OSCAR CRABB
My practice champions time and patience. Each piece of fabric is hand cut, hand dyed, hand sewn. The process is as organic as the materials used.
“All the fabric I use is second hand. The repurposing of domestic fabrics is integral to my work; the fabric has been used, worn down and softened by past hands. Bringing the history of each together in my work, along with these historic dye techniques, is an interesting amalgamation of the past.”
Using natural dyes is a constantly engaging process. Each step: sourcing and weighing the dye, preparing and mordanting the fabric, preparing the dye bath, monitoring the colour as it develops, adjusting the pH - requires focus and time. In spite of this, a level of unpredictability remains. Sometimes a colour just doesn’t work out, and so it is impossible to accurately plan an image before I make it. Instead I start with an idea.
All the dyes come from plant or mineral sources. All the fabrics I use are antique linens, usually of French, Belgian, or Irish origin. Occasionally I’ll use a British wool blanket for some dyes.
To get ideas I just walk or run and let a basic image come to me. I’ll do a quick sketch of this and leave it for months, maybe longer. Sometimes I’ll come back to it, sometimes I’ll merge it with an image I’ve seen online of a bird or something. There is never a eureka moment when I’m making work, instead it’s a slow process with small changes happening here and there.
When I started making this style of work, I wanted to use historic textile methods and the techniques, and fuse it with contemporary pectoral styles that I had been studying at the Slade. This is still something I’m working on, that will keep evolving as I develop new techniques to apply colour to cloth.
The works in this collection are more visual than they are practical, however they do serve an important purpose. To hang one in your home is to hang, not only a piece of domestic history, but also a reminder or souvenir of nature. The purpose of the work is to encourage people to appreciate the natural world, and question our dependance on synthetic materials.
Oscar is a 2021 graduate of the Slade School of fine art. During his time spent studying, he became increasingly aware of the environmental impact of a lot of art practices (particularly oil painting) and developed a textile practice centred around the goal of being holistically sustainable. Oscar’s work has been collected by an international audience, and has been exhibited across London. He won 3rd prize in the ‘CreateCOP26’ competition held by Unesco and ArtPartner.
