Dawn Hemming - Spiralling Out
Trapezium Gallery were pleased to present Spiralling Out, a collection of knitted mandalas, by Dawn Hemming. Originally from Holmfirth and now based in Bradford, Dawn's work addresses issues of mental health in her work and uses creativity as a way to provide healing.
She explained:
“There’s a battle going on inside my head from spiralling negative thoughts that I find difficult to control, and knitting in the round has helped me combat that by giving me a way out. Mandalas exist to create a meditative process for those who make them or look at them. Knitting mandalas from the centre out creates endless rounds and rounds of stitches that are always moving outwards, like an expanding universe. As I knit outwards, the thoughts in my head also expand, and the more I create the longer the path is for my thoughts to move along, so it delays the mental repeat."
"Not only do I prevent my thoughts from falling inwards into a downward spiral, I look ahead to knit the next round, imagining the edge and then creating it, only to be replaced by another edge. The work could potentially go on forever and sometimes I only stop because of time constraints or the growing ache in my hands.
”
Detail of a Mandal, Dawn HemmingDawn’s work combines mathematical structure with artistic flair. She uses traditional motifs alongside modern ones, mixing colours like paints so that no two creations are alike. But the mandalas also have a very personal feel: “The colours I use are influenced by landscapes and locations so that many of the pieces have place names. Sometimes it is a person that inspires me so some pieces are named after people. The wonderful thing about that is people’s names are historically linked to places, so it can be hard to tell them apart.”
Mandala, Dawn Hemming
Dates:
14th May to 4th June 2022
Artist:
Dawn Hemming