Fabrica was delighted to work with Annemarie O’Sullivan, a UK basket maker to present Cluster, a new site-specific commission for the gallery. A basket maker whose work ranges from small-scale domestic objects through to larger-scale woven forms, O’Sullivan mainly makes her constructions outdoors. From her base in Lewes, East Sussex, she draws inspiration from the undulating South Downs landscape and from the theme of shelter. For Cluster she says she started to think about “how people, creatures, and trees gather together. How we cluster together for protection and how, if needs be, we can become invisible in a group.”
Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the iconic Sussex gridshell structures at The Weald and Downland Museum and The Woodland Enterprise Centre at Flimwell, O’Sullivan has drawn inspiration from the two buildings to produce a site-specific sculptural installation of elegant, organic beauty. Cluster is a large-scale installation comprising a series of woven sculptures that allow the visitor to move in and around them. The work, combined with the architecture of the building, create both a social space in which to gather and play and a space of quiet contemplation. Cluster was developed from an original proposal by Oliver Lowenstein, editor of Fourth Door Review, the structures have been made using finger-jointed sweet chestnut supplied by Inwood Developments Ltd. www.in-wood.co.uk
Total Visitor Numbers: 10,495