Nicole Ionescu

Forest Kinships

"Forest Kinships" consists of many multiple woven and assembled pieces made up primarily of handmade embroidery, preserved moss, beads, felt and wool. It is an installation that is meant to draw the viewer in to looking around the space for more of the piece, as this work is typically installed in corners, on ledges, and on the ground, as well as on the wall. The piece is inspired by the crucial symbiotic relationships formed between mycelium, plants, moss, lichen, and fungi.

“My thesis work consists of multiple woven mixed-media pieces that are ever-growing as a way to explore the symbiotic interactions of fungi and plants on a deeper level that is beyond the lens of Western science. This piece expresses the intricacy and care that goes into sustaining relationships and community through the actions of weaving, tying, sewing, crafting and growing. The filament-like structures of mycelium, plants and fungi are connected through the use of textile fibers, preserved moss, and semi-precious stones with inclusions. Forest Kinships can accumulate in the smallest spaces, but it also has the ability to overwhelm the entire room. It grows through random additions done by myself, whenever more feels like it is needed. Every thread used in these pieces is a rich hue inspired by the colours I’ve stumbled upon during field research forays, adding detail with a single thread or taking up space and filling in shapes, delicate threads blending together into seamless shapes. The shapes and textures are also inspired by these forays, the crustose structures of lichen encrusting the trunk bodies of trees, the moss creeping and growing on the surfaces and structures, and the various casts of fungal characters. The beads are carefully sewn into place, their positions thought out and individualized. Each bead becomes its own character, a permanent and important addition to the constructed ecosystems. They also help give the illusion of moisture, which is a crucial part of most life, especially those that reside in the humid habitats of boreal forests. Felting into the embroidery allowed me to blend the fibres of my subjects together as mycelium would blend itself into the earth and the being they associate with. Each piece of jade, jasper and agate holds its own miniature world within a miniature world. The round beads scattered throughout the preserved moss and embroidered pieces possess inclusions that look like agatized pieces of moss and other plant matter, interacting with each other and the greater community. The preserved moss, which I believed to be dried sphagnum and reindeer moss, places it in its context, and mingles with the embroidery to create the fantasy of not knowing what is sewn and what is preserved.”