Somerset seasons with crows

Artist Statement

Jenny Waller is a textile artist who studied at Morley College, London. Her work is influenced by natural forms and includes both 2-D and 3-D pieces. Her picture, Somerset seasons with crows, is based on an OS map from the 1920s of the area where she lives in Somerset, showing field patterns and settlements which are largely unchanged. Each panel reflects the changing colours of the landscape throughout the four seasons, as the light changes and crops move through their lifecycle. Crows, which are a constant dynamic of the Somerset skies, lead us through the landscape. Jenny’s research for this piece has led her to a new appreciation of the extraordinary variety of colour and tone in the English landscape.

Somerset seasons with crows is worked on a black linen background and hand-embroidered with embroidery silks. The primary stitch is an open chain stitch which follows the grainlines of the fields, reflecting how they are ploughed and sown. Texture representing trees and hedges at the field margins is added using loop stitch. The crows are made of felt and wired using Stumpwork techniques. They are suspended above the picture by fine wire.