A Process of Self-Definition

Artist MARGARET GOSLEY is showing her works in felt and poetry at An Tobar this month.

MY TEXTILES are not meant to illustrate my words nor do my words explain my textiles.

These are two parts of the one process; a process of self-definition.

I have always felt that if I could just pin down my responses to life with those little black scratches on blank paper; like a lepidopterist trapping and pinning butterflies; then I would arrive at the essence of things; know what was true, for me at least. In this way words have always been a part of my need to strip away and define what is essential.
 
 So it is with textiles; using them in my art is not about decoration or ornamentation. I have a need to define, to start at the beginning of things. In textiles raw wool is the essential fibre, a starting point. The transformation of wool into felt; into a material that can be pushed, pulled, shaped and coloured with dyes, is a journey. The fibre has to be worked long and hard and in the process of making a piece of felt it begins to speak to you through your hands.

There is a relationship between this hand working of the wool and the resulting felt. It is unique to the hand that made it and so it is with words. For me the act of making art is essentially one of self-definition. It is the way in which I test my own responses; how I present myself for closer inspection. This is who I am; this is how I experience the world. I have tried to strip back, to be honest, to arrive at the beginning of things. It is the only place I trust.

“Where the Land meets the sea – an interpretation in felt and poetry” is at An Tobar Art Centre Tobermory, Isle of Mull, until 30 October.

© Margaret Gosley, 2004
 

Related link

• An Tobar website