Friday, March 12, 2010

Textile Art Forum Update




Day 1 of Textile Art Forum residential at Ballyduggan Cottages
The theme for the current series of work by the Textile Art Forum is 'deconstruct/reconstruct'.

My current work is based on the dry stone walls in the West of Ireland. I love these temporary-looking structures which can be easily dismantled and rebuilt. Yet they have stood for years, keeping livestock contained in the fields, marking boundaries between farms, providing habitats for native plants and animals, etc. I like the fact that the these walls were built with the stones found in the fields when they were clearing the land for farming. It was a practical 'make-do and mend' solution to use the materials available on site to build walls.
As well as my contemporary wall-hangings I'm also 'recycling' scraps of fabrics into a colourful quilt. Most of these fabrics are cut from old clothing or left over from other projects so in the spirit of 'make-do and mend' I am making something new.
We discussed eachother's completed pieces and our work in progress and confirmed our plans for the collection of work for 'Make it New' our exhibition which opens at the Lakeland Quilt Festival, Ballyjamesduff Museum, Cavan in September 2010.

With our initial discussions completed and following a lovely shared lunch....it was time to take a walk down Lake Road to see my surroundings. I photographed my walk and was inspired by the light of the setting sun through bare branches, the reflections of the swans in the lake and the sight of colourful boats through the rushes.

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