Nasc Assemblage

Working with different materials and bringing them into harmony with each other is a delightful skill to experiment with.

The various components have to “talk” to each other and support the focal point. They all have to be securely fixed with drilling, dowelling, riveting, knotting, wiring or glueing. Ideas start with establishing a secure base and allowing the piece to evolve.

Having a choice of materials to use is important and of course this leads to collections of items, boxes of materials and shelves of stuff with lots of space needed to store and stack things.

The joy of collecting is one facet of this type of work. I love finding bleached bones on the bog or on the shoreline and bringing home unusual shapes of driftwood or bog wood extracted from the ancient bogs around my house. Anything with texture that catches my eye comes home with me - bits of bark, dried kelp rods, oyster shells with barnacles attached. I feel like an explorer when I go for my walks with Inca, my dog. I always have a ‘treasure bag’ with me and hardly ever come home empty handed.

My studio has been described as “an Aladdins cave of potential”!