Description
Hand Gilded Limited Edition Print Ancestral Highways
‘At Dusk The Badger Travels Still,
Ancestral Highways on the Hill’
A limited edition 2/10 hand gilded print by Hannah Willow
Collect from gallery £135
Including UK delivery £155
28.5 x 28.5 cm including 2 cm wide oak frame.
Image 14.5 x 14.5 cm
I have a very close relationship with the land where I live. Wiltshire is an ancient and sacred landscape; many barrows, standing stone circles, and chalk white hill horses fill the landscape and are an ever present reminder of the past. The worked and carved silhouettes of hills changed by ancient people stand against the sky all around, reminding us all of the depth of history and knowledge held here. Hares and badgers live in close proximity and I often see beautiful foxes running across the fields.
From the outset, I’ve tried to bring this feeling of connection into my silver work and paintings and create a feeling of held magic, ancient knowledge and transformation within each piece. Most of my pieces are of animals living directly here on this land, but a few are of creatures now gone from these places.
Each silver piece I make has a hidden element, known only to me and the person who wears it. On the reverse of the silver are secret words, prose and phrases that link the animal or bird to the silver and connect the wearer into a place of remembering and recognition. Why use words? Words are magic and words are spells. Words take you to a place outside of yourself where the everyday does not exist, where hares can talk and bears can read the stars, where chalk horses come alive under the moon and gallop across the land. I want each piece to bring connection and magic and for the wearer to feel that every time they wear a piece of my jewellery, or see one of my paintings.
