JUDE CRAIG – Eco Artist. Mother. Partner. Friend.

I met Jude 4 years ago when our children went to the same kinder. Over the years our friendship unfolded and I discovered a very interesting and beautiful person. I wanted to start my new blog with someone I knew and someone with whom I felt comfortable, Jude seemed like the right person. I spent a day with her at her Upwey studio and she showed me how she created her wonderful artwork.

Jude Craig

 
I begin my day by asking Jude, how would you describe yourself? 
"I would call myself a Eco-conscious Textile Artist! I am also a mother, a partner, a friend. I am a big fan of your artwork, also owning a piece myself, can you tell me about the work you do? My work is like breathing life into previously loved fabrics, filled with moments of magic, captured in cloth. My fabrics are naturally dyed, embellished with pigments from nature's cauldron, individually imbued with organic richness."

Hand dyed silk origami cranes

What drives your creativity?
"At different times I am driven in different ways, at the minute it is because when I create a piece of artwork, the satisfaction and the calm in my mind are incomparable to anything else in my life. When I finish a piece, when I struggle with it, when I pull, when I tug when I stitch, when I take it apart, when I put it back together!! It sometimes just appears from the middle of nowhere just as it happened today you got to see Jen! It is the centre of the Mandala piece when moments like that happen there's nothing else that I want to do more than that!!"

The fabrics drying out in the sun

Jude unwinding the twine

 

 

Time of unveiling

Jude removes the leaves and pods

How did you discover that this was your art style, your medium?
"I have always worked with textiles. I discovered textiles when I was in school and I knew I wanted to do study art. My art teacher first introduced me to a screen and I had never seen a screen in my life!! It was a screen and a squeegee and that was it. I just didn't want to do anything else. At school I would be in the mobile art hut every day at lunch, every moment I had... I would be there."

Its beauty slowly appears

The centre of the Mandala

Who inspires you and your artwork?
"India Flint because she taught me what I am doing now, India Flint has been a huge influence in my life and will continue to be. Richard Long for his poetry and artwork... Anish Kapoor, Andy Goldsworthy; they are the main artists that inspire me now."

http://www.indiaflint.com
http://www.richardlong.org
http://anishkapoor.com
http://www.wholeearthprovision.com/news/tag/andy-goldsworthy


To Follow...
A more personal journey with Jude