Generosity is your Gift

Generosity is your gift….

Have you noticed that being generous often brings the most unexpected and wonderful things back to you? That might seem counterintuitive but I have found some of the most beautiful connections through giving my time or something material away - often to complete strangers.

As you know, I think very carefully about the materials I use and the waste that my work produces, but there comes a time when I have just far too many beautiful cotton paper strips to make in to notecards or weave in to baskets. I cannot bear to throw them in to the recycling box so I was absolutely cock a hoop to find a Facebook group for fibre textile and paper artists who wanted them to work with. I wondered if any one else would want them, but I ended up with a waiting list!, and I sent out several huge boxes of paper strips to artists across the country. this led me to my latest art crush.

Zoe Hirson was one of the first artists to respond.

Zoe gathers wood, paper and objects and crafts them in to the most beautiful pieces of visual poetry. With perfectly cut slots and windows to house tiny paper scrolls and miniature paper sheets on which she often writes the most poetic and personal words.

In turn Zoe sent on some of her paper to other artists, creating a chain, depleting her own supply, she generously gave them on.

I have so been enjoying watching Zoe’s pieces pop up in my Instagram feed and seeing all of the beautiful and clever ways she has incorporated the paper in to her work and we have stayed in touch through the magic of Instagram. I started putting together a special box of paper and other things that I thought would be welcome. but before I could send it off, this stunning piece of art arrived in the post for me! A beautiful wooden piece, with such a lovely colour and hewn marks - Its so tactile! and those beautiful little paper scrolls!! Soon it will be on my gallery wall in my studio (I don’t have one just yet but it’s so close) and when it is, I promise to share an image of it in situ.

So generosity really can be a gift. Zoe was very happy with her second box of paper. I’d included a woven a paper basket and notebook too for her and we continue our friendship on the gram. x

Zoe Hirson

London based artist brought up in South Africa working with reclaimed wood, metals and fabrics. Follow her on Instagram @zoehirson

“I just love the colour, shape and patina of this beautiful piece. The marks and the feel of the wood and especially those tiny scrolls of cotton paper that have come back to me.

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