Vortex

Lewes Castle, Sussex.
Commissioners: South East Arts and Lewes District Council. Brief: To make a temporary installation sculpture as part of the Lewes Arts Festival.

This was the first really big woven work I made and I had no idea at the time if it would work. It was made of woven hazel and willow. The work was 20m high and reaches the top of the Barbican. To make it, the lower 1/3 was constructed and the top cone woven on the ground and lifted and tied with ropes into position. Scaffolding was then erected and the middle section woven to join the two together and the ropes removed. It received local and national coverage and generated a huge amount of local interest during construction. The nature of the site determined the scale and a small budget meant I had to make the work alone and with materials that were free.