Sheila Sather - Nature Table

My son, who is studying Astrophysics, requested a sun for his birthday, complete with solar flares.  I learned to gild in in 23 carat gold to reflect this.  Sharp eyes will spot a tiny acorn on its own; the Transit of Venus,  when the planet Venus passes across the face of the sun.

Acorn cups gilded with gold leaf

A dynamo is an electric storm of whirling copper wires. What happens if the wires are replaced by a cyclone of copper acorn cups? Acorn cups, gilded with copper

Swirling circles of different seeds evoke the idea of movement. Inspired by the journey seeds take from parent plant to the soil.

Various seeds native to the British Isles

2017

Inspired by the eclipse of 2017, this piece shows poppy crowns of two different colours arranged in overlapping circles.

Poppy crowns, handmade paper, glue.

2017

Acorn cups carry their own seeds but this work shows acorn cups as a receptacle for the seeds of other plants.  

Marigolds, willow, allium, ivy berries, acorn cups, chia seeds.

2017

A collection of found objects picked up on my walks. I isolate the objects from their original natural environment and arrange them in a grid, in order to compel the visual mind to see them afresh.

Based on Miller William's poem "Compassion". 

“Have compassion for everyone you meet,

even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit,

bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign

of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.

You do not know what wars are going on

down there where the spirit meets the bone”

Tiny holes drilled into the bottom of acorn cups and blackthorns pushed through these holes and then through the mulberry silk covering the bottom of each of the cups.  The spikes are keeping everything away from the softness of the silk.  Defending itself.  And the last two lines of Miller Williams poem are written around the outside.  My daughter and I remind ourselves of this poem when we encounter spiky people; to consider what they may be protecting.

White oak acorn cups, blackthorns, mulberry silk fibres, handmade paper. 

A cache of hazelnuts was found under a compost bin.  It is possible to identify what ate the hazelnuts by the shape of the opening.  To accentuate this, the openings were gilded with copper leaf.  Can you see the tiny round hole made by a dormouse? 

Squirrels tend to split the nuts neatly in half.

Common dormice leave a smooth, round hole in the side of the nut, with tooth marks running around the inside of the hole.

Wood mice leave tooth marks on the surface of the nut and across the edge of the hole. The hole may be either circular or ragged in shape.

Bank voles create a round hole with tooth marks across the edge, but not on the surface of the nut.

Great spotted woodpeckers break nuts into pieces or leave large, irregular holes. 

Hazelnuts with copper gilding

Blackthorns held down by nettle string and a bluejay feather trapped between them.

Blackthorns, nettles, bluejayfeather, handmade paper

2017

Objects found over many months of walking and seeing the beauty in nature.

Shells, poppy heads, rosehips, acorn cups, bluejay feathers, rosebuds, blackthorns, rosethorns, willow, lichen

2017

Flowers and objects from the buttonhole, bouquet and table of my nephew’s wedding. Rabbit droppings from the field where the wedding took place are also included, as the rabbits were such a feature of the day.

Fibonacci sequences and spirals are found throughout nature, for example in the shape of pine cones, sunflowers, and conch shells. Here I have arranged the tops of seedheads of poppies into a Fibonacci spiral with a gilded acorn cup at the centre. Poppy heads and gilded acorn cup on handmade paper.

Nine objects found on country walks. Gilded acorn cup, white oak acorn cup, seed pod, seashells, oriental poppy heads, jay feather, rose thorns, ivy berries, blackthorn on wood fragment tied with nettle string, rose hip; on handmade paper.

Seeds. Pods and other objects found on walks. The layout resembles a Victorian tray of specimens, as one might find in a Science Museum.

The backing of this art work is a mirror, and it is intended to be used as a mirror. Beautiful objects are arranged and aligned with each other on tiny shelves. The mirror has a dual purpose: we show a face to the world, but we always have another, hidden side. This art work reveals the hidden side of the objects.

It was difficult to photograph with the mirror in place, so the mirror has been removed for this website image.

A collection of specimens such as you might find in a Victorian cabinet drawer in the Pitt-Rivers museum. The full title is from Rumi: “With love, thorns become roses.”

A collection of specimens such as you might find in a Victorian cabinet drawer in the Pitt-Rivers museum. The full title is from Lao Tzu: “It is genius to see things in the seed.”

A collection of natural objects, mostly found on walks. In this work the strict grid is relaxing, and objects are straying outside of the lines.

A collection of larger objects, some from the seaside, some found on the ground at Kew Gardens.

I constantly move pieces around until the whole artwork harmonises. It often takes days. I have called this "Board Game" because that is what creating it felt like.   Something wasn't working until I gave the sheep's teeth 24ct gold fillings and inserted them into the lower left of the artwork.  Finally the ordering relaxed into harmony and I knew it was complete. 

This work is made from nature objects I have collected in the UK and on my travels abroad.  While filing the razor shell I collected in Shetland, it broke in half.  I mended the shell with the Kintsugi Japanese repair technique, using gold.  I wrote the Latin names underneath, not to be technical but because the words have their own ancient beauty.  A few of the pieces are gently gilded, a quiet touch of gold.