Samhain: The Sacred Dark, Joanne Lamb

7 Jan-22 Mar 2026

Overview

Joanne Lamb is an Irish maker with an MA in Textiles from the Royal College of Art. Her practice draws on woven textiles and basketry techniques to create delicate, sculptural vessels shaped through close observation of the natural world. Guided by the changing seasons, her work translates nature’s quiet abundance into forms that mirror its rhythms, textures, and subtle beauty.

This body of work is inspired by Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), the Celtic festival marking the close of one year and the beginning of another. As winter approaches, the land slows: leaves fall, trees stand bare, and the earth withdraws into rest. These acts of release acknowledge endings as necessary and generative, reminding us that darkness holds both purpose and potential. The vessels, in turn, reflect this seasonal pause, embodying cycles of change and renewal while inviting a deeper connection with nature. They create a space for contemplation and offer a quiet homage to the earth’s wisdom as it waits, transforms, and prepares to begin again.

The works are woven from tatami paper yarn and painted with botanical inks, shaped using a random-weave basketry technique around varied formers. Japanese paper starch strengthens each structure before natural textile yarns – including wool, mohair, silk, and linen are interlaced, knotted, and wrapped through the surface. Colour and texture emerge as tactile references to place and memory, evoking impressions of land, foliage, and weathered ground.

Poised between fragility and resilience, these intimate vessels evoke the quiet presence of nature – objects one might stumble upon among garden flowers, later brought indoors and treasured. Through slow making and attunement to the seasons, the work invites us toward a more mindful, harmonious way of living.