Over the last two months we have posted seven artists interviews, how times have changed since our first one in February . Today we are in conversation with Rose Campbell.
Rose Campbell
I am really looking forward to the exhibition at the Festival of Quilts where our Insight project will be on show. It has proved to be very different project to anything I have done previously.
I’m used to writing to support narrative within my textile pieces. I’ve had work publicised and written personal statements but this project was in a different league. My kind of writing is more to do with calligraphy although I am no expert, I’m rather fond of incorporating text within my work.
I’ve been asked before on more than one occasion by students ‘Why don’t you write a book?’ and the answer has always been ‘No, not my scene’ but here I am, having written ‘a chapter,’ thanks to the major challenge set by the TSG . It took me quite sometime to get my head around it. I won’t say more…it’s in the book! In the end I think I got there but I feel much more comfortable articulating visually rather than literally.
One of my latest pieces is inspired by the naturalist John Muir and his quote ‘Into the Forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul. It’s reflective piece, making use of mirrors to create shadow and mystery and is a follow on from my work connected to Glentress Forest. The initial work was inspired by the activities related to the forest and will be on show when we launch our book in Birmingham. The follow up smaller pieces use print incorporating branches from the forest itself. I flatten them by soaking them in the bath, dry them, paint them and wrap them. I personally love walking in a forest but it is easy to loose my sense of direction and so can have a darker side to it as well.
The Textile Study Group is a fantastic group to be a member of, lots of challenges, encouragement and friendship aplenty.
