we're going to show and tell with them.
Then, Alison, we're going to have a conversation, a bit of a chat about things and then we'll get to your questions.
So. Without further ado, I think I'll introduce Alex.
So, Alice Fox, we're really thrilled she's here today to talk to us about her practise.
She's a textile artist based in Saltaire, in West Yorkshire, in the UK.
She comes to a background in sustainable environmental geography before moving into a textile practise and work as an artist.
Her work is deeply rooted in the natural world and found objects and textiles,
so a lot of her work weave these kind of different elements together and often also investigate and explore the book form,
which is something that we've really kind of been excited about when we've seen Alice's work.
So without further ado, I'm going to pass over to Alice, who's going to share a bit of her practise.
We've got a PowerPoint presentation, then look at some subjects. So great job.
Thank you very much. It's wonderful to be here and to be invited to be part of this series.
So I'm as I'm sorry, I said I'm going to introduce to you a series of different projects from my from the last 10 years or so.
And I'm going to kind of run through some slides and and briefly introduce those, and then I'm going to talk through some objects that we've got here.
But I think really,
the theme that runs through all of the things that I'm going to show you is an experimental approach to materials and the use of found materials,
found objects and kind of gathered and grown materials. And so that's the kind of underpinning really and the theme that runs through all of the work.
So Andrew's going to control the slides. OK, so we called this talk stitches leave and smelly old books.
And that that was Alex's idea, really.
But in a way, this kind of encapsulates perhaps the slightly playful mix of materials and so on that I've worked with.
And so if we can just have the first slide.
OK. And so this comes from a project that I did about 10 years ago now I was artist in residence at spun in East Yorkshire.
So it's a nature reserve on the Yorkshire coast, and this was a project where I spent time investigating exploring the landscape and then using
objects and materials from there to and to create work that recorded the place in some way.
And really, this was this was a chance for me to to really engage with objects and materials, particularly from the beach.
So obviously, it's on the coast and because it's a nature reserve, I couldn't use plant material or pick things,
but I could use all the stuff that was washed up on the beach or the structures that were part of the beach defences.
So I was making restaurants and making printing plates and calligraphy plates
and incorporating these kind of different sounds materials into mark making.
So I was working on textiles, and this was not long after I finished my textiles degree.
So what you see is a relatively conventional cloth piece, a long piece, but not marked in very conventional ways.
And so if we have the next slide. And so alongside working on cloth, I was working on paper.
And I mean, I think it's very appropriate in the context of the library here to actually to think of paper as a sort of textile.
And that's really the way that I approach it. Papers is anomalies in and textile, essentially.
And I think often textile artists or textile practitioners will often work with paper quite interchangeably with cloth.
So and that's definitely the way that I work. So I take making the marks, taking the marks that I was making and prints on cloth.
I can make those on paper, too. And then there's a very short step between taking a printed page and folding it into even the simplest book form.
So a concertina book is just taking a a very two dimensional marked surface and creating a three dimensional object.
And so and I think for me, there's definitely a kind of satisfaction in taking that to the surface and creating an object by making a book form,
even in the very simplest form. Next slide.
So being able to to also then show the these book forms in a way that they're not on the wall, they're not behind glass.
So obviously the convention with a print would be to have it framed on the wall.
There's something really nice about how a book form can be engaged with it can be held.
It becomes a journey. It's something tactile. It's it becomes a very different experience.
And that's something that I really kind of enjoyed exploring in this.
This project, particularly so some of these small concertina books were displayed on kind of those shelves,
and this is in the lighthouse that spread during the exhibition.
So they can be kind of there's something a bit more playful, perhaps, about how you can display these.
OK, so so that's taking a mark surface and creating a book as the artwork.
And of course, the book can be that the book can become the starting point.
Obviously, a lot of artists use sketchbooks and notebooks. And that's a kind of classic way of starting and gathering ideas and so on.
And this was a project guest on the pavement that was started off as part of the Sketchbook Project,
which is a project run by the Brooklyn Art Library in New York.
And it's a wonderful kind of a project that's open to anybody.
Anyone can sign up. And you get sent this little black book and then you fill it with whatever you want to,
and it goes back to the library in New York, and some of them also get taken around in their little mobile library.
So this this was the starting point for that project for me that year.
And so I was filling it with the same kind of marks and and textures and so on that I had been using a spoon.
But rather than beachcombing, I was pavement combing. So these are objects that I was picking up on the street near where I live.
And so that becomes an artwork. You know, the little book itself is kind of an artwork, and they these are often digitised.
