The Nettle Spinner , Beeswax , photo on fabric , thread , on paper , 26 x 37 inches , 2015
For works such as The Trees of the Mind are Black and The Nettlespinner our working process was a bit different . For these works , Siobhán used Meagan ’ s photographs , printing them on fabric and sent them to Meagan for intervention . Meagan cut up and collaged the images onto encaustic painted paper , then sent them back to Siobhán who embroidered thread drawings onto the photos on fabric .
We are influenced by literature and poetry in our visual work . Many titles of the works in this series are taken from poems by poets such as Anne Carson , Sylvia Plath and Marianne Moore , while others are drawn from mythology and folklore . The Nettle Spinner takes its title from a Flemish / French fairy tale of the same name , a story that features a woman empowered by her skill with the spinning wheel after refusing the advances of a cruel lord . Potnia is an ancient Minoan Goddess , there is a small sculpture in the Archeological Museum in Crete from the “ New Palace ” Period ( c . 1700-1550 BCE ) of the goddess with arms upraised , serpents in her hands . The Potnia tree is a stand in for Potnia , and at the same time , the body of a woman , inexorably overcome , but standing straight , arms raised wide .