Core Samples

Hand-dyed wool + silk fibres, various natural dyed and upcycled fabrics (wool, silk, cotton), paper, barkcloth, threads, armature (pvc, wood, waxed linen). Natural-dyeing, wet felting, hand stitching. As a child, my father’s work in soil science introduced me to core samples, and my fascination with these cylindrical sections, extracted by drilling into substances like clay, soil, and other loamy matter continues to this day. Layered capsules, a snapshot of, and laying bare, time in place. In similar fashion, the notion of time in art represents a measurement of change, a fragment of a given duration, a succession, a passage. Since the mid-1980s I have been captivated by the process of transforming wool and other fibres into felt, a textile and sculptural form to call my own. Throughout the years, my sense of curiosity and excitement when making felt is undiminished. Insights about the significance of my materials have refined my focus and clarified the importance of the very process of making. What matters is an intentional engagement, and the interplay of materials, process, time, place, ideas. Layered capsules by any other name, signifying meaning, context, and belonging.