Conversations: People, Places, Materials, Objects: A stitch to every sound

The 62 Group of Textile Artists is an artist-led group with an international reputation for professionalism and high-quality work. Its aim is to question and challenge the boundaries of textile practice and to encourage greater awareness of the art form.
The exhibition Conversations: People, Places, Materials, Objects presented by the 62 Group at St Barde Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington, Hampshire explores the working relationship the artists have with the world around them and investigates the creative dialogue that occurs between the artist/maker and the themes: people, place, materials, objects.
The writer Rebecca Solnit said ‘Conversation provokes response, not silence’ and the 62 Group members have been vocal in their response to this theme. A conversation is, of course, about something and this brief has enabled the artists to create a dialogue with their own perceptions of the world to fully understand how the world actually is. Materials have been selected as a metaphor for thoughts and ideas related to the relationships that humans have with each other.
In my work selected for the exhibition the continuous and dynamic relationship I have with places, both urban and natural, has been explored through the artwork A stitch to every sound: St Barbe Art to enable me to understand more about places to which I listen. The artwork consists of stitched responses to various listening locations at St Barbe Art Gallery. Using on-site sound recordings sourced from the gallery I immersed myself in the audio whilst sewing, experiencing how ambient and incidental sounds connect us to other people, materials and objects within and beyond the gallery space.
Whatever the exchange and however it has been articulated, Conversations: People, Places, Materials, Objects has inspired myself and other 62 Group members to express their working relationship with the world around them with work that is diverse, ambitious and innovative.