Flax harvest at Southsea Green, Photograph by Karl Bailey

Welcome to From Soil to Cloth

Alice Hume’s latest project, From Soil to Cloth, has – quite literally – seen the seed of an idea flourish into the full bloom of an artistic, creative, environmental and community endeavour.

Emerging from Alice’s vision to plant flax seeds in public green spaces to produce thread for weaving, her idea has ripened into an abundance of ventures. Nurtured by local volunteers who have helped grow and harvest the flax, creatives and public who have attended her workshops, artists who have worked collaboratively with Alice, students and their tutors who have used their architectural skills to devise plans for urban textile gardens, and naturalists who have shared their environmental expertise with her.

The project is representative of Alice’s love of textiles as well as her passion for the natural world, sustainability and the environment, and her desire to foster community creativity. This exhibition draws together the fruits of all those who have been involved and taken part in the project: it is a gathering in of the crops from what has been a bounteous year.

On display are paper nests created using a variety of waste materials in monthly paper cordage workshops that Alice has been running since October 2022. Comments from those who have taken part show how valuable the participants have found these workshops.

Photographs by Karl Bailey show the three public spaces in Portsmouth – Landport Community Garden, Southsea Green and Victoria Park – that have hosted Alice’s flax beds. You will also see here work by University of Portsmouth MA Architecture students, who have designed an urban textile garden using Alice’s brief. In addition, there is a painting of the flax harvest by Portsmouth artist and Hotwalls alumni, Steve Dodd.

A display of the flax seed to fibre process provides insight into the various stages through which the plant travels before it can be finally woven. Linger here to smell, to touch and to handle the natural materials that Alice has used in this project – it will take you to the earthy heart of the project.

The outcomes are shown of Alice’s work with textile artist Allan Brown and ceramicist Suna Imre, artists who also source materials locally and from the earth. Ceramic vessels on display were made collaboratively between Alice and Suna to combine local clay with flax.

Alice’s final artworks – three large weaves displayed on bamboo – demonstrate the diversity of colours, materials, symbols and meanings which Alice braids into her designs. Using a large George Wood loom, her weaving evolves organically and unplanned, with film and photographs showing her at work on the exquisitely hand-made mid-20th century machine. Finally, Alice’s interest for future growing of flax in Portsmouth in existing and new locations are underway, with an invitation to get involved by signing up to volunteer.

This exhibition is the beginning rather than the end of From Soil to Cloth; like the flax seeds around which the project grew, it will continue to blossom, and its shoots will spring up across the city and community of Portsmouth for many seasons to come.

Exhibition Statement: Alice Hume in collaboration with Catharine Russell

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