Page 16 - The Digital Cloth Issue 6
P. 16

character emerges. It is a                  its creator; the result is so
        tricky concept to                           uniquely theirs.
        communicate, there is no
        set pattern, no right way and               Nowadays, I divide my time
        each new animal presents                    between making, exhibiting
        it’s own challenges. I love this            and teaching. Our boys are
        way of working, it’s                        both at school now (at least

        organic and the creatures                   they were until COVID turned
        evolve throughout the                       everything upside down) so
        process, but it can take a bit              theoretically I have more
        of mental adjustment for                    time to create. I have a small
        participants in my classes.                 studio/fabric nest at home,
        By the end of the second                    which is my place of escape.
        workshop in Australia I was                 I love the feeling of being
        hooked; I can’t have done                   totally consumed by

        too badly because they                      whatever it is I am working on,
        asked me back again a                       it’s easy to lose myself in the
        couple of years later.                      process, digging for the
                                                    perfect piece of fraying
        Following on from my first                  fabric for an eyelash or the
        workshops in Australia, I                   right leaf print to accentuate
        began to host my own events  an ankle or a haunch. I’m not
        back in the UK, I teach                     looking for realism; my work
        people to make a mouse or                   seeks a feeling of life and
        a bird on one-day workshops,  soul. The animals come into
        and also offer longer                       being and they pull me in,
        workshops where                             there is a turning point with

        participants can attempt                    each sculpture I make, a
        whichever animal they fancy                 moment when the personality
        (within reason).                            appears and begins to direct
        I meet so many kindred spirits              its own evolution, it feels a bit
        in my teaching, the methods I  like magic. I am very lucky to
        utilise seem to really                      have found a way to make a
        encourage individual                        living doing something I love,
        expression. I feel like it’s quite          the journey has been

        a cathartic process, for                    unpredictable, my work and
        myself and for my students,                 where it takes me is
        and gives us a space in time                unpredictable too, and that’s
        to get lost in our own                      just the way I like it.
        creativity whilst being free
        enough to encourage us to                   Cheers
        discover our own
        interpretation. The outcomes                   Bryony
        never fail to astonish me,
        each sculpture reflects the
        personality and mood of
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