It grows and grows is a sculptural textile artwork which evolved out of a series of four community workshops supported by Lakeland Arts and based at The Blackwell Arts and Crafts House in Cumbria. By using several techniques such as Japanese Hapazome and Shibori, bundle dyeing and block printing we transferred leaves, flowers, natural inks and dyes onto recycled cotton.

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Working with plant-based matter was a natural response when considering the arts and crafts movement which was influenced by forms and patterns found in nature.

The hexagon shape exists naturally in the micro and the macro: in the molecular shape of human and plant hormones, in bubbles and bee hives and represents the non-hierarchy of matter.  Clustering suggests networks, community and reciprocity…

We considered the arts and crafts movement’s connections to the ideals of socialism: tracing how division of the land and land ownership gave rise to capitalism and how these developments are now causing depletion of the earth’s natural resources.