Flaxen

During 2024 Alice led a project to grow flax at Kestle Barton, on the Lizard, Cornwall. A series of hands-on events enabled others to come and help with the various stages of growing and processing, learning about this fascinating plant.

Alice received funding from the Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers to buy flax processing equipment and towards developing a new body of flax focused artwork. This new work Flaxen showed at Kestle Barton in 2025 , then as part of Northern Ireland Linen Biennale.

“Flaxen is the culmination of two years of engagement with the quiet, beautiful place that is Kestle Barton. The project grew organically, from tentative early conversations alongside visits to spend time with my daughter, then studying at Falmouth University. Workshops given in return for residency time at Kestle Barton evolved into the idea of growing flax on site. In the background, ancestral roots provide a layer of connection that strengthened the pull from my home in West Yorkshire.

Having focused my practice on one place – my allotment – for eight years, Flaxen has given me the opportunity to take what I’ve learnt during that time and apply some of it to a new place, a different landscape. This isn’t something that could be achieved with meaning in a short space of time. In two years, I’ve only scratched the surface. Visiting in each season, walking the same paths, observing and gathering materials, then slowly allowing an expression of that engagement to come into being: Flaxen is the result. This body of work, designed to fill the wonderful gallery space in these historical buildings, goes on later to be part of the Northen Ireland Linen Biennale: A whisper of this magical place sent out into the world beyond the Lizard.”

Footage filmed by Kestle Barton staff (below left) shows the ground being prepared for sowing flax seeds. An online talk recorded by R-Space Gallery, Northern Ireland, is available here.