Burdoque, MA Degree Show A Sharp Exhale, Summer 2025

Burdock burrs, Thistle, Sea Holly and Teasels; Sari silk and wire.  3000* 800mm

Installation shot of the MA Fine Art Exhibition: A Sharp Exhale, Summer 2025, RSA building, University of Reading

This piece is a homage to the burdock and its darkly sharp beauty. Its immense height and large wavy edged leaves convey the swirling manner of the baroque echoed in the black sari silk hang.  Its beautiful spikey burrs have tremendous staying power, making it the direct inspiration for sticklebricks and Velcro, yet it is often overlooked growing as a weed along roadsides and pathways. 

Installation shots, Burdoque, MA Degree Show A Sharp Exhale, Summer 2025

Burdock burrs, Thistle, Thistle fluff and Sea Holly, on striped cotton canvas and cardboard plinth. 1500*200mm

Installation shots of Burdock Biennale, the MA Fine Art Exhibition: A Sharp Exhale, Summer 2025, RSA, University of Reading

Tall as a pillar and biennial (it flowers every two years), Burdock’s green, blue, purple and later brown flowers group into clusters called capitula or capitals.  These sharp stickley burrs attach to the fur of people or animals unawares and contrast with the light fluff of the thistle.  Paradoxically it is known for its healing properties and is associated with resilience. I hope to have brought some light to its beautiful, sharp whimsical character. 

Conception and Making

Burdock carpet; Pillar in the Studio; Initial sketches and ideas with notes on the allergen properties of Burdock Burrs.

My son attached a handful of burdock burrs to his hoody – they had real staying power. Each plant has a unique colour and size and because they tend to line pathways and roadsides are often found beside thistles and teasels, so I gathered these too. 

Burdoque

I decided to demonstrate their strength by hanging them- a bit like an advert for a strong glue – so I wanted to hang them from a height.  I had been discussing the Baroque and how the excesses of the period had a parallel with our times and as I began to stick them to each other they formed a cornucopia so familiar to the baroque period.  Again, it was really just keen observation : the burrs had really found their own form.  I wanted to hang them to accentuate the baroque.  I first came to the idea of the curtain flourish and then the bell pull, both reminiscent of this opulent time.  The result is a fusion of the two and this is reflected in the name. 

Burdock Biennale

I made myself a burdock carpet with the remaining burrs – I like the idea of domesticity being prickly to the touch. I wanted to emphasize the beautiful aspect of the burrs themselves, I thought the contrast of the Thistle fluff with the sharp burrs was interesting too so I placed some on the carpet – the sharp burrs now hidden beneath a soft coat.  Overnight air had puffed the thistle fluff into a dome like structure and the connection had now come into an independent animation.  On researching burdock I found that the clusters of burrs were called capitals (as with the tops of pillars) and decided this was the way to present them.  A fabric pillar would also acted as a trouser leg on which the burrs would catch, so I gave it a running seam down the side and a turn-up at the base.  The fabric has a wide stripe as per a fluted column.

Review

The success of these two pieces lies in that they are unitary, light and playful.  I hope that the work is informative and mildly amusing.  For me it asks questions about the strength and fragility of our natural world and encourages people to take notice of what they see around them.  It forms a bridge between the abstract and the real. In this way, for me, it forms a connection between people, our environment, material things and ideas.

Up until now my work has fallen into two categories – the personal and societal (overwhelm and excess) and the natural environment (climate change).  The baroque is a period that in its essence fuses the two: it was a time of great acceleration, the world had expanded and the invention of the printing press meant that there was an information overload parallel with our digital world today.  It is also a period that explored nature and artifice artistically.  Engaging with the baroque allows me to fuse the above two categories.