So there is a version of this that you can look up on the website and you can see the digitised version.
So then the book has become a kind of digital artwork as well that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
And this also then sparked off a whole series of pieces to We Have the next slide.
I then developed a whole series of work initially on paper so long prints that were displayed as part of an arts trail exhibition in an empty shop.
And then again, another step on the next slide shows a textile piece that was again sparked off from that same starting point of that little book.
So this is a long, thin piece. It's about to meet a little bit more than two metres long called pavement,
and it's it's using those same marks and and textures and prints that was from that very first starting point in a little book you've seen.
And this piece this textile piece is now was acquired by the International Quill Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.
So, yeah, so that that's a kind of classic example of how a finished textile artwork has kind of taken a journey from the starting point in the book.
Next Slide. OK, so I suppose I wanted to illustrate also how a book can be a sculptural object.
So quite often I've used books as a as a form where it's it's they're not books that have text on the pages that they're not.
They don't have contents in that sense, but they're a sculpture.
Essentially, they're a form. And quite often I've worked with a kind of blank and this is something that I've done in textiles as well.
So I would perhaps weave myself a little blank sections of plain white linen and then use those to do various techniques on those,
and they become a finished piece.
And in a sense, these book units are white, plain stitched book, and it can be the same, so I've treated them the same way.
So this is an example where I took I was I was teaching in a place by the Blackwater estuary in Essex,
and so that workshop I took with me some blank little books that I'd made little Coptic
bound books and and experimented with what happens when you stick it in the estuarine mud.
And if so, there's something very experimental about putting this and putting these structures into different substances,
materials, places and that becomes a record of that place.
And then slowly watching that mud, dry and crack and so on.
And so it's kind of become this sculpture that embodies the experience of that place, kind of.
Similarly, this is a small book, which I've got with me, so I'll show you in person in a few minutes.
And so this was another of these blanks where I just made a simple Coptic bound book unit and this was just simply left out in the garden.
And I actually can't remember when I first left it out there and how long it was out there.
It just kind of got forgotten about. But during the time it was out, which was certainly months, if not in a year or two, it got whether it got wet.
It was kind of nibbled by snails and it's got algae on it.
And and the final piece is now kind of it's actually very fragile, but there's something now reminiscent of layers of rock.
Or, you know, it's it's taken on this real kind of embodiment of as being outside and being in a landscape and also in its current form.
It then kind of it's reminiscent of a small Mike Bourque, which again,
I've got with me and I'll show you in a few minutes and which is something an
object that I've had for a long time and is a is a naturally occurring object.
So and I think again, this is an example of where as an artist, we we try things out,
we experiment and we don't necessarily know where it's going or what what its aim is aimed at.
It's just exploring and, you know, kind of being curious about the world and what happens when you do this and kind of slide.
OK, so this is an example, again of a body of work that was sparked by just asking myself a simple question.
And so walking in the woods having donned a cardigan hole in a cardigan the night before and I picked up a leaf with a hole in it?
All right. Well, that needs donning. And I know not everybody would go home and then actually try and do that.
But these are the kind of things that kind of get me and get me excited.
So I did go home and tried to don the Leaf and turns out it's quite difficult.
But but then started to explore different leaves as materials.
And I think again,
this is part of this kind of thread that runs through my work is engaging with the materials that I find around me and exploring those.
And by working with materials, you learn what their boundaries are, what the properties are and and just get to know them.
And there's a there's a real kind of beauty in that engagement with materials.
So stitching the leaves, then if we have the next slide became something that I then each time I tried a different lace,
it would kind of lead onto, well, what I would try with this leaf or what each each type of leaf I tried, perhaps, and not all of them worked.
Some of them. Some of them were complete disasters.
But that's how you learn and and figuring out how to use at what stage to use each different type of leaf.
Some of them were better to work with when they were fresh, some when they were dried and some in between.
And so my confidence and an experience grew with these different materials.
And then if we have the next one, this moved on to then working three dimensionally with these materials and and eventually some some little
experimental book forms that this was with eucalyptus leaves and there's a eucalyptus tree at the end of my street.
And that became a real focus for a lot of these experiments because they were particularly nice to work with.
So I was intrigued to think, well, if I constituent with slapped could, I could.
Could I make a book of leaves? And of course, this the the the kind of analogy of the leaves of a book.
So it was it was an obvious one to try and I think as another image.
Hautement, OK, so the Leaf books then became there was one with oak leaves and there was one with sage leaves.
