| Project title | From the Land |
| Location | Roadway Farm, Woolacombe, North Devon |
| Date | 9th March 2025 |
Artist statement
From the Land gave me the opportunity to look in depth at how we as humans use the land and consequently consider, how does art as a form of sustainable practice create a greater awareness and knowledge of responding to ecological, climatic, environmental and land use issues ?
Choosing to collaborate with family, who own a dairy farm, to gain insightful generational knowledge from their perspective, and therefore create a body of work that is critically engaged with ecological and political issues surrounding small family farms. The idea to produce site responsive works and use one of their buildings, the shed, to display the work. The location as part of the installation, a co-dependant relationship between space and art, creating an immersive experience for the viewer. Encouraging visitors to engage with the farming community and through conversations gain a better understanding of the importance of farming the land.
My art practice is based primarily in printmaking but has expanded to incorporate experimental multidisciplinary and site responsive ways of working. Preference for using found and natural materials stem from the need to work sustainably, to be resourceful and responsible, repurposing materials, using papers and textiles combined with printmaking and layering processes. Printmaking, working with my hands, carving blocks of wood or Lino, is a craft, a learned process, a meditative antidote to the fast paced world we live in.
My ways of working are intuitive, guided by walking, recollections and drawing, the use of sketchbooks as documents, talking with collaborators, a reaction to place and situation, the work evolves organically.
Contextual Statement
This project focuses on farming and land use, Farmers face challenges from government, environmental issues and big corporations such as the National Trust limiting the way they work – tensions are placed on livelihoods, and generational knowledge, heritage and legacies are ignored. Through working with the Zeale family a collection of work was created in response to the land.
Drawings produced a series of patterned lino and wood blocks. Working with textiles and printmaking, fabrics were dyed, printed and assembled into a large installation. Stitched together with bailer cord, a strong twine found in plentiful supply on the farm, using loose stitches to show the vulnerability of these boundaries and how the land is under threat from policies, such as the family farming tax. Paper birds were created from print outs of government legislation and hung from the eaves in the space.
This project culminated in a public facing outcome, an immersive installation held in the shed at the farm on the 9th March 2025, which showed the textiles, monoprints, sketchbook and paper birds.
Thanks go to the Zeale family, Roadway Farm, for their support and generosity.
