Penny Evans 2023

Harvesting the Forest

The inspiration for this installation came from my daily walks with the dog through the woods and forest near my home.  ‘Harvesting the forest’ followed months’ observing timber felling operations along my favourite walks, timber stacks awaiting collection, amongst the dropping leaves and over time bracken and ferns reclaiming the territory churned up by the massive machinery and trucks used to harvest the trees.  Paper was a natural partner for my merino wool felting when I thought of what products would be made with the harvested timber.

Hanji & Mulberry paper, Sanwa paper tissue, merino wool, acrylic paints, treasure gold, silk, cotton and paper threads, wool yarn, skeleton leaves.

Wet felting with paper on fine merino wool, trapping threads, yarn, skeleton leaves, other papers and silk.  Some stitch and colour was added after felting using cotton and paper threads, acrylic paints and treasure gold.   Paper adds strength to these finely felted columns which are then illuminated to form column lights.

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