An Interview with Weaver Lizzie Farey

‘Sanctuary’ a Solo Exhibition

15th September - 11th November 2022

Lizzie Farey’s process starts at her home in the rolling hills of Scotland where she grows and harvests her own Willow which in turn is beautifully woven into fluid and organic shapes.

What was your starting point for the exhibition?

“Natural spaces and forms provide the basis and inspiration for my work. I am particularly drawn to the woodlands and wild places around my home in rural Dumfries and Galloway. I have always sought to create a strong sense of atmosphere and connection in my pieces, leaving the viewer with an impression of where I have been, and the solitude and tranquillity felt. 'Sanctuary' includes a body of work that provides deep healing and a sense of coming home to a protective and self-nurturing place. Weaving is a nurturing process and reflects a season of change and nesting. These ideas are mimicked in the tight bundle forms and shapes that aim to communicate and reach out to the people interacting with the object.”

What inspires your making process?

“I develop my ideas through the manipulation of natural materials; primarily, my work explores the mystery of nature. The objects allow me to express myself, not with words, but in the reverence of the materials and weaving process. The need to keep balancing and weaving twigs together is always present - to make sense of everything. I view the practice as a desire to manipulate the material into a beautiful object, working things out by using my hands and connecting with the material. The process mimics our internal way of working problems out but through the use of our hands. I start each piece with intention and have a direction; however, as the piece develops, I explore new shapes and forms, and you have to embrace the element of not knowing how it will look at the end! When it's finished, I look at it has something that pleases me; I know very well if it's not going to work and if it's finished or not.”

Can you describe your making process and the time that goes into each piece?

“There are a few stages to my work. Collecting the Willow and bringing it home to dry is extremely important to me. When I'm ready to create a new piece, I re-soak the Willow, so it becomes flexible and ready to use. I begin to form each piece over 2-3 days. Once I feel the piece is completed, I let it dry out completely in the studio for a few weeks. I embellish each piece with Bog Myrtle and Heather and coat it in wood wax to help nourish the Willow and add longevity so it won't need any maintenance.”

Where does your Willow come from?

“I grow my Willow near my home in Scotland. I love watching the Willow grow with its beautiful leaves blowing in the wind. During the winter, the Willow gets cut and brought home. This process is intertwined into my being, the process of growing and bringing it home to craft objects with. Throughout the years, I have travelled and visited extraordinary established basket makers who grew their own Willow. I was able to take a collection of cuttings from them to plant in Scotland and begin my own process of growing Willow. A favourite cutting in my Willow field is a fine beautiful French willow which is purple in colour and dries to a green-grey.”

How does your work help you connect to nature?

“My practice is deeply connected to nature. I go to the Willow Fields and watch it grow. I spend time in the fields, drinking coffee and find this a deeply healing and connected time. In the winter, when they get cut and brought home, I deeply understand the cycle of growing and gathering. A self-sustaining and natural process has built a love and respect for nature. I feel a lightness, an ancient way of being and an internal exploration into the beauty of working with natural materials.”

“Gathering Materials, even one single wild daffodil, watching insects and birds and butterflies in the willow fields convey all the answers and inspiration for my work and life. My work, in turn, expresses the wildness of nature, the beauty, tranquillity, solitude and harmony that contribute to a balance in the world.”

How would you like people to feel when interacting with your work?

“I want my objects to help people imagine a place where they feel calm and rested. I want people to feel a sense of serenity around the objects and see them as an Anchorage from which they can thrive, whilst feeling the sense of tranquillity and solitude that when into the making process.”

“My work also aims to help people express who they are through objectivity, in a way that words cannot! This is an outward expression of our internal thinking, emotion and desires. A sense of self. The work provides an inner safe place, a sanctuary where I can develop these ideas and reach out to others. Making these objects using materials collected from the willow field, wild marshlands, moorlands, and further rolling landscape outside my studio, I seek to immerse the viewer in that landscape.”