Time and Process -Buries Project

Time and Process - Buries project, is a documentation of my journeys and choice of travel, memories of a special day, of searching, creating and connecting with the landscape.

A journey in time, a memory of a day, a creating and making process, left but not forgotten behind and retrieved after a period of time.

I filmed my documentation videos with a simple SLR digital camera, no tripods or lighting but only using rocks, or trees to tie or balance the camera on in the spaces that I made the objects. Sometimes I hand-held the camera during the time period I was sketching or making. I searched and explored many places along the coast and in the landscape in the UK and Scotland to find the right location for this investigation. I reached my special sites by kayaking, cycling deep into woods and walking into meadows and mountains. Each bury has an origin of birth and a memory of the day I spent in that place. My ‘bury’ is then left to the elements of weather to change and decay in time. I create my objects with organic or natural materials that will not be harmful to our environment.

A sunny day in June, kayaking along one of my favourite hidden beaches, underwater worlds, pebbles and coastal flora. Returning 4 months later in September. Lucky stones, silver, and yellow flowers growing out of the stones.

A wander through a grassy early summer meadow, abundant with summer wild flowers. Sketching Yellow Flag Iris, and looking for a secret place. Returning three months later in early September. Twigs, paper sketch of Yellow Iris, found sheep wool and tree bark.

Connecting with the Rowan Tree. For the ancient Celts,this is a sacred tree with protective powers to ward off evil spirits. I visited this tree in a special place on Isle of Skye. Weaving braids from natural yarns, twigs and branches in the late summer, returning mid-winter.

Echoes and Threads Exhibition April 2024

When we visit a place, we are only there for a day, an hour or a moment in time. In this project I capture my memory of that time and place by making a small piece of art. But what happens if I leave that artefact behind in that place after I have gone away. I am leaving the memory of my time there in that place. After a period of days or months I will return and rertrieve my artefact after the elements of weather, wind, water and sunlight have changed it, physically over time. I call these artefacts my ‘buries’, as they are exactly that, buried or hidden in our natural landscape.