Some of you may know that I returned to England in April 2022.
Being here has brought many gifts. The gift of precious time with my parents and siblings as my Dad journeys with illness, time with my daughters as they visit their birth land, time in gradual reconnection with extended family, time spent with ancient stones and tumuli. And it also has challenges; first adapting once again to a nomadic life for a while (I seem to need nomadic spells every so often), and then finding a place to orientate with and in. That place is Lincoln - a small cathedral city (the evening sun on the west front is incredible) which gives its name to the county of Lincolnshire. It sits on a limestone edge and has a long history - people have inhabited this area for at least 300,000 years - and vibrant arts community which is at the beginning of exciting new growth and unfolding. I find it easier, when I have the privilege of a base, to turn outwards and face towards the world.
So I am very excited to share with you what I consider to be a bit of a milestone in my work over here: selection as featured artist of the month for October with art.earth, a worldwide family of ecological artists and organisations with its home in the UK. You can view the full feature here.
And I am also excited to share a little ahead of time that I have a piece of writing being published online on 5th October by Dark Mountain about journeying with the colour blue from Aotearoa New Zealand to England, and my research into and learnings from the ancient dyers plant Woad. I will add a direct link to this blog post once it is published. Update: Here's the link to the article "In Search of Isatica".
So for now, my work seems to be entangled with this landscape, with ancestry, with the gradual breaking down and rebuilding of my relationship with the word art so that it is no longer separate from life, no longer about an outcome.
Autumn is well and truly making itself known: the turning, fruiting, letting go, harvesting, moving out then in, out then in. Drawing breath in the energy of the recent equinox and turning very slowly towards winter.
