Alice Fox
25th - 27th June
£380
Wild Fibres
An introduction to gathering and processing a range of plant-based fibres that grow wild, including nettle and bramble. We will gather the relevant plants from the land near to the studio and learn the different ways to extract and process fibre that could then be used for cordage making, soft basketry and weaving. Some of the workshop will be spent outside, whatever the weather.
You will produce a selection of fibre and cordage samples and learn about times to gather, process and store your wild fibres. You will be introduced to looping and weaving techniques using your cordage. The focus of the workshop is on gathering and processing fibre and aims to open our eyes to the usable fibres that are commonly available to us.
Lunches and refreshments included. Days run from 10am to 4pm (ish)
About Alice
Alice Fox is an artist based in Saltaire, West Yorkshire. The desire to work sustainably is at the heart of her practice and has driven a shift from using conventional art and textile materials into exploring found objects, gathered materials and natural processes. Using her textiles-based skill set and techniques borrowed from soft basketry, Alice makes sculptural works, bringing different materials together to form tactile surfaces and structures.
Establishing her allotment as a source of materials for her work has provided a space where Alice can experiment, exploring the potential of what grows there, planted and wild, as well as other materials found on the plot. Materials are produced, gathered and processed seasonally and by hand. As a result, each bundle of dandelion stems, bramble fibre or hand processed flax is seen as precious due its scarcity and the meaning attached to it through its sourcing and hand-processing.
Alice’s books Natural Processes in Textile Art (2015) and Wild Textiles (2022) are published by Batsford.