And yeah, so it was all part of that experimented with the materials.
So and then of course, I was would also explore other materials.
So this is an example of working with conquered shell and kind.
I've worked with other similar sounds, natural objects.
And by and again, by engaging with the materials these objects, I find a way that works or don't.
And again, that's all part of the learning and develop techniques and every every type of material is going to be different.
But there's something really satisfying about finding a way of engaging with with these different materials.
And then as you're working with them, just getting spending time with the material and getting to know that the properties and the individual,
each each individual item is different to work with.
And I got to know it as I work with it. OK.
OK, so I wanted to tell you a little bit about the project that I did a few years ago, up in Newcastle at the Newcastle City Library.
So again, this was a kind of residency project.
It was part of an Arts Council funded professional development programme for artists in the North East.
And I was one of the lead artists invited to make work, so we were invited to respond to the oversized book collection in the library.
And I love these kind of the jargon that goes with this.
So this this this sign kind of encapsulates that, really.
So basically, it was an invitation to just respond creatively to to whatever aspect of the collection I wanted to and.
So the the book that really struck me having visited and and and kept quite an open mind about what I was going to explore and from this collection,
this was the particular book that really struck me.
So the thing that was intriguing about this to me was that it was, you can see it's tied up with string.
It was so falling apart and it lost its spine that the the library tied up a string, so to stop it falling apart even more.
And in many ways, this was this stopped me getting to worried about what the book was about.
And I could really just focus on the book as an object.
And I was so intrigued by its its textures and its and its state, its kind of quite dilapidated state.
And that was what I then kind of explored in the work that I developed.
So the project involved kind of a period of being in residence, working in the library.
And so I was working with discarded papers, so I created a piece of work that was partly with discarded library paper,
some discarded books, newspapers, magazines and and partly with with new paper as well.
And so I was was creating a piece that that really kind of encapsulated some of the different textures and elements that were in that original book.
So this is an image of a kind of working through those pages and and dividing things into sections that I could then make little book units with.
And then this is part of the the final final piece, so and again, I've got this with me, so I can I can talk through some of it in a moment.
So this piece was it's called unknown book because to me, this book was was unknown.
I don't know what it was about. I have my suspicions. But in a sense, that was quite it was kind of easier not to know, really.
And it was a one of six units that I made made up of lots of different little sections.
And these were then displayed and they on the library shelves.
I think the next slide shows that.
And so during the exhibition, the artworks were displayed around the library and this was it was literally just amongst the normal books.
And there was something really nice about that, that it was it wasn't in a gallery.
It wasn't separated, it was in amongst the books.
And anybody visiting the library might happen upon it, or they might not even really notice it was there.
But there was something kind of, you know, again, quite playful about how it might be might be found.
OK. So just just to move on to some kind of more current work,
so I currently use my allotment thought as a source of materials and inspiration for my work.
So this is involved over the last four years.
Over the four years, I've had the plot exploring all sorts of different materials available there.
So I've been making inks from the plants that are available, some of which you see here.
So that that's kind of partly an exercise in exploring those the potential of what's there,
but also in kind of mapping and and using those things to draw with.
I think the next slide shows that again, so drawing some of the other objects that might be found there.
So these are little ceramic fragments that get dug up. And then the drawing at the bottom is and using the inks I've made.
And so there's a there's a real kind of meaning I sent in and using the things
that have been I've made from the plot to draw other things from the plot.
And next slide and another sort of series of experiments which resulted in an artwork that was book based, was this called 52 Weeks?
So this was taken making a little book for one,
one a week for a year and using botanical contact printing to transfer pigment from the plants onto the pages of these little books.
And so these were then displayed as a kind of calendar of the whole year and a sort of record of that have not yet in time.
And here you can see them displayed, so and I think those are these and it kind of reflects the way that I've displayed them.
They were pinned up with entomology pins and there's something almost kind of natural history collection kind of referenced in there as well.
So you know that they're almost like butterflies with the way that the pages sit there and look.
And then I think we're just going to get just to kind of finish off the slide.
So I've worked a lot with plant fibres that are on the plot. So I've been growing flax and processing that and also using nettle that grows there.
But I'm increasingly interested in some of the what the weeds particularly.
And this is dandelion stems, which have been twisted into cord edge and then woven.
And I'm becoming quite obsessed now with with all the possibilities that I can do with with these, these different plant fibres that I've gathered.
And I think that's one more slide yet another.
So again,
it's I'm using using the dandelions braided and then that they're stitched together again with dandelion stems and they're surprisingly strong.
