Statement
My work centers around our connection to nature and the urgency of paying attention to the tentative balance between us and nature, especially when living in cities or suburbs. I’ve become increasingly immersed in large-scale macro nature embroidery over time. The intent of these embroideries is to invite curiosity and the fascination felt in our first interactions with nature, making nature more present and valued in human minds. I am engaged in evoking my responses of love, empathy and immersion with nature that I feel while making these embroideries in others. Through a process similar to macro photography, my large-scale macro nature embroideries explore and amplify details that would usually be microscopic and mostly invisible to the human eye so that all the subtle changes, fluctuations in color and texture are brought forward and made accessible. I am excited about how this way of working brings the smaller, often overlooked creatures into more focus and celebrates the incredible patterns and textures we find in nature when we look more closely. I also hope to connect people with the celebration in diversity, survival, resilience and adaptability that nature teaches us. Embroidery is such a long and embodied process that I often feel I am physically processing a bond to nature and a more intimate connection with different creatures. We all belong with nature and I am driven by connecting viewers more closely to nature as an essential part of ourselves. I feel that we are increasingly disconnected to nature especially when living in cities and suburbs. An element of my macro nature embroidery that I particularly am driven by is being able to connect with a creature on a deeper level while paying so much attention to each subtle change of color, texture or pattern in their feathers, fur or wings. When I’m working on the larger embroideries I’m absorbed in stitching for several days in a row, drawing out all the details. While I work, I’m reminded of each part of the pattern working together within the embroidery and the interdependency between parts of a whole. As the devastating impact that we have on nature through our daily habits, such as carbon emissions, harmful chemical products, taking over natural spaces and the wider impact on industrial levels becomes more visible, I hope to capture the importance, interconnectivity and the beauty of nature. I think art is so powerful at sharing messages in an embodied way. I feel that the tactile form of embroidery adds to this sense of connection, attention and presence and invites us to be part of the natural world more attentively and closely.
In her BBC interview in April 1937, Virginia Woolf speaks about words being “full of echoes, of memories, of associations – naturally…they have been out and about, on people’s lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries…they are so stored with meanings, with memories...” (Woolf,1937).
In a similar way to words, animals and nature are infused with local, personal and collective meanings that have developed over thousands of years, sometimes so buried within historical and cultural knowing that some seem to arrive from a mysterious, felt place, never completely new. So many animals have crawled, prowled, padded and galloped through stories, folk tales, personal accounts and memories that they carry a weight of meaning often before we have even encountered them in reality. Many of us have become increasingly distant from nature and animals and in areas around the world the wilderness that has provided safe harbor for nature and animals outside of the domestic sphere is gradually diminishing along with the natural world and wildlife. In recent years, although not exclusively, there has been a rise in animal and botanic images on clothing, accessories, illustrations, posters and in stories, with people wearing or carrying them like banners. I think this shows the potency for how the nature's struggles and dwindling literal presence relates to the collective psyche. Maybe communicating a collective anxiety of a disappearance of creatures and nature or a felt lack of physical connection to nature, but also a need to preserve the visual presence of nature in everyday experiences. Through my work I hope to hold onto this discourse we have around living with and alongside nature in a more healthy balance in a tactile and embodied way.
In her BBC interview in April 1937, Virginia Woolf speaks about words being “full of echoes, of memories, of associations – naturally…they have been out and about, on people’s lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries…they are so stored with meanings, with memories...” (Woolf,1937).
In a similar way to words, animals and nature are infused with local, personal and collective meanings that have developed over thousands of years, sometimes so buried within historical and cultural knowing that some seem to arrive from a mysterious, felt place, never completely new. So many animals have crawled, prowled, padded and galloped through stories, folk tales, personal accounts and memories that they carry a weight of meaning often before we have even encountered them in reality. Many of us have become increasingly distant from nature and animals and in areas around the world the wilderness that has provided safe harbor for nature and animals outside of the domestic sphere is gradually diminishing along with the natural world and wildlife. In recent years, although not exclusively, there has been a rise in animal and botanic images on clothing, accessories, illustrations, posters and in stories, with people wearing or carrying them like banners. I think this shows the potency for how the nature's struggles and dwindling literal presence relates to the collective psyche. Maybe communicating a collective anxiety of a disappearance of creatures and nature or a felt lack of physical connection to nature, but also a need to preserve the visual presence of nature in everyday experiences. Through my work I hope to hold onto this discourse we have around living with and alongside nature in a more healthy balance in a tactile and embodied way.
About Beth
Beth is an Artist, Writer and Art Psychotherapist from London, UK, currently living and working in Denver, USA. Beth completed her Creative Arts degree with honours at Bath Spa University, specialising in creative writing, stop-motion animation and wood engraving. After working for several years as an Arts and Crafts Director in a residential school for children with severe learning difficulties in Bristol, Beth trained to be an Art Psychotherapist on the Masters in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths University. Following graduating from the masters, Beth set up and co-directed a school project delivering Art Psychotherapy services within primary and infant schools across London, working with head teachers, school staff, infants, children and families, prioritizing responding to the needs of individuals and working systemically with families and institutions. Beth then worked as an Art Psychotherapist for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) within the NHS (National Health Service), working with young people in particular as well as children and families. Beth also supervised students on placement and lectured and tutored on the Masters in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths University, leading supervision groups and assisting with the dissertation preparation and marking process. Beth is interested in how different art mediums express experiences or suit certain projects, using various art processes to create her work. Most recently Beth is specifically drawn to working on large scale macro nature embroideries and drawings, especially using charcoal, as well as print making. Beth continues to work as an artist and writer in Denver and runs a nature inspired independent embroidery business in Denver, Colorado, Rabbit Hat Designs.