Outside art adventures Part 2
- stitch153
- Apr 13
- 3 min read
I know, it's been a while (again!) my social media is the quickest place to catch up on my work, but of course, not everyone does the dreaded socials and it's good practice to be somewhere else as well. So here is a quick resume of how my outside textiles have developed over the last 3 years.
Early in 2024 a sculpture trail in Norfolk had a call out for work, I had spotted it the year before but hadn't contemplated outside work at the time, now I was all system go! Raveningham Art Trail happens every year, around the grounds and woodland of a beautiful farmhouse, every year a different theme, this year was 'Mythos' the stories we tell ourselves.
I put in my proposal and was delighted to be given quite a large space in the woodland!
It always takes me a while to work out what I want to make, which is a good thing and actually the work changed as I played with ideas. The world had gone to s*** (don't get me started on where we are now in the chaos of 2026) but I distinctly remember in 2024, things were pretty bad and what I needed to hear and read at that time was be positive and stop worrying.
This was the first quote I found and it really resonated with me, I then decided that I would find further positive quotes for me and others. Quotes about being outside, taking one day at a time. It's what we all told but some might need further encouragement, this circle of beautiful inspiring cloths would give people that time I hoped.
At this point, I must point out the obvious.....the blooming spelling mistake! During the first layer, the batik quote, but not noticed until it was all dyed and printed.......trust me. I did not have time to do it again, so in certain lights you can see that I did just paint the missing 'e' at the end of Breath! This particular cloth was batiked with soy wax, coloured with Dye-na-flow and then printed with some little motif blocks I had. But I needed to make more for this large space!
So really concentrating and asking someone else to double check the spelling (!) I planned out the other quotes and set to work batiking them onto some fine linen I had. Then an afternoon with an indigo dye vat was the quick way to add colour. I decided to use the cloths I had made for 78 Derngate, they had weathered well and just looked decorative and colourful, perfect for a summer exhibition. I also added some plainer cloths that were just eco printed, celebrating the beauty of the woodlands, although I knew these would fade.
I was so happy with the space, the sun shone and the cloths billowed happily. I was sad to leave them, but obviously could not stay in Norfolk for 7 weeks just watching my work! Over the weeks I had some feedback from visitors and it was lovely to see their photos of the trail.
When it was time to take down in early September, I was thrilled to find out that I had been voted the 3rd most favourite artwork! Delighted and humbled, to have my textile chosen by the visiting public, it was obviously jolly colour and positive quotes others needed to hear as well (and we still do!)
Do enjoy a quick look, it was a lovely breeze and you can see the variety of work and space I was working in! I loved being part of the Ravening trail and I did return in 2025, more of that in the next post!
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