Abundance - Apples - SOLD
By Vivienne Beaumont
Machine embroidery on cotton
Original artwork
Framed
Image size: H: 40cm x W: 40cm approx
Framed size: H: 48cm x W: 48cm approx
This image takes the symbolism of ripe fruit and the blossoming youth of a young woman and combines them into a girl climbing a ladder (unseen) and her face appearing through the tree canopy of leaves and ripe apples.
The heroine ponders the fruit she's about to pick that has become luscious and vibrant against the plain and leaved backdrop.
Viv weaves her own story into each picture she produces, relying on a rich web of iconography and symbolism and drawing heavily on folk tales and legend. Since her MA, she has been working with themes relating to the cyclical nature of female life and feminine archetypes.
Typically, it's richly machine-stitched, blended and layered, embellished lightly with hand stitch.
ABOUT VIVIENNE BEAUMONT
Vivienne's extraordinary textile work is shaped by stories and symbols. She takes inspiration from ancient myths, fairy tales and nature, from female archetypes and the process of transformation – growing up and growing old. Rites of passage, risks and vulnerabilities pepper her narratives.
Based on concepts she first developed during her MA, her visual stories are ripe with seeds, pomegranates and scenes of harvest and fertility. Textile pictures feature goddesses and their ability to relate to other people and other creatures.
Feminists might easily find an affinity with her work – and so might anyone looking for hidden meanings and intriguing imagery drawn from centuries of story-telling and emotional experience.
She starts with sketches and a drawing, transforming the design onto fabric in paint or by mono-printing. Using machine embroidery, print and collaged textile elements, she works with threads as other artists do with paint – blending, composing and layering. The results are visually stunning, as well as tactile.
“I try to capture something something of the folk tale or fairy tale: the jeopardy of the miller’s daughter, the alchemy of weaving straw into gold. These tales have endured the ages, suggesting they hold a deeper meaning for us. ...Mothers and daughters, love and rites of passage – the repeated cycles from one generation to the next – these loom large in my textile story.”
A former student of Fine Art in Cardiff and awarded a medal of Excellence from City & Guilds, Vivienne is a retired teacher based in Shropshire. We are honoured to be one of the first galleries to select and show her work.