Hanging in the Balance, 2022

clay, glaze, wool, linen, hazel

Hanging in the Balance, 2022 is inspired by ancient warp weighted looms. Ceramics are weighted down by gravity to create tense threads and enable a weaving to form. The artist extends the construction of the loom with shapes, materiality and processes to embrace the manifold histories and mythologies of weaving.

The tension in the artwork’s structure suggest a movement between order and disorder. This dynamic system is part of its immediate and wider context – drawing on and reacting to small movements and change.

Weaving is a universal process; people have been weaving for thousands of years across the globe. This ancient technology was created by people with what they had to hand. The warp weights used stones or simple clay weights to create tension. In this artwork, the hand made ceramic weights embrace traditional forms alongside different shapes to reach beyond the normal connotations of the loom.

Weaving is part of its environment, it connects people into their spaces, gathering materials and drawing them in, the artwork uses traditional materials of linen and wool, and hazel – a tree of knowledge. For the artist the loom represents an ecological system, with different elements that work together in harmony to create (or to create harmony).

This artwork was created as a result of over a period of time research and learning new skills, thanks to Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Fund.