Felt hammock

I was one of five artists chosen to participate in 'Land and the Samling'. I received a commission to produce temporary artwork during a month-long residency at Kielder Forest in Northumberland. Real physical journeys were an important mechanism to engage in the work. The route of an old railway line emerges from the northern shore of Kielder Water and continues north across the border into Scotland. This was one of the paths that I cycled, trailing behind me a large wooden roller wrapped with fleece. As the roller dragged along the roads and forest paths the fleece gradually matter into felt. This is the oldest way to make textiles - pounding dampened fibres until they mat together, until,l it is strong and wonderfully soft. Just north of the border is an old lime kiln which became the resting point for two hammocks felted from retracing the train journey that at one time took sheep to market. A third hammock hung under a road bridge high across Lewisburn, one of the streams feeding the lake. These resting places are both poetic and useful - metaphorical and practical, places of reflection and comfort, of solace and refreshment.