And so I've made this kind of strip cloth and and and again, this is a very much kind of ongoing and lives kind of series of work.
Really think that's the last slide might be wrong?
Yeah. OK. So and so I can show you some of the objects we've got next to me here and.
The switch on today, the other camera. Right.
Okay, so I've got the you should see my hands.
I've got the one of the units of unknown book here, and I just wanted to to show a little bit more about about this.
So obviously these were shown sitting upright on the library shelves and they had they
had perspex over the top or acrylic to to protect them from the library goers hands.
But these do actually kind of come up, come out. So the different sections chase.
I just think that. And you can say so this is an example of one of the the book units that was made from
a deconstructed book that had been discarded by the library for whatever reason,
and which I then deconstructed and reconstructed into a stitched, Coptic bound book form.
And again, as I said before,
there's something so three dimensional about the possibilities of a book form like this and the way that it moves and so on,
which which I just find really attractive. And so that's one of the units.
There are units made from all sorts of different bits of discarded papers and so on, including also a bound piece.
This is newspaper sections that were just found. So reflecting the fact that the book the original inspiration book was just bound up with string.
And so that is one of the units.
Another section here again, a little bit more playful, which is a I don't know how well you can see that,
but again, it's Coptic bound, stitched tiny little book sections and the movement.
And it is just, you know, obviously something very kind of natural and almost like a slinky or something that could be could be played with.
So one of the things about this, this sort of section, this group of units,
and I think in a way this is reflected in the way that I like to show work is that it's made up of units that could be rearranged again.
There's something playful. I know I keep saying that word, but there's something about how you could, you know, you could move things around.
You can you can take sections out and and and arrange them in different ways.
So that's something that I quite like to do is just not present.
And so I've got the the little garden book that it's as I said, it's very fragile and you can just see the where the stitching was.
But the sections that have been kind of eaten away there and it's it's nice and kind of crusty and so on, and it feels almost like stone.
It's it's really kind of solid. And this, in a way, getting this back out to show in this part, the talk reminded me of this little Miche book.
So this is this is naturally occurring mineral, the mineral mica.
And this is a piece of a little section that I was given that was found by when when I was walking as a child with family and some family friends.
And it's one of those things that I've just always kept and, you know, almost forgot I had it.
But getting this book out just reminded me of it, and I'm really pleased I managed to find it and bring it along because it just it again.
It's this making links, and I think as an artist,
you're constantly making links back to other things and things remind you of things and spark of other little ideas.
And this is an example of that. And who knows where this might then kind of go next?
You know that. Yeah. Watch this space. And so I'll just put those to one side and move some of the debris.
And I've got again one of the examples of those of the 52 weeks.
So this this is one week in that this is from, I think, sometime autumnal.
Yeah, it's from. November. And so it just it just so that you can save it closer to the kind of leaf prints that are on these.
And they are they are quite experimental, you know, you never know quite what you're going to get with these processes.
And again, that that is again, a theme that runs through the way that I work.
It's very much process led. It's about kind of asking a question,
trying something out and then just see what happens rather than kind of a specifically designed outcome since that one.
And I did bring a stitch leaf because Alice asked me to.
This is this is a recent one, actually, because I was putting some samples together for a book.
And so this was a very recent piece. And and so it's it's a great series of little leaves that that a sycamore little stack of
sycamore leaves and they've got this kind of series of running stitches through them.
So this one's not a book, but it's kind of related, really.
And I've also brought one of my little rusty metal pieces, so I've worked a lot with rusty metal,
and I think this is probably something that will come back to in the discussion. But this is an example where I am.
So I've woven a textile strip that's then can encapsulated in the within this found metal object.
This is a piece that was found on a beach, and I love the kind of three dimensional little box and then the the piece of fabric
that I've always and has been been put in there and then it's been left in seawater
so that it so that it specifically stains the fabric and so on that I've made and
that I I've done a whole series of of works that that use that kind of process.
And then just lastly,
I brought I brought one of these dandelion braids just to just to show really how kind of strong and flexible this this is, really.
And so it's I think it's really nice to actually see it handled because, you know,
you can say something on a on a on a static picture, and it doesn't necessarily tell you very much about the properties.
But when you see it, how flexible and strong it is, then it really tells a different story.
Can. Wow. Thank you so much.
That was incredible, and thank you so much for bringing you the objects.
I think that was really amazing to kind of after your presentation to see the scale because I think
that's a question I'd quite like to ask to start off with just with the unknown book project I.
