Lizzie Farey

Saltaire Arts Trail 2015 - I was very much drawn, this year, to the sculptural works, many made of natural materials. These baskets and spheres are by the sculptor Lizzie Farey. Lizzie first learned the craft of traditional basketmaking and has branched out (!) into weaving these organic sculptural forms, drawing inspiration from nature and from a deep relationship with the materials she uses, many of which she grows herself. She uses willow, but also birch, heather, bog myrtle and many other woods from Scotland, where she now lives. The sphere on the right was my favourite - made of pussy willow, the white dots are the soft, furry catkins. I also loved the woven basket in the foreground of the large picture - it had a timelessness to it that was most appealing to me. It looked as though it could have been made at any point in history from medieval times onwards. 

Lizzie was exhibiting, alongside the stone carver Pip Hall, leather and woodworkers and a blacksmith, as part of a touring exhibition: Rural Craft Re-imagined... championing British craft and celebrating the contribution of heritage craft to contemporary design.