artist statement

My recent work is about our symbiotic relationship with plants. About our shared DNA. With increased urbanization and globalization, and our busy lives, we have become more distanced from the plants that give us air to breathe, food to nourish and beauty to inspire. Plants that sustain our planet at this most critical time.

I make this body of work through the use of material specific to ecosystem (linen, organic cotton, natural dyes, repurposed clothing) and a practice (natural dyeing and slow stitching) based in environmental awareness and anchored in the specificities of place. With this work I search for my connection to place, both in my actual home of Newfoundland and in my ancestral home of Scotland.

These 2 little pieces are part of a larger work called “what the land is telling me now”. It consists of 40 small 3d objects – each made from natural materials (twigs, seaweed, grasses, dried flowers etc.) that I collected from around my home on the west coast of Newfoundland, and bound together with braided or corded linen that has been dyed from local plants or cordage made from plants such as dandelion, nettle etc. I foraged for material all spring, summer and autumn of 2024 and spent the winter of 2024/25 building my pieces. I brought the outdoors in. I combined my love and care and concern for the natural world with my textile practice of natural dyeing and slow stitching.