by Ruby Taylor | Apr 4, 2018 | All Journal Entries, Courses, Foraging, Wild Basketry
After a day of making cordage from foraged plant fibres, my grubby fingernails show evidence of all the separating and scraping. Once you’re committed to the steady, repetitive nature of prepping and twining cordage, it’s a deeply satisfying process. So...
by Ruby Taylor | Mar 9, 2017 | All Journal Entries, Foraging, Wild Basketry
‘Plants are integral to reweaving the connection between land and people. A place becomes a home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body as well as spirit.’ (Robin Wall Kimmerer) There’s an arable field margin under two ancient oaks that is species-rich with...
by Ruby Taylor | Oct 28, 2015 | All Journal Entries, Wakehurst: artist in residence
I’ve returned to Wakehurst on a bright autumn day to see if the rumours are true. One of my areas of research for this project was looking at nests. And that’s why I’m back today. I’ve heard birds have nested in the work I made. My godson...
by Ruby Taylor | Jul 29, 2015 | All Journal Entries, Courses, Foraging
It’s a busy time for foraging plant materials right now. The plants have made all the vegetative growth they’re going to make this year. And now they’re setting seed. Over the past months I’ve logged key spots in my mental map of the neighbourhood, spots where certain...
by Ruby Taylor | May 22, 2013 | All Journal Entries
At the 2013 Ice Age Art exhibition at the British Museum I spent some time studying the baked clay animals in the show. They’re mostly small fragments, around 2-4cm in size. Despite their smallness and lack of detail they’re exquisite and the essence of the animals is...