After holidaying for many years in North West Scotland, 2022 was the first time Jo had been canoeing on the sea of Loch Ewe.
Creating short videos during a day on the water, she began to consider things that are immediately visible – the view, the surface of the water, the ripples and eddys; and those that are not immediately seen – the seaweed, the rocks and the shadows beneath the surface.
Filled with awe and wonder at what she saw beneath the surface, Jo was inspired to create her final collection for her Foundation Degree in Textile Practice.
Using an installation of 4 layers, Jo has explored the depths of the sea, from the darker depths where the sunlight barely touches, to the surface of ripples and reflections. Jo has investigated some woven shibori techniques, using a supplemental warp, to create a cloth with watery qualities, in pattern, colour and texture. A woven double cloth of monofilament has created surface ripples and gives a feeling of the transparency of the water, if only we would look. She has also employed Arashi hand-dyeing techniques on remnants of calico and silk organza, using the silk to create movement as with the trails of seaweed swaying backwards and forwards with the tide. She has used mostly dead-stock yarns, of cotton, linen, banana, silk and monofilament.
Jo Briscoe is a textile artist working primarily in woven textiles. She is constantly fascinated by the way threads can wander and meander across a woven surface in a similar way to ripples across the surface of the water and the shadows they cast beneath.
Jo enjoys using some ‘non-traditional’ materials to create 2D and 3D structures. She is particularly intrigued by double-cloth as a weaving method and the manipulation of threads. Her inspiration comes from nature; often things that are not immediately visible to the naked eye.
