Thursday Thoughts...

"My concerns are as much with my materials as with the work I make of it. They both have to satisfy me … I look for things that have been somewhere, done something. Second-hand materials aren’t deliberate; they have had sun and wind on them…"

Rosalie Gascoigne

The older I get, the further into this life of art and making I get, the more I know for sure how important thinking about the materials is. 

Materiality matters.

That could absolutely be a tag line for me and my making.

Rosalie's re-use of discarded materials; of materials that have lived a life; that have come from a place; haven been handled or used by folk was such an integral part of her story-telling and the universality of her work.

For me, as I make and decide what to include, what to use and what to involve; my decisions always come back to what the materials are saying. What does it mean to use a thread dyed in particular place? What does it convey to use rough or sharp covers for a book? What story do the materials tell; what ideas do they express without words?

I love considering materials and how they are an important part of telling a story with my work. They add integrity.

Stitching together fragments of paper with rubbings from the cottage, and rubbings from near the front door in Maleny; exploring notions of home...