Putting Down Roots Series II

Examples from my 100 days project

In my last post I showed a couple of quilts that were inspired by my paper cutting 100 days project.  They are showing at Kings Theatre Creative for the next few weeks, along with the quilt I'm showing today called 'Belonging'.

Belonging by Charlotte Scott 43cm x 55cm $195 

This quilt is a nod to landforms that have dominated the areas where I've spent much of my life.  Kapiti Island is the first.  It dominated the horizon in the area I grew up and whenever I see images of it something twangs inside me.

Kapiti Island.  The original uploader was Grutness at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0

The other peak that fills my horizon these days is up the far end of the Waikare Inlet.  It's constantly changing colour, sometimes wreathed in mist, occasionally covered in cloud.  I don't even know what it's called and can't find it on a map, but it forms one of the backdrops in my daily life.

These are the two areas in New Zealand where I've spent the longest time, where I've put down roots by growing up in the area or by moving there and consciously deciding to make my life there.

Belonging (detail) by Charlotte Scott 

I don't think I'm done with this series yet.  There are more variations with the branch and root imagery that I'd like to try.  Different ways of saying what I'm thinking or feeling.  And I like that it's the sort of symbol that has rich meaning for others too.

E noho rå!

Putting Down Roots

Kings Theatre Creative, in the main street of Kawakawa, is my local gallery.  They close down over Winter for the most part, only running some workshops and programs, and this Winter they did some renovations, but then they open up in Spring and it's always exciting to see what new work and what new artists are showing!

They opened last weekend after a last push to get the floor painted (I rolled up my trousers and lent a bit of a hand) and it looks fabulous.  I have three works hanging on the wall and I'm pretty pleased with how they look.  There are a couple of smaller works in the cabinets from the same series too.

Roots by Charlotte Scott 14cm x 57

Above is the first work in the series.  Do you remember my 100 days project - 100 days of scissors and paper cutting?  The branch shape emerged again and again for me during that project so I wanted to explore it further, but in my favourite medium - fabric.

Some of my 100 Days of Scissors project

And of course I got to thinking about what these branch shapes mean, and how they are also root shapes, which lead to thoughts about how I'm always wondering who I am and whether I actually belong anywhere in particular, whether I have strong roots in this area I've been transplanted to.

Establish and Spread by Charlotte Scott 24cm x 85cm

Unfortunately these wide shaped quilts don't fit blogger very well, but they look pretty cool on the wall!

The second quilt in the series continues my pondering of putting down roots and then using these as a foundation to shoot away and 'bloom where you are planted'.  I was still working with the branch shape.  It's such a fascinating shape and the patterns are reminiscent of rivers, tributaries, neuron pathways - all sorts of meaningful things.

This one has some hand stitching on it too.  The cross stitching joins two pieces of the grey silk together and it was a bit of a metaphor for stitching together disparate parts of my history into the person I am today.

Establish and Spread - detail by Charlotte Scott

I'll show you another of the quilts in the series in my next post, but in the meantime, if you are visiting Northland, then call in at Kawakawa, use the famous Hundertwasser public toilets and visit Kings Theatre Creative and tell me what you think.