Leaf Cells

It's finally finished. I have to say it was reasonably painful though. But I'm glad I finished it. Maybe in a year or so I'll like it. But I always get like that after a big piece.

A snippet from my artist statement on this piece -

I view my work as cloth becoming a human-constructed metaphor for the cloth of plants – leaves.

As a weaver and avid amateur micro-biologist, I am fascinated with the cellular structure of leaves in particular. I see the interlacement of plant cells and the arrangement of these as having resemblance to woven structures.

As a collector of natural objects, and as is the fascination of many, I have spent years picking up fallen leaves from bush paths and they stay sitting on a table for weeks as I look at them, touch, feel and smell them.

In this piece I have created a discontinuous narrative of the visual structure of leaves.

From the left to right of the panel I have moved from the unseen microscopic view of leaf cells, to the initial representation of leaves held out of reach, to a mechanical, preformed interpretation of a web of cells purely in woven structure.

The left portion of the piece is a graphic representation of Eucalyptus leaf cells, abstractly representing the stomata – the 'breathing' cells - and surrounding cells on the reverse of the leaf.

The central portion is an initial visual of the leaf I have placed out of reach, as a contradiction of the reality of being able to touch and feel the leaf.

The right portion of the piece is a mechanical representation of the interlocking nature of plant cells in a purpose-designed structure.

The materials I have chosen to work with are also integral to the integrity of the work. I have used man-made yarns as a direct contrast to the visual imagery of the work. In particular, the majority of the piece is constructed with rayon, which is a renewable fibre made from wood pulp, so straddling the terms of man-made and natural.

--melly