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Illustration: Dominie Nash. Big Leaf Impromptu #8 , 2008. The Big Leaf series of textile art pieces by the artist Dominie Nash allows us to see both the robustness of the natural world along with the delicate and transient character that we often associate with particular aspects of nature. Leaves seem especially poignant to us with their ability to haunt us with ideas about decay and death. However, leaves should also be seen as an aspect of the cycle of life, dropped leaves in autumn only showing us part of that cycle. Illustration: Dominie Nash. Big Leaf Impromptu #9 , 2008. Nash may well have been initially inspired to produce a series of textile art pieces using the construction, both delicate and robust, of a leaf, however the sequence of compositions that she has produced go a long way past any mere observational interest or aspect. These pieces have taken the most important features of the leaf from its complex colour tones to the emulation of the skeletal structure of the lea...

Illustration: Brenda H Smith. Strata 3, 2006. The textile artwork of Brenda H Smith deals largely with the landscape settings and environment of her native northern Arizona. Through a system of colour tones, textures and pattern, she is able to breathe life into the textile medium that she uses, infusing it with the in-depth characterizations of the environment that she experiences around her. Illustration: Brenda H Smith. Betatakin, 2007. One of the themes of Smith's work and the one I have chosen to highlight in this article, is that of geology. However, to be more specific, it is the layering of strata that the artist incorporates so effectively into her work. That is the process whereby different coloured and textured layers of silt, sand and mud are set down on top of each other over a time period that is so vast that it belittles our four million years or so on the surface of the planet. It is the geological map of the history of the planet, as well as the contours and undu...

Illustration: Terry Jarrard-Dimond. Crush. The work of textile artist Terry Jarrard-Dimond is one of precision both in colour and in line. It is not surprising to learn that the artist worked 3-dimensionally as a sculptor for many years before coming to textiles, as these five pieces by the artist shows. Each composition has a level of understanding and consideration for real penetration of the surface level, giving a natural feeling of depth rather than that of a superficial and stylised interpretation of 3-dimensions. It is fair to say that a creative artist with sculptural experience has a better understanding of spatial awareness and an intrinsic feel for dimensions and planes. Illustration: Terry Jarrard-Dimond. Little King. Jarrard-Dimond does not clutter her compositions with any unnecessary creative 'furniture', but keeps the work simple with shapes, colours and textures all adding their own significant contribution towards the overall composition. Rather than fill the ...