Quiet Collaboration
Connecting contrasting practices with a mulberry tree (2018)
A Quiet Collaboration was a creative collaboration between Sara and installation artist Stacey Righton. In the summer of 2018 they shared a period of intense making in the gardens of the Dartington Hall estate, the outcome of which was an exhibition in association with art.earth in Space Gallery, Dartington.
Both artists used their contrasting individual approaches and practice techniques, sharing an openness to experimentation and allowing for the unexpected. Responding to the same chosen site – a large mulberry tree beginning to shed its fruit and leaves – they worked side by side, unavoidably influencing each other and making connections. Stacey’s photography, sound, drawing, and writing illustrated an investigative approach to her findings in nature; Sara’s giant mobiles and detritus works on paper, were more an intuitive response.
Sara writes:‘The mixed media paintings and giant mobiles in the show are like living organisms, multilayered and colour-saturated. Histories are exposed through traces of layers or ‘lives’ seen beneath the surface. “Mulberry detritus” started out as a reworked, upcycled 15 foot circular floor painting, collaboratively-made by a group of young offenders. Visits to the mulberry tree, the physicality of Stacey’s juice-stained hands and her retelling of the history and symbolism of the mulberry bush, triggered a type of carnage in the studio! Tearing up, puncturing holes and slapping on layers of mulberry-hued paper led to a natural break away from my 2D habits.’
