Bethany Walker

Today, i was talking through my project and my ideas with David Wright from Wearing It, and he suggested i look at an artist called Bethany Walker. 

Artist Statement

Bethany revisits everyday elements from the built environment through knitted and embroidered threads and fibres which are combined with concrete and cement. These details interpret our often overlooked surroundings of which concrete and cement is a significant and fascinating part.

She uses the combination of hard and soft materials to explore the reversal of the traditional viewpoints of inside/outside and to highlight concretes new 'fashionable' status which has seen its development from utility to luxury. 

Bethany uses both bought and found materials which reveal the contrast of new and worn, bright and dull, man-made and natural, all of which feature in the built environment. Found objects are manipulatedthrough stitch, knit, and print to translate the marks of the ground.

After sampling with clay, i think concrete could be a really interesting material to move on to and to work with. I have never used it as a textile material before, but from looking through Bethany's work, the idea of trapping materials really appeals and i think would link in well with the cyclical process i'm looking at with Hotspur.