Nest

The nest (probably a blackbird’s) was found on my allotment around the time I took the plot on, in autumn 2017. I kept it in the shed ever since, waiting for a suitable way of exploring and celebrating it. Unmaking the nest felt reminiscent of dissecting owl pellets, to identify what the owl had eaten. Now I could see what materials this bird had used. On sorting through and deconstructing the nest, categories of material were identified, leaving some loose and fragile debris. Material strong enough was re-constructed to form a kind of ‘flat pack’ version of the nest.

Nest was originally made for the Textile Study Group exhibition UNmaking and then joining the Wonder of Birds exhibition at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford.

A further set of responses to the unmade and reconstructed nest is Materials for a Nest, using the same materials identified in the blackbird’s nest and weaving these into a series of woven panels. This series includes works in moss, goosegrass and cow parsley.