Artist Statement:
Roses were a frequent subject for Phoebe Watson’s tableware, tea sets, candy dishes, toiletry sets as well as vases such as this small vessel. It seems to contain more than its size would suggest, and thus came the idea of a “nest”.
For my vessel, I harvested bast fibre (inner bark) from the stems of 2 plants of the rose family growing wild around me in the Niagara Escarpment area. Wild raspberry (rubus strigosus) is native to Ontario while rosa multiflora was introduced and is considered invasive. I created a wire frame, wound linen thread and then random wove the bast fibres to create a lacy open effect for the vase. I nested handmade red and yellow silk roses inside the vessel.