“A sense of the primitive, of having been unearthed, time-worn artefacts, rawness of material, historic reference.”

— Ann Symes, Gallery 57

The inspiration for my work has always been the land and using natural earth pigments connects me to the land. For the ‘Unearthed’ exhibition at Gallery 57, I wanted to get beneath the surface, go back in time and dig more deeply into the concept of ‘unearthed’. Three pathways emerged…

Sacred Ground

Parts of these Isles are important to me and were also important to our ancestors. I considered pre-Roman Britain, the ancient ways, the sacred sites, the beliefs, rituals and burial grounds. This led me to the grave goods or findings that might be discovered in the earth, and so I commissioned Sylvia Quinnell to make me small silver and bronze artefacts to stitch to the cloth.

I also excavated an old French grain sack from my cloth stash, raw and time-worn with some lines of faded blue warp thread. I took this with me to a three-week retreat in north-west Scotland – a truly ancient and (to me) sacred land of gneiss rock, peat and water. Through intensive stitch, the cloth became ‘The Land, the Lochs, the Rivers and the Shore’.

**‘The Land, The Lochs, The Rivers and The Shore’** (free hung)
Antique jute grain sack on pigmented canvas, thread, 86cm x 73cm

**‘Ancient Ground’** (free hung)
Pigmented linen, bronze, thread, 51cm x 101cm

'Ancient Ground', detail 1, Claire Benn for web.jpg

'Ancient Ground', detail 2, Claire Benn for web.jpg

**‘Sacred Ground’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, gold leaf, thread, 55cm x 55cm

**‘Ghosts & Grave Goods’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, bronze & silver, thread, 55xm x 55cm

**‘Argentum’**
Pigmented linen, silver leaf thread, 35cm x 93cm

**‘Argentum II’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented & raw linen, silver, thread, 40cm x 97cm

**‘Sieving out the Silver’**
Pigmented linen, silver, thread, 35cm x 65cm

time and weather

Over time, the weather batters the landscape and what exists within it, revealing what might normally be hidden from view. The wind strips the leaves from the trees, shaping and distorting them. Rain pours down and erodes the earth and rocks, revealing root systems or treasure such as a seam of iron ore. Things decay and disintegrate. As a result, I made several pieces that reflect what time and weather can do.

**‘Winter Rowans (the tree of protection)’**
Pigmented linen, thread, 55cm x 55cm

**‘Winter Birches (first tree of the Ogham)’**
Pigmented linen, thread, 55cm x 55cm

**‘Isolated Shower’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, thread, 46cm x 35cm

**‘Above & Below’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, thread, 42cm x 32cm

**‘Parched’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, thread, 55cm x 55cm

**‘Decay’**
Pigmented linen, thread, 46cm x 42cm

**‘Iron Ore’ (SOLD)**
Pigmented linen, thread, 34m x 29m

Unearthed Fragments

I wanted to use earth in a different way, so buried antique French hemp in the soil over the winter, digging it up in April to discover it had been delicately tinted and eaten away – these became my ‘unearthed fragments’ to which I added artefacts or findings, and stitch.