Louise SAXTON

UPCOMING EXHIBITION - Sanctuary at Heide Museum of Modern Art, www.heide.com.au/ Melbourne 24 Mar - 29 July 2012.  This body of work reinterprets historical paintings of birds and insects in reclaimed needlework, evoking a sense of recollection and potential loss. (Sanctuary is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria).

My work draws on and reinterprets the domestic-art traditions which I was surrounded with growing up - such as knitting, crochet, embroidery and quilting.  My practise involves salvaging and reconstructing the detritus of home for art and over the past decade this has included several large installations made from patterned everyday business envelopes; vintage wallpapers and more recently; the disinherited needlework of others.  Intricate patterns or large motifs which draw on the decorative arts of both eastern and western cultures seek to transform, as well as reflect on, home-making within a contemporary art context. My current body of work reinterprets natural history and botanical paintings, reflecting the potential loss, of both species within the natural world and traditions within the home.

• Craft and object
• 3 D (sculpture/installation/public art)