Edith’s everyday office is her garden in the Picardy forest in France. What a lucky artist! Everything is functional with the meaning and the sense of her art. Edith makes flexible and modulable structures using different techniques of fibre art. Her art pieces are meant to be exposed to light, bad weather and everything that can happen in the open air nature. Her structures are introduced only for a season: in the forest, in the castles’ parks, in the cloisters of monasteries, and in the courtyards of museums. Her structures are never frozen, they nicely dance and vibrate with light and wind.
How did you start making textile art?
I have always valued the flexibility of textile materials, I enjoy handling them, but I disliked the common techniques. Everything changed, when by chance, I discovered the plaitings.
I could suddenly play with threads, freely and without any tools. Since then, I never got tired of making yarns and ribbons dancing under my fingers.
If you could chose any place in the world, where would you like to live?
I feel absolutly blessed to live in the perfect place, in the middle of the forest, not too far from Paris.
Which is your favourite piece you have made and where did you install it?
One of my favorite series is Impressions d’Halatte. I have done each piece during a special month of the year, I chose the colors and contrasts according to the seasonal environments and I selected a specific place in the forest at each time for ephemaeral installations. Subsequently I exhibited them all together in the Belgrade's Museum and they became a part of my indoor-lanscape Effervescence. In either case, I was amicably assisted and I attach great importance to this warm human side. Thereafter, I change their shapes and frames for new projects, and it is a big part of my pleasure.
How do you choose the perfect spot in nature to put your art in?
It is quite easy to find the good spot when I am in the forest that I know very well, for I walk through almost every day. Otherwise, when I respond to an invitation that offers me to create an installation for a specific place, I go there, on the spot, before beginning the project. I take in account a lot of aspects, I talk to people around, I take pictures and I then make choices. It is not so easy when I discover an unknown landscape, especially in case of bad weather; sometimes, I have to change everything at the last moment.
Where do you find your everyday inspiration?
My work is seasonal, for the daylight has a significant impact on my inspiration. My choices are really different in summer and in winter, but in every case it is always the space of the next Installation, with its attractions and contents, that is the starting point of a new idea.
You often use the sprang technique, where have you learned it?
I have discovered this magical technique with the Peter Collingwood's book. Over time, I have customised this plaiting dating from bronze-age.
From your work I can imagine you feel a deep connection with nature, how does it show in your installations?
Obviously, I do appreciate my daily surroundings, and I feel a deep connection with the forest, its changing aspects, its noises, and odors. It is all at once a shelter and an escape space, a place to explore or to experiment. It is like a huge studio wherein I can play with all elements of nature, and I summon the sun, wind and rain to give life to my structures that are never frozen. Depending on the daylight, my work contrasts and blends into the landscape, in this constantly renewed staging.
What is the meaning behind your work?
Playing with opposites, natural-artificial, continuity-brittleness, fragile-solid. I question the self evidences and certitudes. I use the notions of flexibility and transformation to share my vision of a world in constant evolution. When I work in a public space, I enter people's daily setting. Even if my installations are fleeting, they create a slight change of scenary for passerbies. During the exhibition's set up, I meet people from all horizons, these exchanges play a significant place in my artistic approach.
I can see an influence from Calder in your work, what do you think about his art? Was his work inspirational to you?
I like the colorful and joyful Calder's work, its lightness always in motion. I think his work enriches me, as do many modern or contemporary artists' work that I appreciate, even if none are directly inspirational.
How long does your work last outside? What do you do with it once you take down the installation?
My work seems really fragile and I play with this notion, but it is also strong enough to stay several years outside. As I do it for specific places, I try to choose colors, shapes and materials carefully according to the wind, the sun and anchoring points. From time to time, I leave my work on site for years. Most often, I get it back a few months later, and I give it a new life by transforming it. If the installations are ephemeral, the modules that make them are convertible.
