Inspirations, techniques and how their work is displayed in galleries were just some of the topics covered at Handwerk when jeweller Susan Cross and textile artist Sara Brennan discussed the interrelationships between their work.

Handwerk, a series of conversations featuring key European craftspeople, explored the complexities of contemporary craft and its precedents in Sweden, Scotland, The Netherlands and Czech Republic, and was held to complement Collect at the V&A in January 2005. 

Helen Bennett, head of craft at the Scottish Arts Council, who chaired the conversation, began by explaining why Scotland was included in the programme.  “Scotland is a particularly appropriate choice because its largest and most noticeable export has been its own people, so it has existing international networks.  It is also proving an attractive place to live.  A cosmopolitan community is choosing to settle there so it enables us to share in a conversation by two artists based in Scotland making contributions in an international context.”

Sara Brennan graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA Hons in tapestry in 1986.  She works in the same studio complex as Susan and talking about her work says “I like working in series as you can push the depth and push the boundaries.  I use the structure of an existing design.  The piece at Collect took two months to weave and was from a drawing.  Work is taken from a sense of landscape. It’s very abstract, a collective response to do with the sense of space of the area, the weather, and the response to the landscape, as well as a response to the materials.” 

She uses different whites to change the planes, and is interested in the horizon which moves when she works and can change with weather.  She produced smaller works for a while when her children were small but now they are at school she is working on larger pieces again.

Jeweller Susan Cross studied at Herefordshire College of Art and Design followed by Middlesex University.  She works primarily in precious metals using constructed textiles techniques.  In her studio she has objects around her that she likes and which feed into her work.  She has explored techniques of braiding, using it to add something else, and experimented with binding and wrapping.  She uses very fine wire which is made for her, which she quadruples up, and uses non precious materials to bring in colour.

She says “I am very interested in movement within a piece and how they work with the body and work with clothes.” 

For both designers materials are very important.  Sara seeks the right material for a specific piece, what the material can do and its specific qualities.  “You choose the medium for the design and concept” she explains.  And it is the same for Susan who says “I use the drawing to start and enhance it.  The material is integral to the work.”

Both also believe in the importance of drawing to their work and usually carry a notepad.  Susan explains she is always switched on and taking things in and can’t even watch football because of looking at the colour of the grass. The skill of being able to observe and hand eye co-ordination is vital to both of them.  Sara says “You have to know how something would work and you learn it through drawing.” 

They are both very meticulous and serious about what they do, constantly reviewing and re-assessing. “The older I get the more important it is to be able to make something well” explains Sara “I want to be able to say what I’m saying better.”

Discussing her work Susan says “It is interesting working with metal as it’s tonal.  I’m quite interested in using colour and putting one colour in with the greyscale or blackness of metal.  I’m very interested in textiles or clothes, as jewellery is usually on clothes, and the interactions between colour and skin.”

“Your thoughts change – refining, reducing and bring in things subconsciously.  In the winter I don’t want to do colour pieces” says Sara.  She also would not do something that wasn’t right even for a paid commission.

“I always know where a piece going, usually in a gallery, usually behind glass” says Susan.  She works with fine textures and surfaces and feels work with metal is hidden behind glass which creates a physical barrier.  She comments that European galleries at Collect openly display the jewellery and have a different approach to precious metal.  “It would be great to have it displayed in a more open way” she adds.

“It’s unusual in this country to do it” continues Sara. “I don’t like tapestry behind glass.  You have a relationship with the surface and if it’s behind glass there is a barrier.”  She also likes a lot of space around her work and finds some venues are better than others.  “American venues treat the work as a piece” she says “and don’t have this thing about applied or fine art so I usually feel happier with the way it’s shown in the US who treat it sympathetically and give it more space.”

Helen asked if they felt living in Scotland had an effect on their work and they both felt it is a great place to live with a very good lifestyle.  They both live in Edinburgh which they described as very European and small enough to work in effectively, while being interesting enough to attract interesting people.  However they believed Scotland doesn’t take itself seriously enough and they often have to go outwith Scotland for crafts venues they want to be in. 

Neither feels strongly nationalistic, preferring to see themselves as European and International in outlook through exhibiting all over the world.   While having a shared aesthetic, Sara said hers is linked to the Scottish landscape, while the environment didn’t influence Susan’s work.  They both travel quite a lot so have access to other aesthetics and feel it’s much easier now to live in one place and show in other places, accessing audiences through international shows.

Susan is currently curating a contemporary textile exhibition scheduled for the autumn in the Scottish Gallery.  “They were quite brave in suggesting a maker from another discipline to curate the exhibition” she says.  “I sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic in jewellery and it has been great to research other areas, and meet people and discover how the textile world connects together.”

The exhibition will show work by textile artists from Japan, Finland, England, The Netherlands and Scotland. “It was great to go to Finland and meet people and see the work” adds Susan.  She feels that in textiles, more so than in any other medium, you have to see the work, which usually does not come across in photographs.  

Sara has recently been awarded a grant from the Scottish Arts Council to produce a new body of work for this exhibition and for a solo exhibition in 2006 in the same venue.

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