Based at the organic sheep farm she shares with her husband, fibre artist Julia Mottram works with wool not as a material, but as part of a living system.
The soil, the landscape, the animal — each piece begins long before the fibre reaches her hands. This continuity lies at the heart of her practice. At a time when materials are increasingly synthetic or disconnected from their origins, she chooses to work from within this system rather than outside it.
Her practice exists between agriculture and artistic creation. As both farmer and artist, Mottram follows the material from its source, working with raw fleece in its natural state. Her works are wet felted in a single process, without addition or assembly. Fibre and base unite in a continuous making, giving the impression of a material that is still growing. She use only water, soap, and the pressure of her hands — it is here that time, labour, and craftsmanship reside.
Mottram does not seek to transform the wool, but to give it form while remaining faithful to its qualities, irregularities, and history. The works emerge intuitively, shaped by her prolonged presence within the same environment as the animals: the climate, the contours of the land, the light, and the structure of the soil itself. Through this process, her work reveals the often overlooked richness, complexity, and extravagance of raw sheep's wool.
@slowwooldesign
