Susan’s journey into textile weaving began with the gift of a traditional 8-shaft floor loom. Prior to setting up her textile studio in 2016, she had been a clinician and academic in the field of public health. An ardent enthusiast and collector of textiles for some time, the gift of the loom inspired Susie to seek education in the processes and techniques of weaving. Today, she weaves full time for interiors, homeware, sculptural works and wearable pieces. As well as growing her own willow, Susie grows flax, which she processes and spins into linen. In her own words she describes her practice as: ‘exploring connections and synergies between loom woven cloth, and other natural fibres such as paper and home grown willow. The work speaks of a personal narrative about growing, harvesting, processing and making, with the maker as a constituent part of an ecological cycle.’
What Value does Craft have in daily life?
Craft is absolutely integral to my daily life. I can’t imagine not being able to make and grow. Growing flax and willow is part of my creative practice and brings with it an understanding of the land and seasons, the cycle of planting, cutting, harvesting , processing and then making. The sustainable use of plant material places the maker firmly within the ecological cycle, rather than incidentally somewhere on the edge, taking but not giving back.
A daily diary might include gathering stones, seedheads, wood and bark while out walking in my local area, the beach or the woods. These finds often find their way into my handwoven sculptures. Springtime is the time to plant flax seed and its pulled in late summer or Autumn, left to dry then ret and dry again before extracting the flax fibres by ‘heckling ‘and ‘scutching making it ready for spinning then weaving. The willows are cut in the wintertime and the rods left to dry before using time rods in my weaves. Sometimes the bark is removed from fresh rods in late Spring , rolled then dried, ready for soaking when I need to use it in a woven vessel or a handwoven screen.
I weave with natural fibres on a traditional Swedish floor loom in my Fife studio. Growing, planning, designing then making are all part of what constitutes my daily experience of CRAFT.
What does Scottishness mean to you?
The idea of Scottishness is for me a bit of a wispy thread that I can’t quite catch hold of. However, when I think of Scotland , the place that is now my home, it is the land itself that I’m drawn to. Scottishness must be about ‘what has made Scotland what it is today’ and rather than attributing this to Kings and Queens and colourful characters who have inhabited history books both old and new, for me its more fundamental, a recognition of the way that the land has changed over time and will keep on changing, geological shifts, forrest, agriculture and with it the movement of people overtime choosing (or not) to live and work in this diverse landscape, being influenced by the landscape but also as part of an ecological cycle, inhabitants effecting change both positively and negatively.
