A question asked

Recently someone asked me about the direction of my practice, how and why it was that I had moved away from working with historical textiles to work with ideas around landscape and whether I planned to ever go back to this. A timely question I thought, and one that raises plenty more.

When I think about the different directions my practice has taken through my short career so far it makes me feel fickle. I dare say I have a short attention span. But perhaps in another way I am just interested in a lot of different things, and those are the things that make me, me.

So Visible Mending just finished in the War exhibition, I have the Prince's Shirt research project ongoing and I had a wonderful day on Sunday at the Antique Textile Fair in Manchester; my passions for historical textile are certainly still strong. On the other hand my interests in walking, observation landscape and sense of place are also constant. My compass needle is constantly changing; my interests change from day to day, I do not have a single way of working, a particular process or material that defines my practice.

So I don't really know what defines my work, other than it is mine. But in responding quickly to the question I realised something crucial, the thing that is most important is that I respond to a project or idea with integrity and honesty.

Here are some little experiments with from the studio today.