BRAMBLE

Bramble (2016)
Graphite on paper
Each sheet: 150 x 150 cm

Bramble (2016) was made as a contemporary response to aspects of John Ruskin's ideas on drawing for the exhibition In the Making: Ruskin, Creativity and Craftsmanship curated by Museums Sheffield.

Informed by visits to Uncllys Farm in the Wyre Forest, the work depicts a single bramble plant at a 1:1 scale.

Uncllys Farm in the Wyre Forest is a place that holds lasting connections to John Ruskin via the Guild of St. George. Part of the land, managed as an oak forest, had recently been felled and the experience of walking through this clearing was the impetus for making the drawing. Brambles had begun to occupy this area, meandering across the newly vacant ground and tangling through stacks of branches and logs. The drawn bramble's progress across the geometric white ground of the paper brings with it a pictorial space of depth and shadow. The interpretation references Ruskin's attentiveness towards small details of the natural landscape in his approach to drawing.