As I lift one of the kinked bowls I have nestled amongst the brassicas and medicinal herbs like small iron mountains I discover a soil castle of sorts underneath its flowing sides. It feels like the ground has risen up to accept them like little women rising up to take back the land.
My happy place is out in the garden and at this point in time I am appreciating having such a space a great deal. Like most artists I have work spread out at home so I may see it in varying lights and positions to allow different design ideas to percolate. Over the winter I layed down some of my kinked vessels on a raised bed. This led me to start using them as stepping stones which was very effective as they disperse any weight very evenly and have stopped the ground from compacting underfoot. In turn they also disperse water in a very beautiful way, keeping the ground cool and damp underneath and allowing shelter to little life where and when it's needed. I love to live life the permaculture way so for one object to have many different uses that can contribute to its surroundings makes me feel like I'm collaborating with nature and not against it.
I wonder why as a civilisation we seem to still see nature as something that's separate from us, we come from it, its as much apart of us as the leaves on the trees. The main thing we have accomplished from the destruction of many ancient civilizations, one could argue more civilised than ourselves, is a complete disconnect from the world that birthed us. If one watches and observes before rushing in one might feel the subtle changes that are going on in an environment and work with what's there accordingly, I'm not saying that you must do this but merely suggesting that it could be beneficial if we were aware of a spaces mini ecosystem, how and where interactions take place be it animal, weather or people then making space for that to carry on and be enhanced at the same time of doing our thing. Life will continue even when we are not there as the past few weeks have shown us, If you can take anything from this I hope at the very least it is a lasting awareness and desire to giving back more and take less from our environment. Without the natural world and everything left in it we won’t be able to survive and we aren't too far from that now so I feel its important my work reflects those values I hold dearest and just maybe that will get passed on too.
Forged by the assentuals
To help keep me sane I have just started to texture a new piece of work from home, placing a large mild steel oval out on the road in front of are house to capture the movement of heavy goods vehicles as they bring us supplies to help keep us in are homes and help us survive through this important time. Currently an untouchable piece by others, its completion will be the end of isolation when it's touched for the first time by other hands, captureing another key moment in our history. I look forward to seeing how textured or untextured it will be by then, I have no idea how this will turn out but there is only one way to find out.