MIRROR MIRROR ON THE LOG...

This post is about the fascinating work of the talented Lee Borthwick, an installation artist who is based in London and specialises both in interior and exterior sculptures. She is currently developing a new collaborative piece for the London Design Festival 2013 and she has recently been shortlisted for a commission for a park in South London. Her work combines wood and mirrors in such a clever and poetic manner.

I had the great pleasure - and fortune - to interview Lee. Please see below .

How does it feel to be a nature inspired artist/maker in this era of digital technology?

I, like many others, cannot help but be drawn to the magnetic pull of the internet and the endless availability of information but I am grateful for having the incongruent elements appearing daily in my life and having the regular reminder that nature is quietly working away. What I have discovered is that I can make both elements work for me. The digital age has played a huge role in getting my work seen and from the way it is received it would suggest that people still have a huge appetite for engaging with nature (just through different means). Digital technologies have also enabled me to give that contemporary edge to my work (laser cutting, water jet cutting etc.). It gives the materials a new voice and allows me not to fall into the hippy new-age trap which could potentially befall someone who likes to collect twigs on their weekends.

I have continually explored the notion of nature versus the manmade, the natural environment meeting the urban; digital technologies are another extension of this. I like to play one off against the other- I think the artist always needs something to rub up against to fuel going forward. There is however just something so beautifully inherent in being able to feel something in your hands and that would always stop me from going completely digital.

Your work enhances the organic beauty of mother nature by means of artificial input; do you think that there is a sense of nostalgia that comes from wanting to portray or contemplate nature in this way? And, if this is the case, do you think that who connects with your work shares this sense of nostalgia?

Nostalgia is a very strong element to the work, I don’t try specifically to define a memory though I am fascinated with the idea of creating “a sense of place”, a feeling of landscape or a memory of somewhere you once visited. I think the mirrors are, through an artificial input, creating a new and slightly out of reach environment, particularly when used outdoors. I suppose you could liken the impressions I am trying to make to childhood memories of running around the woods, climbing tree’s and summers spent gazing at cloud formations. Often though I am simply capturing new perspectives through unusual means and asking people to reflect on the surroundings that they find themselves in at the point.

People respond to the work for a variety of reasons, sometimes it is the intensity of the work that has gone into the piece that draws them in, sometimes the tactility and desire to touch, climb and be a part of the reflection. In that way it is interactive. Sometimes the tapestries offer the feel of bringing the “outside inside” fulfilling a desire to be a little closer to nature.

Did you anticipate that your technical training in constructed textiles and Surface design would land you right in the centre of the contemporary art world or was this something that happened unexpectedly?

I am constantly surprised at how things have panned out since graduating with a degree in textiles and surface design. The problem was that technical training never sat too well with me, I would learn the basics and then try and run with that. Surrounded by extremely talented knitters, weavers, printers and embroiderers forced me to examine the skills I did have and find an alternative way through the situation. I never imagined I would be working with some of the clients I have and in fact I’m the last person to whom I would have imagined to be creating commercially viable sculptural works.

Needless to say I’m delighted how it has worked out so far and grateful that other people could understand my vision when I couldn’t. Going against the grain and finding my own way seems to have been the key way (albeit frustrating at times) to pushing my vision and business forward. I never imagined that my work could cross the genres that it does from doing exterior public installations to a range of wooden tableware but I realise now that when you take risks and say yes to everything unexpectedly wonderful things will happen.

Mirrors are often employed as poetic, philosophical and psychological metaphor, they suggest something ethereal. Is this the reason why you chose this material and where does the whole idea of using them come from?

I often use the phrase “causing a poetic stir” when writing about my work, the notion has been integral to my exploratory installations that sit in the wild. Mirrors capture and dispel thousands of fleeting moments all of the time. I see it as a living textile as it can portray such a rich variety of different perspectives in different environments, at different angles and in different lights.

The idea of fusing pieces of tree to mirror was triggered from a day spent in Richmond park where I was experimenting with a variety of materials that would become new surfaces on tree stumps. I was developing a collection of outdoor seating for my MA collection at the time and it was the sheen on a piece of black rubber that made me crave something more reflective. Suddenly the notion of reflecting the sky down to the ground and creating a bucket full of trees was born. It was actually only after I had a mirror laser cut to fit a log that I realised how much scope the concept could have and the poetic and philosophical qualities that it brought to the work .

I haven’t delved too deeply into what it means psychologically when I repeatedly use mirror (I’ll leave that open to interpretation). Fundamentally I am a material led artist and aesthetics do matter greatly to my work. I just love how the two materials complement each other so well and how much room for development there appears to be.

Many thanks to Lee Borthwick for her participation and for such an insightful and honest response.