When did you develop an interest in textiles?
My maternal grandmother was an industrial weaver in the North-West of England, which has a strong textile heritage. My grandfather, instead, was an engineer, so as a boy I played with cloth, stitch and weaving, but also wood and metal. Later at art school it seemed perfectly normal to integrate a wide range of materials together.
How would you define your work?
My work is interdisciplinary in nature: it is not uncommon for a wide range of soft and hard materials to be combined together in the same work. I am also interested in the dialogue between analogue and digital processes.
©Michael Brennand-Wood
What sparks your creativity?
Music, textiles, archaeology, travel, graphic notation, rhythm, calligraphy and the history of art. Order and chaos are two primal forces that I consistently work with. The writings of John Cage have exerted a long-standing influence on my interest in chance procedures to provoke new compositional possibilities.
In what way do you merge tradition with a new outlook on craft?
I have persistently worked within contested areas of craft practice including pattern, embroidery, lace, floral and primal imagery. I am fascinated by sites that offer unbroken traditions, cross-cultural interventions and a freedom to work outside the mainstream.