Murmuration starling ..... Anita Bruce

All images by Anita Bruce

I live in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, on the edge of the Fens, but spend as much time as possible on my narrowboat Whisper on the River Nene, upstream in Northamptonshire. It’s only 35 minutes away by car (about 10 hours by boat!) but feels like another world. The river meanders through a wide, flat valley with big skies and this found a place in my Murmuration.

In addition to using the boat as an art studio, it’s an excellent space for tapestry weaving with great light, albeit necessary to weave on a fairly small scale! The riverside mooring is next to Titchmarsh Nature Reserve, a series of lakes fringed by reeds and rushes. These make an excellent roost for starlings and I have very been lucky to witness murmurations from the deck of the boat in the last few years. It’s also a great location for spectacularly colourful sunsets, enhanced by their reflection in the river and the lakes. I’ve used these memorable scenes as inspiration for my murmuration tapestry. The river disappears into the distance and the sun sets behind a small group of trees, turning the clouds and their reflections pink and purple. My murmuration echoes that meandering river.

The boat glides almost silently through the water and is an excellent vantage point for listening to and watching the wildlife and landscape that inspires much of my artwork and tapestry, as we cruise up the river and onto Britain’s famous canal system. I think, this is reflected in both my Waterline and Murmuration tapestries.

I consider myself a fairly inexperienced weaver, my total output barely reaching a dozen tapestries (although I do have a very large pile of learning samples!). I am still learning the technicalities, which I expect to be a life-long process, and still take many courses to improve my skills. Most of these have been virtual classes, which has given me access to a much larger tapestry world than I could find locally. The Waterline Project mentored by Joan Baxter and organised by Nearly Wild Weaving was a pivotal experience, introducing me to a wonderful group of weavers who have supported and encouraged me. Although an experienced exhibitor as a textile and mixed media artist, my Waterline tapestry ‘A Day on the River Nene’ was my first exhibited tapestry and it was real highlight to meet up with most of my fellow weavers at that first exhibition opening. One of the loveliest things was that, after all our virtual meetings, we met as friends not strangers. I am so pleased that we have managed to continue with a second project and build on those friendships.

Feeling in need of more of this face to face input, last year I enrolled on the Foundation Diploma in Tapestry Weaving at West Dean and have just graduated – I miss it already! Now my focus is more on design and finding my personal tapestry voice, although I expect this too to be a long journey.

One of the main delights for me was the subject matter. I’m a (very amateur) ornithologist and an interest in birds has been with me since I was a child. In fact, much of my textile art references birds in some form. Starlings were very common in our garden when I was growing up – noisy and entertaining - but over the years they have become much less abundant. It’s a wonder to see them in such numbers out in the countryside during murmurations, but a shame they are not as common in our gardens. The patterns they make as they ‘murmurate’ are truly mesmerising and the numbers involved (and the noise of their beating wings) awe-inspiring. Truly a spectacle and worthy of spending considerable time weaving!

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of designing and then weaving my tapestry. It’s quite tall (over 1metre) and with a lot of sky - quite appropriate in an area of big skies - but the potential for colour blending kept me engrossed. Mixing and making unexpected and subtle colours is one of my greatest pleasures as a weaver, I consider it a tapestry weaver’s superpower!

Designing and weaving Murmuration has reinforced the joy of collaboration and friendship!