Words have long played an important part in my work, both as inspiration and as an integral element. Over the years, I’ve also collected the words of artists and writers that have inspired, encouraged me or challenged me as a maker.
In my new project, ‘Sowing word seeds’, I have been taking these inspirational words and ‘sewing’ them into the very fabric of my home, using a range of techniques and materials. I got the idea when I was managing the Writing Place project for the creative words for wellbeing organisation Lapidus Scotland back in 2014. After taking part in a thought-provoking writing workshop led by Mandy Haggith, I came home and sowed ‘word seeds’ (little strips of paper inscribed with my hopes and dreams for the future as an artist) in pots of primulas.
Both the flowers and my aspirations flourished and, with support from a Fife Craft & Visual Artist Opportunities’ Grant, and inspiration from the likes of the Lithuanian artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė who cross-stitches into car doors and other unlikely objects, and the textile and calligraphy artist Rosalind Wyatt who ‘writes with a needle’, I have now planted my first crop of word seeds.
Do join me at this year’s Open Studios North Fife (7-9 May 2016) to follow the ‘Sowing word seeds’ trail and perhaps share some of your own words of inspiration.
