Connections with nature

After spending a very stimulating few hours at an exhibition this weekend The Wisdom of Wool, the artist Sophie Wellan left me exhilarated if not temporarily overwhelmed by the possibilities for connecting my work to nature.

Several things sprung out of it for further research and ultimately getting past the bones of my theme to the infinite starting blocks and definitions of a theme.

This idea of connectivity with mother nature, the natural world surrounding us yet going further to the worlds beyond. Folklores, stories and powers where nature plays the leading role. I have had a love of fairies fond memories of playing with my children in the woods when they were small and moving to such a rural location; a forest was an enormous adventure. Many tiny holes in the base of trees we eagerly wanted to believe held the tiny creatures. Whimsical perhaps but yet in seriousness plants, cycles of nature, potions, lotions, lost and found loves are true enough. They provide the food for many a book and many are based on folklore travelling down the generations. A local heritage both personal and yet universal. One possible avenue to explore; traditional legends and stories connecting nature to us.

Secondly, the physical tangible, tactile world using and understanding what role the materials we use have to play. Why do we choose them above others? What do they offer? Where do they come from and ultimately give and take from the environment?

Sophie had used wool, copper, silver, plant materials and could identify with these materials. They held symbolic treasures incorporated into  to her work. The work then held an identity incorporating all that had gone before. Is it this identity that an artist strives to convey ? I have a feeling it’s more than that but a very important part nonetheless. So for me another possible area is the connection of the material to nature.

Layers upon layers everywhere I look

Whilst an awareness of developing an idea for a theme later on in this course plays, dances in the background, certain things are becoming apparent to me. The things I am attracted too. The ‘themes’ that keep presenting themselves to me. I sometimes look for, feel drawn too or I fall into time and time again throughout my work.

In every way I can think of ‘layers’ are there. Emotional, physical, sensory and socially. The act of ‘peeling away’ the layers to find that what is hidden beneath. Is this course not a peeling away and a building up of layers to find the creativity, ideas and ways of working?

The change of the seasons has always fascinated me. The drama of winter yet for me the subtleties of spring and autumn that takes us to that drama. The sensory overload through the seasons. Even someone not to overcome with nature can find sensory connections to a season.

The seasons extend through other areas of life. Through age, work, marriage and relationships. We attach the ‘autumn of ‘ and ‘spring chicken’ to imply an age, a stage and we all appreciate the analogy. We are gardeners of life.

So for me a feel ‘themes’ are finding or have found me. It is for me to put them together personally, individualistically, creatively. I feel a real connection with this idea creatively but also personally. Life guides us, influences us but ultimately we can choose which bits have a greater impact. We also get to choose how we respond to it’s influence.