Vivienne Beaumont Shropshire, United Kingdom
I am a textile artist. I work with imagery and themes relating to the cyclical nature of female life and archetypes of the feminine. My interest in the ephemeral nature of life and the feminine is symbolised in the use of flowers and in the cornucopia of harvest, where I use gold as a metaphor for transformation.
The ephemerality and cyclical nature of life is at the core my textile practice. My work sits within the genre of narrative stitched textiles. It references the figurative, the mythological, nature, female archetypes and the theme of transformation. The portrait becomes a shadow of someone who once was, their fleeting youth and beauty symbolised in flowers. Harvest, seeds, barley and pomegranates represent both life force and loss. Archetypal theory and mythology use the goddess to denote the cyclical nature of female life. My practice uses machine embroidery and print to tell this personal and universal story through symbol and thread.
Drawing and design are key to my practice. Seeing and looking, then editing, composing and interpreting. Most important for me, is a need to refine, to step away and come back to see anew. I always start with a drawing, which I then develop with Photoshop. I transfer my drawing / design onto fabric with printing methods. I like the serendipity and creativity that I can generate by handling the fabric, cutting and collaging fabrics to allow creative changes.
