Forces of Nature

I participated in an installation Ai no Keshiki (Indigo Views) which is soon to be part of an exhibition called “Forces of Nature ” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery from October 16, 2020 to June 27, 2021!!(https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/invitational-2020)At the special exhibition “FORCES OF NATURE: Renwick Invitational 2020 ” where Ai no Keshiki (Indigo Views) will be exhibited, four invited artists selected from all over the world will approach the long history of art’s engagement with the natural world through unconventional and highly personal perspectives. Roland Ricketts, one of the invited artists, supervises Indigo Art “Ai no Keshiki”

Stroudwater Canal Wanderings

This is the upper part of the hanging , it shows three panels linked by red wool hanging from a tangled skein of the same red wool wrapped around a clothes hanger.
There are many interesting images in the Stroud Navigation Canal archive but these are the ones that particularly called out to me and I made work in response to weaving in my personal exploration of the psychogeography of the canal. My wandering is through time as well as space.
A very old map of the canal joining the River Severn. The outline of abundant willows along a canal bank in the nineteenth century which I know do not exist now. My contemporary print showing the wild water being tamed and used by the creation of the locks. A eighteenth century document working out the flow of water from the river into the proposed canal. The names of the locks in contemporary fonts. A handwritten document dated 1779.
Here are the lower panels and part of the tail which includes the names of some local water sources. A holed stone at the very end of the strand of red wool which links the piece together. The red wool signifies many things, the red thread of life, blood and the famous Stroud red cloth. The naturally holed stone worn away by the action of water over time weighs down and anchors the piece like the end weight of a wool spindle. Holed stones are also called hag stones and when hung from a red thread they make a magic charm of protection and good luck in old folklore.