Arty Wood Walks

Helen den Dulk - Illuminated Tree Twirls (Seed of Life)
Helen is a Milton Keynes based artist born in Australia. Using her favourite range of warm forest colours of reds, golds, greens and browns she sews and crochets objects which break away from the conventional ways of making with fabric and fibre. Supported by our resident artist Maryam Smit, the installation of the illuminated twirls will reflect Islamic inspired sacred geometry based on the Seed of Life. The weekly walks in the park helped inspire the women from local communities to make decisions about the colours, shape and ‘movement’ of their twirls and the tree sculpture as a whole. By incorporating their cultural signature into their twirl, individuals and as a group, discovered that the lights themselves have spiritual significance, representing aspects of their personal journeys.

Hilly Edwards - Felt Hanging: Hiyat (Flower of Life)
The curtain of felt leaves and flowers were handmade by women in Milton Keynes, at artist led weekly workshops throughout April. The felt hanging is a celebration of the spring environment of Howe Park Wood inspired by Islamic craft traditions. Felt making is a slow repetitive process using sheep’s wool fibres dyed in different colours.

Maryam Smit – Flower of Life Grid Design
Using the felt leaves and flowers produced by the women, Maryam Smit designed the grid for the installation. The grid reflects Islamic inspired geometry based on a hexagonal mathematical pattern.