J Baxter Strandsong
STRANDSONG
Size: 45w x 200h
Materials: wool, linen, silk, rayon, cotton
Date: 2015
This is the first of an ongoing cycle of work that explores the liminal landscapes between high and low tide, a zone where two worlds merge. Strandsong was inspired by a series of observations of the ebbing tide, where rivulets of retreating water catch glimmers of the winter sunset.
The shapes of these trickles remind me of seaweed, long hair of mermaids perhaps and the marks made by seals as they return from the sand to the sea. This piece is also an ongoing exploration of the combinations of orange and violet, both in the dyeing and in the mixing of different coloured threads, that represents the palette of winter and the shore.
Originally woven on its side, mainly to avoid stepped curved shapes, it took me a long time to decide which way up it should be viewed. Unusually for me this piece is quite abstract so it can be viewed any way up but I prefer to see it from the human perspective, from the land towards the sea.