The collusions begin....

A week or two ago I visited all my installations at both Thornham Walks and Lackford Lakes to see how natures imput had begun.

As you will see the weaving is holding out nicely with very little change to it so far and the knitted mushrooms still look fine if a little droopy!

The moss carpet seems to murge into it's surroundings even better than before and has some wonderful ripples in it that make it look very organic,

There is also a collection of debris slowly gathering on the surface too.

But something strange and exciting has occurred..... an infestation of caterpillars!!!

I am pleased to say 

that some of the children's groups that meet at Thornham have been making some creepy crawlie critters to add to my moss carpet- this was a collusion I hadn't expected but I am honoured that they were inspired by my work (although I have to admit I was a little concerned that people may think I had made them however it is a public project and why shouldn't they collude just as nature will).

As for the work at Lackford Lakes, the purple feathery reed heads are fading a little.... 

the green tassels are not so green any more.

The bracket fungi are collecting debris and some are fading a bit,

There are signs of life here too which is really pleasing, it is being inhabited by spiders!

As for the puffballs little has changed but as I have been so slow adding this post I will be going back to take more photos very shortly and maybe things will have begun to change even more.

Part of the reason I haven't blogged for a while is that I have been having some time off work and then it has been full swing on fancy dress birthday party bits, the theme is movie characters, I am currently finishing an Edward Scissorhands costume and a Marilyn Monroe dress!!!

Rural Idyll 2 opens

Rural Idyll 2 is now open and you'll be pleased to hear I did get all my pictures completed in time. There are eight in total, you can see them here hanging on the wall in the barn with my sculptural work in the foreground. As you have seen the majority of the pictures in my last blog I will just show you the last three ( including the one shown incomplete at the end of my last blog).

Here are some images of my felt and wire maquettes.

I also included my sculpture that you may have seen in the early days of my blog.

And there are some wonderful pieces by all the other artists but this feather fall by Ruth Richmond is amazing.

If you are in the area why not go and see for yourself- Rural Idyll 2 is open every weekend in June 2011, 11- 5 or weekdays by appointment, at Little Dodnash Farm, Bergholt Road, Bentley, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2DQ.

Studies after Linnaeus

 

As you may remember from my last post I have been working rather frantically to make my new set of work for Rural Idyll 2, the exhibition at Little Dodnash Farm, Bentley, Suffolk, open during the weekends of Suffolk Open Studios. My new ideas are based around the work of Carl Linnaeus the Swedish botanist who created the system of binomial nomenclature (two Latin names, genus and species). He also put plants into family groups depending on the number of stamens(male sexual part) to pistil(female sexual part) in the flower of each plant. He described each family as a marriage, for instance a flower with three stamen he described as "Three husbands in the same marriage."

The compositions are made up of hand embroidery, buttons, knitted flowers and selections of fabrics.

I am still working on the piece below and I am intending to do one more flower study and an embroidery of the original drawing by Georg Ehret in Linnaeus' Systema Naturae when he published it in 1735 - a bit like a key to the rest of the work.

Rural Collusions opens at Lackford Lakes!!!

The private view of Rural Collusions at Lackford Lakes was another wonderful occasion. Again we were lucky enough to have fine weather for the evening and many of our dear friends came to join us. Special thanks must go to SWT but particularly Emma Kerridge, education officer at Lackford whose fantastic organisational skills made for a fabulous spread of drinks and nibbles that never seemed to run out.

As for the work, I am really pleased, it looks great placed around the reserve. Three trees are adorned with my bracket fungi, a sand bank has become home to my reed heads, and a leafy canopy holds out a branch for the puffballs to cling to.

Don't take my word for it though go and take a look if you can!

We were really pleased to get so much press coverage for the exhibitions. On Sunday 8th May we ran workshops at Lackford as part of Lackford Lakes' Spring Fair- many people came and made their own reed head with me that they could take home and Ruth helped them make their own little feather islands like her beautiful full sized one on the lake by the visitors centre.

This project is not finished, however, as I will be returning to both venues on a fairly regular basis to record how the work changes as nature colludes with us by reclaiming the pieces and I'll let you see the developments.

I am now on full throttle making work for Rural Idyll 2, I'll tell you more about that in my next blog- but for now Thank you to all of you who have supported me in either the production or in coming along to Rural Collusions, at both venues.

RURAL COLLUSIONS OPENS!!!

Saturday was a beautiful day to have the Private View party for Rural Collusions at Thornham Walks. Proceedings kicked off at midday with drinks on the lawn at Thornham Hall and at about quarter past one we had a walk through the woods all together to view the work. We had beautiful weather, fantastic surroundings and it was wonderful to see so many friends ( sorry some of you couldn't make it due to other commitments but there's still the opening at Lackford Lakes next week). 

  Celebrations continued when we got home, with Champagne and homemade sloe gin, as we moved all my stuff into my new studio too ( I may yet have an official opening once everything is sorted out- a good excuse for a party).

Here are some images of the Leaf Litter which was the last piece I put in the exhibition and didn't make it into the previous post.

This is only a short post to keep you up to date as I am rushed off my feet meeting photographers- yesterday I met my good friend and fantastic photographer Douglas Atfield to get some really professional shots of my work and today I'm meeting the photographer from the newspaper, I've got everything to prepare ready for installing at Lackford on tuesday and I am finishing moving into my new studio!!!!! No rest for a few more days then.

The time has come....

Well the days are counting down now until the opening of Rural Collusions at Thornham Walks, Thornham Magna on Easter Saturday. I have been busy weaving between the trees, as you can see above. I am incorporating things that grow in the woods as well as different yarns. This is laborious work but I hope you'll agree the effect is worth the effort. Still more to do though not finished yet.

I have been working on my piece called "Tree veins, life blood," this is made by forcing red yarn into the cracks in the bark of an oak. It is coming along nicely.

The carpet of moss that I have been working on is looking really good around the bottom of a very large oak and here you can see a bramble growing amongst it.

My knitted mushrooms are looking lovely too on a tree with the deep green of the nettles growing near by. I still have my leaf litter to put in the woods and these pieces to complete where necessary but its looking good for the opening! If you manage to get across to Thornham Walks to see the work I'd love to hear what you think so leave me a comment or drop me an email-janevsouthgate@yahoo.co.uk
I look forward to hearing from you.