More About the Work

The making and installing of Cross-Currents, Life as Journey

The fleeting nature of life is mirrored in the transient natural materials used in making these vessels. The subdued hues of ephemeral seaweed, delicate leaves and birch bark are juxtaposed with rugged elements of driftwood and prickly thorns. The materials themselves inspire an imaginary world, where miniature shell boats can voyage through the enormous sea of the cathedral equipped with tiny oars. The beauty of the natural world is celebrated in these vessels, where overlooked fragments, frequently trodden upon and crushed underfoot, are unveiled in all their transient splendour.

The construction of each vessel is in itself a contemplative journey. The landscape comes into greater focus as you search for leaves, thorns, seedpods, pinecones, seaweed, driftwood, bones, shells and fragments of all kinds. Finding the unexpected. Observing the colours. Walking through woods, along lanes, over moorland. Forever walking the seashore, the strandline, living with the turning tide. Hearing the cry of the oyster catchers as the light falls and the colours fade.

All the found materials must be processed before they can be used. The drying, pressing, moulding, shaping and preserving adds a constant background rhythm to the passing days. Slowly the materials come together. Sweet chestnut, silver maple, cherry leaves are formed into fragile boats. Masts of heather, dogwood, holly and briar rose are added. Seaweed, leaves and translucent birch bark are transformed into sails, attached with thorns. Driftwood is balanced and fixed to form the basis of larger vessels.

And now the magic starts to happen. Shoals of black catshark egg cases drift past a thorny dogrose mast, found in a hedgerow. Pilgrim boats follow in the wake of pilgrims from centuries past. Driftwood becomes a bird boat with a golden twig in its beak, its body a roundel of seaweed. A boat of bones comes to rest in the half light of the cathedral crypt. Two young sailors set sail on the altar steps, reaching across the wind and voyaging into the unknown.