Soft Borders I

SOFT BORDERS are still life in genre and votive in ambience. Familiar simple forms and thoughtful jewelled colours are arranged for maximum resonance, like a crisp Winter day. Objects and flora form everyday altars and table top collections of treasures within a soft knitted frame. Still life is rich with symbolism and the historical momento mori

undertones are ever present. Here this convention is a little loosened from its gravitas by the dreamscape feel of the imagery, moreover  the materiality of the « borders » is literally soft and highlights the notion of the homespun. 

The enough-ness of a wobbly jug, a sea shell, a green fruit on a pink tablecloth, or a fanning flower are simple odes to domestic beauty.

The handknitted borders are the  tactile result of time spent in a kind of somatic meditation, the repetitive stitch and the small movements learnt in childhood let the mind drift yet demand diligence.  

These works aim to take the favorite and familiar, the softly pleasing, the tick tock of the kitchen clock and hold it up for aesthetic contemplation. This in turn may allow the soft borders of our minds to gently undulate, to reconnect with glimmers. The board and wool and buttons used to create these pieces are all recycled ,  I believe that their former lives can only add to the weave of the work.

Materials: Acrylic and repurposed wool on recycled sea ply.