Circles and Spirals: Round and round we go

Stitched spirals; work in progress

My last couple of posts have been going into a bit more depth about my work; how it's created and some of the reasons and meanings behind it. Continuing that theme this post is vaguely about recurring motifs, specifically circles. Throughout human history and across cultures there are certain images, ideas and motifs that regularly recur, albeit in different forms. One example is spirals which are found decorating the artefacts of many civilisations across the millennia. The spiral is frequently seen as a symbol of life and evolution, I like this symbolism and find I can relate it to my own life and experiences.

Stitched limpet shell sample, Westray 2017

Stitched limpet shell sample, Westray 2017

Stitched limpet shell sample, Westray 2017

I've always been drawn (literally and metaphorically) to circles and spirals. At school my books were covered in spiralling patterns, expanding to fill every available space. These shapes and forms have continued to appear in my doodles, drawings and textile work sometimes as background pattern, sometimes as the form of the work itself, such as my 'nests.'

Sketchbook page, Westray 2017

Sketchbook page, Westray 2017

Sketchbook page, Westray 2017

Sketchbook page, Orkney 2017

When we were away in Orkney earlier this year we visited several museums and I found myself repeatedly drawn most towards the Pictish artefacts and some of the earlier Viking pieces. One of the recurring motifs was small circles which appeared on all sorts of artefacts including pots and combs. Similarly the carved stones and rocks with circular and spiralling patterns intrigued me. There are many good examples in Orkney although they are also found across Britain.

Fly to the Sky (Dusk)
Stitched textile banner 2017

Stitched spirals; work in progress

In my current work these spirals and circles continue to make an appearance. I've been working a lot on hand stitched banners; small scale textile pieces composed of hand dyed fabrics, threads and feathers. These banners are held together with meandering, often spiralling lines of running stitch which represent our journeys, both physical journeys and emotional/spiritual journeys.

Fly me to the Sky
Cyanotype and hand embroidery on cotton 2017

Circles to the Sky
Pen on paper 2017

Sky Feather Collar; work in progress.

Continuing with the feather theme I've also been working on a series of drawings and textile pieces based around feathers in circular formations which relate to collars and capes. The druids, amongst others, believed that birds had a direct connection to the heavens and the spirit world and wore capes and cloaks made from feathers in order to channel the birds spirit and to be able to transcend to the heavens. This is something I've been exploring in various ways and has led to some of the pieces I'm most pleased with.

Felted Nests, 2017

Felted Nests, 2017

Felted Nests, 2017

I've also been working on small felted vessels, nest-like forms that I want to explore further. I have an exhibition opening at Farfield Mill on 5th October which I'm really excited about but which has meant a certain amount of my focus has been on completing pieces and getting organised rather than exploring new ideas. Once the show is up I'm looking forward to developing the felted nests a bit further and possibly working more with hand made paper.

Home (and the benefits of talking it through)

Nests, 2014

As I keep saying, this year I am focusing on getting back to my own personal artistic practice and developing my work. To this end I have been making more time to spend in my studio and I have been entering competitions and answering calls for entries for quite a range of exhibitions and opportunities.

Nest/sphere drawings

One recent call for submissions that I made a piece of work for was from Gallery 202 for an on-line exhibition entitled 'Home.' (The resulting gallery is really interesting. There is a wide range of responses and media and some of the pieces are great, I'm enjoying working my way through and exploring other people's art works.)  The title seemed to fit well for an idea I've had buzzing round my head for some time based on nests. One of my favourite things to draw when I get stuck are these spiralling, sphere nest like shapes. I've been wanting to create them in various forms for a while and the recent felt making workshops I'd been running had also pushed them to the front of my mind.

The start of the larger nest

Finishing the smaller nest

I did not have much time as I saw the call quite late so I decided to crochet the nests from wool and then felt them. This was a process I wanted to experiment a bit more with anyway so it seemed like an ideal opportunity. The smaller nest is crocheted from a 100% wool yarn whereas the larger one is about 80% wool so it has not created quite such a dense fabric when felted. This allows a little more stitch definition, showing the original process.

Detail before felting

Detail after felting

Small felted nest

My original plan had been to crochet the nests, felt them and then either colour the insides or line them in some way. I would then arrange them, in a suitably artistic fashion of course, and that would form my piece of work. However, when I was speaking to my partner about it he suggested adding sticks. I must confess that my first instinct was to reject his idea out of hand, however, I listened and I began to warm to the idea (after a good argument about WHY I should add sticks.) I went away and experimented with driftwood, twigs and bamboo sticks until I found an arrangement that I thought worked. I liked the way the straight, regular lines of the sticks (which I painted black) contrasted and defined the nests. They made me think of architecture and how spaces define us, make us behave or feel in certain ways; how home suggests safety, softness and warmth (as textiles and particularly felt does) yet the materials that make the home (brick, concrete, tile, timber) are not often associated with these things.

Nests (detail)

Nests (detail)

I also like that it's not something I would ever have come up with myself. Sometimes it can be quite isolating working away on your art (tiny violin) and I think it's good to step outside of your bubble, get some input from others and try something different. It won't always work out but you never know where a conversation might lead.