When you got that, your bag was quite surprised by the scale because the box itself is quite large for all.
The individual elements are really small, and you were saying that that project was responding to the like the the larger box.
Yeah. So kind of can you talk a little bit about why you've chosen small things?
Yeah. And so I think one of the considerations in starting that project particularly was this is all about oversized votes.
But you could kind of look at that in different ways.
You know, you could you could create something on a large scale or you could look at this kind of play between small and large scale and in a way,
so that's just one of 16 units. So the piece itself was was quite large scale.
The individual unit was kind of a similar size to some of the books in the the oversized book collection.
But.
But by making it out of little tiny units and kind of accumulating the bigger piece, I mean, in a way, it's just it's a way that I'm comfortable work.
I like the the the tactile ness of working on a small scale.
It's manageable. You can you can kind of create sections and see it amassing.
And there's something just very practical about that, actually.
And it's very portable. So actually, I worked on a lot of those little sections in various different places.
And you know, they can be they can be transferred between the studio and home and wherever else.
So there's a whole mix of kind of reasons, really.
But but I mean, the main thing with that particular project was that the book that I was using as inspiration was it was split.
It had the sections it had. The spine was split into sections and it had then obviously the binding kind of created this grid.
So to have this divided grid in which my little sections would set just completely forget it, they the original book.
So yeah, so that that's yeah, that's how it came about. I think that's actually wonderful.
So there are six units you say of the Perspex. Yeah.
Wow. Because when I read up about that project, yeah, I just didn't get a grasp of the scale because how many individual small bindings,
although I've been there, probably about 150 separate little units in there.
Yeah, absolutely amazing. I particularly love the really long sculpted bound one.
Yeah, I should come back to that and see how long you could actually make it.
You could just go on and on. I might ask you another question, but one of the other things you brought in.
So I did ask you to bring in, in particular the the small book, which you left outside.
Yeah, because as a conservator. So we're talking to you from a library and I'm a book conservator working on a conservation department.
Just a lot of our work is, well, purpose.
So my work is to kind of preserve the collections for future, for future readers.
But I see in your work a lot of kind of deliberate part of your process is allowing things to decay,
to change natural processes to occur with the rust, things like that.
I was wondering kind of if you could talk a bit more about kind of that process and why you're drawn to allowing that happen?
And then also a little bit about how you respond to kind of the perspective like this perspective of kind of like.
When an object comes in within like we want to preserve and it's safe,
obviously these are kind of things that are very organic and changing, and part of your process was letting it change and observing that.
I'm not sure if that's a question, but if you could comment on this, it is quite low in that.
And so I mean, for me, using natural processes is a that that's a it's an ethical considerations.
So so my work is I hope that my practise or I aim to make my practise as sustainable as possible and some may using natural processes is key to that.
And natural materials and I'm part of the the the more recent move to use the materials from my
allotment was about exploring self-sufficiency in materials as a as an environmental statement,
if you like or just and just to be making my practise as as responsible as possible.
And so it, you know, it makes sense to be using what's around me and and and working with those natural cycles and so on,
and that just feels right and exciting. And the process of change, I mean, I suppose I I tend I put things, I allow things to change.
But then I I perhaps make a decision at what point it's finished or at what point I stop that change.
So I mean, with that, the pace that that was the little book that was left out in the garden.
I mean, I could have left it out there to just completely eventually disintegrate.
But I suppose at some point I perhaps rediscovered it and thought,
I'll bring it inside now and then on drying out it then almost becomes a finished piece.
Depends what you mean by finished. And you know what the intention was to start with.
It was just an experiment, really. But then you can explore it in different ways.
So I think I mean, as I said, my work is process led.
So so I'm just I'm allowing these processes to happen and I'm intrigued by watching that happen and and so on.
And I realised that my work is probably conservationists nightmare.
But but in a sense, you know, that's only a very recent realisation because I'm not making these pieces with the
expectation that they would go into a collection and they needed to be kept the same.
People often ask me about the work and whether, you know, particularly the leaf pieces or working with these materials.
I say, well, well, are they not just going to disintegrate?
And yes, if I left them outside to get wet, they would they would break down fairly quickly.
But if they're brought inside, unless they're kept dry and so on, actually, they're long, you know, they're quite long lived.
And yes, they will keep changing. And that's going to depend on light levels and all sorts of things.
But that doesn't necessarily worry me.
And partly, I think, you know, there's so much in this world that is it's there's too much stuff in the world and there's almost an arrogance,
perhaps to creating something and then expecting that it will stay the same
forever because that's where we've got into the mess we have environmentally so.
