The emergence of Spring and new ideas

Cloth is very powerful when it retains traces of its previous life, gathers history and becomes something new”. Dorothy Caldwell

This quote has really resonated with me today, as we emerge from a cold, dark winter here in the UK, as the trees begin to bud and the daffodils and tulips bloom, I too feel as if I’m emerging from a form of creative hibernation.

I’ve been reflecting during this time, on how I would like my art and life to grow in the future, I’ve used my family textile and associated ephemera as my design source for a few years now but I now feel that I need a new direction, in how I explore my connection to them, this quote has served as an excellent prompt, as I move forwards.

With the collection of my family treasures, I’ve previously gathered the items together to analyse and document my love and connection to them, so in effect I’ve gathered their histories, now I need to add my own influence and response to them for the future, as a way of looking forwards, as well as backwards, which I think is very important.

In my life I’m realising that my previous history and baggage is exactly that and there is no need to carry it into the future. I can now shape my future and my life as an artist, exactly as I would ideally like it to be. I can sit quietly to reflect, make more time for my art and most importantly dig deeper into my inspiration.

I enjoyed exploring my connection and love for them but now I need to take them forward by adding or expanding on them in some way. I want to create a form of memory/treasure box, maybe a book about their stories and also to document how I make them into an family heirloom, for future generations. I feel that if I don’t collate them in this way, that they may eventually get split up and end up in the bin (not that my daughter would do that, as they are important to her too) but into a more organised and coherent body of work, that would be treasured by future generations and that they too, could add their own stories to, so it continues to inspire others.

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