The Cupboard Collection 2023

The question to ask. What is the cupboard?

Actually there are two cupboards, not just one.

The first cupboard is an acre of organic permaculture garden full of dye plants and botanicals grown for paper making, creating cordage, basketry and weaving. This is a beautifully seasonal cupboard that is totally responsive to the location and the climate. It is providing an environmentally positive supply of raw materials for creative exploration.

The second cupboard is the place holding a stash collected over many years. This stash holds ideas, techniques, equipment and skills as well as threads, fabrics, needles, looms and an very large collection of ………scissors. Many of the elements of this stash have been commercially produced so they have required manufacturing production and commercial transport - it has a carbon footprint.

The project is to balance these two 'cupboards' to make more sustainable fibre art.

Viv’s practice finds the ways to express her love of the land and of explorative fibre art methods by bringing together as many elements of these two cupboards as possible.

The Cupboard Collection has a range of finished art works but also offers materials made on site for other artists to incorporate into their makings There are handmade papers, cordage, hand dyed yarns, botanically dyed fabric and thread stitching kits.

Also over the course of the exhibition there will be popup demonstrations offered on site so other can learn about making cordage, botanical dying and printing and paper making from garden plants. These will be posted on the gallery's Facebook page and Instagram .