So for me to make work that actually, I mean, some of it might outlive me, but to look kind of further beyond that just seems unsustainable.
And then, of course, being able to photograph things and and, you know, like a lot of people working with, you know,
very ephemeral things, then the photographs becomes the artwork and there are, you know, there are different ways of of recording that.
I mean, all of the projects, all of the sort of big projects I've done,
I've I've published self-published books about those and that becomes almost becomes the record of it.
And, you know, in a way of sharing the work widely. And so, yeah, definitely.
Well, thank you for that. That was, yeah, amazing. I quite like to also go back to textiles as well.
That's obviously textiles in libraries. And you've got this beautiful the down to this dandelion one, isn't it?
Of the. I wonder if he could use that.
You said that you're really led by the processes and you were investigating different weeds and things like that.
Do you kind of is possibly your fascination with weeds and kind of remaking the cottage and making them into these bigger pieces of art?
Do you feel that transforms them kind of like elevates them from this kind of.
A comment what they're saying is, but what is a weed,
why do we call certain plants weeds where it can become something really beautiful and strong and useful?
Is that something that? Yeah. I mean, so the the classification of a weed is something that's growing.
It is not, and it's growing in the wrong place.
That's not quite the right word, but so anything essentially could be become a weed.
If it's depending on where it's growing and I think, yeah,
definitely there is a there's a kind of there's something really interesting about taking a very humble plant and something that's that is sort of,
you know, there's a bit of a kind of love hate relationship with with some of these things.
I've been working a lot with behind weed as well.
I mean, it's the bane of my life on the allotment, but it's really strong and I'm finding ways to work with it that are really satisfying.
And so there's something and, you know, I don't even have to I don't have to try to cultivate this bunch of it around.
So, you know, I I'm quite intrigued by using these kind of unconventional things.
And of course, not all of them is, you know, there are some things that I might try. And then I find out, Well, actually, it's not.
It's not so satisfying. It's not so strong, whatever. So I wouldn't go back to them.
And it just happens that actually quite a lot of the things that are abundant, so the nettles,
the bind, weed, the dandelions, you know, these are these are abundant plants in around here.
And and so to be able to make use of those, I mean, I'm finding that the dandelion.
It's amazing. It's it's got this beautiful sheen. It's it's strong.
It's the colour variations in a beautiful.
It's I'm constantly being surprised by it and having discovered that it's kind of
pleasant to work with and then really kind of exploring what the possibilities are.
And and I suppose, like I've described without the other projects with things like working with the leaves attend, you know, once I've asked my.
Itself a question it then leads on to other questions and the there.
It is just a kind of organic process, really in finding new ways to use it.
And as as the as the technique kind of builds up and so on and something I found quite fascinating following on Instagram,
you flex growing on your allotment.
I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about that process and how have you successfully kind of completed that process?
Have you managed to make five textile fibres from it? And because it's quite an intensive process, and it's so it's it's just long winded, really.
So, so growing the flux is not difficult and it's gorgeous.
And you know, it's worth growing it just for the beautiful blue flowers.
And then there's a whole series of processes you have to go through to get it to a spinner boll weevil fibre.
And you have done that a number of on a number of different years now.
And so I learnt the basics of that from a weaver, Susie Gillespie, who who similarly grows her own flax to use in her work.
And and then each year I've done it, I've learnt a little bit more and it's different.
You know, again, it's this this kind of appreciation of the of the cycles, but also the detail of how things are at every season.
And it's going to be different because of the slightly different weather conditions or the way that you that you read it,
which is one of the things you have to do. So and just again,
it's it's that engagement with with the material and to be able to take it from seed to then kind of go through all those processes.
It means that, you know,
even this the smallest bowl of sponge fibre becomes this ready to make precious thing because I know what work and time has gone into.
That certainly makes you appreciate your clothing when you know when you when you think about how
certainly in the past people would have been having to process to provide these fibres themselves.
I mean, I'm certainly not creating and I'm not this level where I'm creating a spendable fibre for something that I might wear.
But to be honest, that actually doesn't interest me as much as being more experimental with it.
But you know, there are people, there are people I know who who are doing that, and it was an amazing project.
Yeah, there are really exciting. And also to be able to to re-engage.
I mean, we we we've lost our commercial linen industry in this country, but there are people now who are rediscovering that and re-establishing it.
And I just think that's such an exciting and right thing to be doing.
Fantastic. Just looking at the time, I wonder, Andrew is now a good time to start taking some other questions.
