Pattern/Perspective: A survey of work by Lizz Aston

A word from the artist: Lizz Aston

In my work, I am inspired by the rich histories of textile production, lace-making and the decorative arts. Drawing from these themes, my work navigates the connection we feel to textiles–and textile-based pattern–as a powerful visual language that evokes memory and association. Focusing on themes surrounding knot-work and interlacement, my work explores the intersection between traditional craft practice and digital technology. 

In my work, I draw imagery from hand-made objects such as macramé and lace, studying their patterns and construction. These motifs are then digitally manipulated to create contemporary interpretations—new descendants of historical forms. By playing with methods of abstraction and incorporating handmade processes with digital, I deconstruct familiar patterns and reimagine them as large-scale, three-dimensional, distorted and exploded views. My work contemporizes historic textiles while exploring ways of abstracting them visually and materially to create new meaning for the viewer.

Optical Weave Patterns

This new series of work marks a departure from the abstract organic forms and saturated gradients that have defined my paper-cut practice. Inspired by the geometric precision and gridded language of constructed textiles, optical quilts, and weave patterns, my work engages in a dynamic process of constructing and deconstructing visual grids. Beginning with hand-drawn and digitally rendered optical patterns, I scale my designs before drawing and cutting the negative spaces to reveal intricate undulating forms.

Through iterative methods–draping, pinning and manipulating paper-cuts on the wall–I explore the interplay of structure, depth and shadow. Documentation, projecting and re-drawing allow me to transform ephemeral moments into flattened, re-imagined compositions. The use of flat, matte colours like ultramarine blue further emphasizes the rhythmic tension between surface and dimension.

By abstracting traditional patterns and creating fluid, sculptural interpretations, my work reconsiders the materiality of textiles and the optical sensations they evoke. This evolving series invites viewers to navigate the shifting boundaries between form, space, and perception, challenging conventional notions of textile-based imagery and the grid.