Plant diversity is important for life on Earth. Plants are necessary for fresh air, shelter, food, and medicine. Their beauty and variety enrich your lives. Seeds, pods and flowers are the building blocks of plant life. They need to be safeguarded.
Barbara loves the rich tradition of textiles but is also aware that the textile and fashion industries have a dark undercurrent of human exploitation and environmental damage.
Today craft consumerism, throw-away fashion and rapid changes in fashion have resulted in huge textile waste piles while micro fibres and toxic dyes float in the water supply endangering the food chain. It seems as if the world is drowning in waste and Barbara’s art aims to create something beautiful from just a little of this waste.
Barbara uses woollen blankets and discarded woollen clothing and a technique called “standing wool” or “Quilling”.
Woollen fabric is often discarded for modern materials. Old clothing and linen have a softness of colour and texture and hold memories of their maker and owner. Wool blankets speak to me of childhood cosiness and stories at bedtime. Layers of colour strips are coiled and twisted until the soft yielding fabric takes on dense forms.
This is a FREE Event