Yes, you've had lots of questions. Oh dear. Some of them you've already answered.
I just can't see you. I don't think we're going to get to the wall, right?
But I'm going to pick out a few representative ones.
And if we can start with one that's coming from when Elizabeth comes, she's saying, I'm wondering in what ways.
But these rather contemplative Book of Weeks reminds me of a mediaeval book about what is the process contemplative?
I would say yes. I mean, they the processes, the ideas are repetitive.
They're slow. But but I'm not using those terms in a derogatory way at all, I think.
These come through my textiles training, I think if you're going to work and constructed textiles,
you're going to have appreciation of repetitive processes. Otherwise, you wouldn't choose it as a medium.
And yes, there's something. I mean, artists talk about the state of flow that you get into when you're working, when you're making.
And that's definitely there's something really lovely about being immersed in in processes.
I mean, of course, you have to get to a stage of learning to manage any particular material before you,
which is really can be really frustrating and certainly doesn't feel contemplative or meditative or anything like that.
But once you've got a confidence on a scale with with any particular process or material, then yes, definitely.
There's something really. Yeah, something restorative may be immersive, rewarding in that.
And again, as I've probably already said that, that that engagement with material, I'm you're,
you know, I'm very aware of the touch, the feel of the material that I'm working with.
And you're constantly kind of, you know, if I'm making if I'm braiding dandelions and I'm I'm constantly aware of those nuances of,
you know, the thickness, the way that the materials drying and whether it's, you know, still flexible enough.
There's all of this kind of detail going on.
So yes, it's repetitive and and but but it's there's a kind of there's a there's a richness to that experience with,
you know, noticing all of those times that I really relish, I suppose.
Thank you. And just to follow up with we've got lots of questions, very particular questions about technique and some of which has come in from,
you know, planchette asking What is your technique when stitching on natural materials?
Do you plan to design the whole first? Yes.
Well, yeah, it depends. So it depends on the material. I mean, as I said before, I depend.
I'm cautious using the word design because yes, I do plan what I'm going to do.
But but there's a lot that I don't want as well.
So whereas a lot of artists might be working towards a design, I don't feel that that's actually what I'm doing a lot of the time.
So with something like working with leaves, then you know, I'm stitching as I'm going.
I'm often kind of joining edges or I'm following a line or, you know, there's there's something,
there's a kind of rhythm there that that gives me something a rule to follow something like, so I'm wearing.
You won't be able to say it, but I'm wearing a limpet limpet that's been stitched into and woven into,
and I have to because I have to use a drill for that.
Then, of course, I have to kind of plan that I have to, you know, there's a technique that I found it may not be the right the best way,
but it works for me of drilling the holes that I then need to be able to stitch into it and and so on.
So. So yeah, there's a kind of there is there is some planning and depending on the material, some materials.
Yes, I would make calls first and others are made as part of that process and yet depends.
Thank you. And just to say that. I'm going to ask the next question, but then repeat it before.
OK, you don't mean to. So this is coming from Pope Willow in letting time keep Latin poetry, weaving and textile metaphor for the one person.
Could you say more about your thoughts on the relationship between books and text?
OK. Do you want to repeat, not make a repeat, I can remember it,
so I'm being asked about making the link between text and textiles, and it's, you know, that's a link that's been made hugely.
And I mean, of course, the word textile, text and textile.
You know, there's a link between the words, the names and and often we have we talk about threads running through stories and all sorts of things.
There are so many links with a text and writing and textiles.
So I mean. I mean, it's not necessarily something that I'm particularly conscious of or kind of using in my work,
but I think I think if you work in textiles and particularly weave,
I mean that because because we've is because I have done quite a lot of weaving and and a lot of the work that I do incorporates cooperates with,
but in a very simple form.
You know, it's just it's plain weave and there's nothing I'm not weaving designs, I'm just weaving to construct a surface, essentially.
And really, that I think is where the the biggest analogy lies, really.
I'm not sure if I can say any more than that, really. But but yeah, I mean, it's it's a link.
It's it's a well known link. Yeah. And to follow up on that.
OK, well, where this is all coming from, it's a lovely question. Your exploration of natural materials is captivating.
How has your background in physical geography informs your practise as a Texan?
OK, so I'm being asked how my background in geography affects my practise.
So I did a geography degree, physical geography degree, first time round,
and then I worked in nature conservation for a few years before retraining in textiles.
And I definitely feel that that that environmental training and but also just kind of passion.
