Moon Weave
Creating, designing, planning, and running the event for Moon Weave was my favourite of all the interactive weave projects. The concept behind the moon was to explore how out of touch we are with natural light, the cycle of the moon, and so many skills we have lost from our ancestors.
Native Americans would use the moon to guide them on when to source crops, food and track the seasons. They even had a name for each full moon. Today, our lives are ruled by artificial lighting, with most of us looking at our phones throughout the day and before we sleep. We are so out of touch with the light of the moon and it’s cycle’s in modern society.
In keeping with the themes of our ancestors who would source crops, plants and food, the moon weave was created entirely from waste plants, including willow, bamboo, new Zealand flax, grasses and leaves. This enabled the public to weave with complete freedom, some created basket weaving techniques, whilst others wove vertically and some even plaited the plants.
It was heart-warming to see strangers have conversations with one another whilst weaving. People passing actively stopped to read participants messages tied to the structure.
The moon is the earth’s biggest influence, controlling the seas and tides. As part of the project Hotwalls Studios’ ceramicist Annie Flitcroft ran porcelain moon crater workshops alongside Charlie Leftley, who taught the art of gold leaf onto stones and shells found from the beach. Portrait artist Karl Rudziak captured the day’s events with charcoal on paper.
Materials
Willow - Tuppenny Barn, Emsworth
Dry Willow and plants - Jan Griffith, Little Forest Land Art
Plant waste - Waterfront Gardens Centre & PCC Parks
Dried plant waste - John the rigger
Garden plants - Carrie Swinburne, Hotwalls Artist
Garden plants - Chrissie Mcqueen, Hotwalls Manager
Warp - Faded ball of string that would have been thrown away
Paper strips left over from prints - Louise Braithwaite, Hotwalls Artist
Artists
Annie Flitcroft - Ceramic moon crater workshop
Charlie Leftley - Gold Leaf shell & stone workshop
Alice Hume - Plant weaving workshop
Karl Rudziak - life drawing
Incredible photographs by Alex Fountain.
“it has given me a greater awareness of the ways in which community can be forged and of the various positive things it can produce. The spontanuity of creation across so many hours with so many different thoughts and experiences and ideas coming together in an almost viscerally physical way was striking in its beauty. ”
“When drawing in public there is always a sense of performance involved. Opening myself up to scrutiny while I’m finding my way around the composition is always at first a little daunting. The interactive weave too, was a performance but with audience participation and the social capital it generated was palpable as I observed and chatted with the public. A great extent of my work is about social interaction and this experience ended up feeling natural, organic and the best part, inspirational.”
“People need to belong, to contribute and to work towards a common goal. This project included all of these elements. This event was the opportunity for individuals to learn new skills and develop ideas that they could take away and put to use afterwards.”
“what a beautiful way of bringing people together safely, we have loved learning to weave. Thank you alice”
“Life is a tapestry - beautifully woven, in every colour, every texture, every fabric - beautiful”
“work hard in silence and let your success be the noise..”
“Amazing workshops - making moon craters, gold leaf on stones and shells and weaving plants. All for free, learning new skills, meeting people, being creative. No better way to spend a sunny sunday. Thank you Alice, PCC and all the creative workshop people”
“I loved it - I would love to see more of this happening locally. ”
“It’s inspired me to plant bamboo in my garden to make basket weaving”
“Athene, Aphrohite, Gaia, Luna, Hecate, Hera, Circe. Women are powerful”
“Thank you so much for such a unique and very enjoyable workshop. I loved it! and now I want to colour everything in gold leaf. Today has been wonderful”
“There are always brighter days”
“It has helped me to feel part of the creative community in Portsmouth. It also made me realise that I actually can do artistic things! ”
“It’s inspired me to start a creative hobby”
“he’s a man we all talk of, but nobody knows the man in the moon. a new light on us throws”
“I had an amazing time, thank you so much! I’ve been really struggling the past couple of weeks and this has really helped me. Have loved all of it”
“There is always hope even in the darkest of times, one just has to remember to turn on the light”
“I welcome any idea that brings the Hotwalls artists together and I think that Interactive Weaves fulfilled that brief wonderfully. It invited conversation, created a starting block for coming together as a group and introduced the skills of the Hotwalls artists to each other.
I personally believe that ‘you get out of anything what you put into it’ so the more you commit the more you enjoy and understand and are comfortable with a thing. I did the very small sketch book to help me with thoughts and ideas, but it is just the way I like to work. The sample craters were actually part of the sketch book process.”
“Hotwalls - love seeing it used this way. Bringing people together. Made with love”
“Loved the way creativity brings such diverse ideas out of each person. Same items - such different ways or ideas on how to use it. Beautiful! Thank you for allowing us to be part of your project. Wonderful when we can come together to create something beautiful”
“if in doubt, ask the moon”
“There is water in each of us ~~ we are controlled by the tides and guided by the light of the moon”
“Love the connectivity and community involvement and learning a new skill”
“It was great how we could all get involved in the interactive weave and produce something amazing together. I really enjoyed being part of it. ”
“I think using art and textiles to bring people together is fantastic and good for the mental well-being. Society needs more projects like this: doing something which is enjoyable and creative, free and accessible for families/people.”
“Great as being a key worker this has given me thirty mins of me time thank you to everybody! ”
“It felt empowering to see how quickly something could grow when people work together. It made me feel proud to be part of the community ”
“What a wonderful project! Thank you so very much, it’s been a wonderful afternoon of creativity and learning new skills. Such a great thing to do for Portsmouth. Thank you!”
“This type of event brings the art out of the workshop and makes it accessible which is great for community and appreciating what goes into art. ”
“Its opened my eyes to a new textile art form”
“I want to recreate the woven moon in my garden!”
“Really fantastic event. Very community focused and inclusive. Thank you so much”
“The moon weaving was in a league of its own - not only did it look beautiful (we kept calling it a tree by mistake and I realised it’s because it felt like a living thing), but watching everyone so engrossed and immersed in what they were doing was utterly magical too
You have such a gift for opening people up to the wonder of weaving but also connecting to the gifts of their own creativity.
Thank you for bringing this into the world”
“Life is short. Spend it with friends who make you laugh and feel loved”
“Nature smiles green weave plant sun sea pebbles ice cream tea sundays shells”
“It inspired me to see what is possible in expressing creativity and how much I enjoyed the process of it. So I want to add creativity more to my life and see it as self-care.”
“In memory of keith”
“I feel more empowered to try new things myself ”
“Fun in the sun. Bringing people together. Amazing project”
“I took part with my 12 year old daughter and we had a brilliant time. Thank you so much for organising it!”
“We are all interconnected on so many levels, we have so much to be thankful for”
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