PROJECT OF THE WEEK

this mortal coil 

WARNING CRAFT CONFESSION ALERT! Regular readers will know that last year I attended a basket making workshop at Harvest Textiles with MaryannTalia-Pau that pretty much single handedly re-kindled my textile practice, a practice which had forlornly lain dormant and discarded for almost a decade. I'd got to a point where I'd spent so much time reporting on other peoples work I'd literally forgotten that I actually made stuff myself, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I think it's hard sometimes to maintain momentum as a practitioner when life, work, relationships, budgets, health and family all do their best to impact on our ability to regularly make work. 

So it's been pretty amazing to find myself shifting gears from facilitator to maker again. Perhaps it's the hypnotic simplicity of the coiling technique or the ability to pick up and put down projects intermittently to fit around all the other things I do at home that appeals. No Matter. Either way it's now become second nature to me, an ongoing three dimensional textile collaging process that I can't let go. Being able to move beyond the graphic, two dimensional plane of print work, as well as the complex labouring and space demands of weaving has pretty much freed me to start playing again with materials, colour and form - in a whole new way. 

Weirdly surprising has been discovering how quickly this daily fabric handling, colour play and 'busy hands empty mind' meditation has got me identifying as a maker again... I'm now literally bursting with new ideas - including ones for both the woven structures and prints i'd originally moved away from. I'm actually working on my first product range in years, an unexpected result I find completely amazing... especially considering my current workload. BECK