I mean, it's something I grew up with being passionate about,
about the natural world and that but that understanding of landscape and landscape processes
and how the landscape changes and how material has moved around in the landscape.
All of that stuff, I feel, really underpins the way that I work now.
I mean, there's that kind of, I suppose there's that sort of mix of science and art,
and sometimes it's hard to say where the where one stops and the next again is because I mean,
I do I do often kind of analyse things in quite a scientific way.
In some ways, I quite like kind of cataloguing things and kind of identifying things I love.
I love an identification book, you know, to be able to kind of list the things that that are there.
So, so yeah, it definitely it definitely underpins the way that I work.
But I think particularly just in that kind of passion for working in a with a with a smaller footprint as possible.
And I mean, I have this sort of slight flashback to when I was still working in nature conservation
and I was surveying for water bottles up on the Yorkshire Moors somewhere and and I
can remember a particular occasion getting really distracted by how beautiful the mosses
were and kind of wanting to stop and and photograph or even draw those and think,
you know, I must just keep looking for the water, all the trains.
And but I suppose it's just that those those different things have always been there for me,
and I've always enjoyed the artistic side of engaging with the natural world, but also enjoy the scientific kind of understanding of it as well.
And they just go hand in hand, really. Thank you.
I think we have time for one more one more question. Thank you.
And this is a question that's coming as a person who is curious about the possibilities of materials.
This is great question. How did you condense the many options or ideas you focus?
Oh, okay. Yeah, this is a good one. I'm being asked with all the possibilities of materials how I can condense that into a focussed project.
And and in a way, this is something I grapple with all the time. You know, we're constantly surrounded by ideas and and interests, and things are not.
I mean, I don't know whether non artists experience that kind of excitement about the world.
But but I'm sure that a lot of artists do that that, you know, you could constantly being drawn by drawn down different avenues.
And sometimes you have to just put the blinkers on and just think, No, I can't.
I can't think about that because I've got to focus on this.
I mean, I think I think certainly with the they are using the allotment as a focus has really helped to exactly that.
Give me a focus because it's it's limited. They it's limited me to this little piece of land and it's it's limited me to what's there.
And of course, there are always other possibilities I could be exploring. But but by actually remembering, yes, I've got this little boundary here.
And and that's quite a useful thing. I think it's it's always useful and this is something that I often talk to students about in workshops.
Give yourself a little set of rules, because otherwise, how do you ever kind of figure out where you what you're going to do?
The possibilities are endless, you know, the embarrassment of riches, of ideas and possibilities.
And I think also this is the case with materials people get. I think particularly textiles, people get really distracted by all the latest,
the latest kind of new fangled fabric or whatever and and then never actually really explore something in depth.
So, so certainly for me, the allotment has provided that and is, you know, very much an ongoing and hopefully long term focus.
And yes, I can step outside of that when I choose to to work in slightly different ways.
But but it but it always comes back to that and I can kind of use that.
So, yeah, I think definitely thinkers when they're when they needed a useful, amazing thank you.
And I guess just to finish off class one quick last question, just about so is kind of what are you working on at the moment?
Is the dandelion kind of core? Is that where your kind of your focus is at the moment?
Yeah, dandelions. And then a mind reader, I quite I'm kind of immersed in.
I mean, I've actually had hardly any studio time over the last few months because I've been so busy teaching all
the things that were cancelled during COVID have been kind of shoehorned into really the last few months.
So I hardly had any studio time. But just this week I got back to the dandelions and I've got all of this year's crop sitting
scattered around my daughter's bedroom in various states of as of yet waiting to be worked with.
And so for me, winter is a time for making because the summer is often, you know, apart from the teaching and so on.
It's a busy time for gathering and different. I mean, we haven't really touched on that kind of cycle of the seasons, but that's really key.
So there are periods of of obviously nurturing things and gathering things, drying them and then storing them.
And then when Theresa is a good time to be in the studio and making and I've got
various exhibitions early next year that I'm now making madly making things feel.
So, yeah, dandelions are where I'm going to base the next few weeks.
Well, thank you so much. I think that's a lovely point to finish on.
Thank you so much to Andrew and to all of you all for joining us today and my special thank you to Alice
for joining us here at the body and for coming down to Oxford and for bringing your amazing objects.
It's been an absolute treat to see them in real life and to share them with you all.
I hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have and yes, that this is being recorded, so you'll be able to catch up again if you want.
And next talk in this series will be in January after the festive break, so hopefully some of you'll be able to join us then.
But for now, thank you so much and have a lovely evening.