Shapes and patterns of a wetland by Karen Harvey
We've been spending a lot of time talking about our sculpture lately, and how it might look. I've been going over all the ideas that have been submitted, and thinking about our workshops with the lovely community groups, and I thought, you know, I need to do some investigation of my own here too!
It was a bit of a weird day, hazy and warm, I'd say it was muggy actually. Yes, muggy! I decided to have my lunch in the cafe at Welney and then head off for a walk around the reserve. After a cheese and pickle panini, and a fizzy ginger drink, I wandered off in search of inspiration. Thats not entirely true, I'd already been inspired to make some notes in my sketchbook before my lunch even arrived! Just looking out of the cafe windows made me excited about all the possibilities.
We've been working a lot with natural materials; making nests, painting and drawing, using reeds to create calligraphic images, and then using our wetlands words to make poetry. I started to think a bit more about how these materials inspired us, and how the words linked in with that. I did get distracted a few times (pond dipping anyone?!) but I managed to focus on the shapes and patterns of the materials we've been working with. I also found a dead shrew, which did interest me, but I don't think it's relevant to this sculpture!
So, here you go, a selection of photographs to help us look at the shapes and patterns formed by these natural materials….