Arts Thread

Welcome to The Valley of the Tallest Waterfall! You’ve chosen a great moment to join us, as Pissario, the giant fish, has just arrived on his annual migration. After swimming upriver for many weeks, he’s finally reached the Valley and is relaxing before he begins the arduous next stage of his journey, leaping up the waterfall to the pools beyond. His old friend Abigail, the anemone, who lives here permanently, is always excited for his arrival, as he brings exotic smells and tales of far away. Josephine and Fineas couldn’t wait to see Pissario, as they are very young and only have hazy memories of meeting him last year. This year Abigail has brought Nyathic, a scientist newly arrived in the valley, who is fascinated to discuss Pissario’s travels beyond the Tallest Waterfall’s pool. The Valley of the Tallest Waterfall manifests in our world as embroidered sculptures. In In The Tallest Waterfall’s Pool, each creature is one-third life-sized, giving the viewer a window into this new fantasy world. Gwyneth uses hand embroidery and textiles to give her creatures life and personality, exploring her materials’ undeniable physicality and material presence. In In The Tallest Waterfall’s Pool, Gwyneth’s choices of materials reflect her characters; for example, Pissario is made of strikingly different materials from the other creatures (velvets and feathers compared to leathers and organzas), because their species evolved in the Valley whereas his did not. However, they all share common materials (such as metal threads and upcycled plastics) because they are all native to the same overall world. Gwyneth’s practice hinges on imaginative storytelling, frequently aiming to question binary boundaries between ‘real’ and ‘imaginary’, through the creation of a new, embroidered environment to create tension between the conventionally-real world and the new world of her own, to both surprise and delight.