Spirals, it seems, are a universal symbol & are represented in all our creative practices & although we each diversified our media for this exhibition, interestingly, we chose to create our spirals in what could be regarded as our 'signature media & technique'. For Isla the tree ferns welcomed her to Aotearoa their unfurling fronds of promise representing 'a forest of new beginnings'. Her own spirals appear as natural fibres spun on to a wire base which hang connected loosely enough to move gently in a breeze. She describes spirals as the 'perfect expression of perpetual movement, in which life both changes & stays the same'. For Hugh the symbol has come to represent 'listening to the Land' & his is a double spiral, a continuous path without a beginning or an end, carved into the natural surface of 2 very different stones. One a large floor based piece & one smaller mountain shaped piece. Both have come home & now lie in our landscape. For me I have chosen to represent the natural cycle as a spiral to allow for the passage of time inherent in the cycle. The spiral is a galaxy - at any one time both enormous & minute. I have woven muka through cotton thread to create these forms. Yesterday I wandered around home in the late afternoon sun, taking photos of various flowering plants which define spring in our NZ native garden.
Of course our birds are a little cray-cray right now (it’s the season), insects are abundant & the warm afternoon means the air is filled with the sweet honey like perfumes of night opening, moth pollinated flowers. Most NZ native trees are not deciduous, not all of them flower during the day & they are not dependant on bees for pollination. In addition, not all of them are spring flowering. Today, despite the weather yet again taking a turn back to winter, let's celebrate NZ spring flowering plants & the abundant, diverse insect life with whom they live & thrive. They are mostly not showy; often teeny, tiny flowers & you will need to slow down, let your nose lead you & look closely . . . I challenge anyone who lives in Aotearoa/ NZ to go see how many of these plants you can find in your area - or look for ones specific to your own area. I don't want to live in a place where a baby dies & is found to have alcohol in her bloodstream
I don't want to live in a place where people have to be told to remember to handle their babies gently I want to live in a place where you can get so close to a Bumblebee that you can see it's fluffy body And a child grows up knowing that she's part of a world where it's best if everything is handled gently |
Hi, I'm Sally
I'm a fibre artist who loves botanicals - especially NZ native plants |