Room 101 – Destination Unknown



July 15, 2005

I always think that absolutely the hardest thing about weaving a tapestry is the starting – the very first row. And so it is thus with this web log. At this begining stage the warp is virgin, the canvas blank. It’s a scary and most precarious moment in the creative process. Empty warp threads

In the studio I like to be free to work intuitively – feeling my way inch by inch – making decisions based on what has been laid down previously. It’s very much a two way process – a dialogue between the artist and the work. This apparent spontaneity is based upon years of experience and research – drawing, written and visual notes, photography, sampling, making and just looking – trying to develop a critical understanding of what it is I’m doing. My work is abstract. It is informed by the land – most particularly by rock for it’s embodiement of time and structure. And it is informed through the study of textile – looking at qualities of texture, material, rhythm and most importantly – structure. I am passionate about both. Both inform each other. Another dialogue. My work in room 101 at the V&A is merely a point thirty years into a journey of discovery – destination unknown. Researching in basket store, Bankfield Museum. 2004 - Click to enlarge. Sketchbook page. Sue Lawty - Click to enlarge. Woven raphia sample (detail). Sue Lawty - Click to enlarge.  Sue Lawty - Click to enlarge. Coptic fragment, Egypt 3rd-4th century AD (detail). Bankfield Museum, Halifax - Click to enlarge.  Rock Study, Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye, Graphite on paper. 37 x 60 cm - Click to enlarge.


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