Ann Sutton pushes the boundaries of what can be ‘woven’ with endless experimentation and how the necessary geometry of warp and weft can become the starting point for a wider enquiry into systems, pattern, order, balance and harmony. She explains:
My work often starts with the material and its properties. Once we have played, and are in tune, the material will provide parameters: instructions to the user. Bells ring.
There is hardly ever a finished image in mind. That arrives via a merge of material qualities/related numbers. It is always a surprise, and comes from health/honesty. Never in an attempt for 'beauty'. Techniques rarely have names, because I am inventing the way of working to work with the chosen material. I invent them to suit the material.
However, I am deeply committed to the structure of weaving and to enlarging its possibilities. Some weaves are possible only with handwork. Others are possible only with the help of a computer connected to a digital loom. But warp and weft are constant, and usually at right angles to each another.
Where I use colour it is not in any aesthetic way, but as a locator and to differentiate. Sometimes the results are aesthetically interesting, even pleasing, and that may come though healthy relationships of material and concept. If it does then that is a bonus, but it is never an aim.
Areas, spaces, colour: all depends on comparison/ identity. I am always searching for new structures and materials. The narrative is in the making. Nothing is accidental or aesthetic.
Ann Sutton, 2021
