ALL THINGS WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
In a bold reimagining of a popular craft, artist Shauna Richardson has created ‘crochetdermy’ – an extraordinary world of curious woollen creatures
Welcome to ‘crochetdermy’ – an extraordinary world of curious woollen creatures
words by sally coulthard photographs by graham atkins-hughes
Tucked away in a studio at the bottom of her garden, Shauna Richardson is rifling through a box of glass eyes and teeth, looking for the finishing touch for her latest creation. On the table lies a fox’s head, beautifully crafted and anatomically perfect, waiting patiently to have his ears attached. It’s quiet but Shauna’s not alone. On all sides, she’s watched. Every inch of floor and wall space is occupied by life-size crocheted animals. From stags’ heads to tusked boars, donkeys to brown hares, this curious collection of woollen creatures is the result of just one woman, a 3mm crochet hook and miles of mohair yarn. It’s like a hunter’s gallery, wild menagerie and textile workshop all rolled into one. On one hand, Shauna’s medium and method are deeply traditional and yet the results are about as far away from conventional wool crochet as you can get. And that, she says, is exactly the point: “As an artist, I’m interested in taking established ideas and turning them on their heads. Crochet is often viewed as an old-fashioned, simple craft. I wanted to see if I could do something more radical and surprising with it.” The resulting ‘crochetdermy’, a term coined by Shauna, blends taxidermy, crochet, sculpture and conceptual art to produce remarkable results.
Shauna’s creations are both startling and utterly captivating. Part of their appeal is her meticulous attention to detail and understanding of anatomy. With a background in fine art, and years spent painting life models, it’s clear that she’s comfortable with form and physiology. “Over the years, I’ve perfected my own freestyle technique,” she explains. “I buy harsh, scratchy yarns to avoid making soft, cuddly pieces and use one colour per animal to get the most realistic effect.” The body of each creature is created on a
solid form – usually polyurethane or polystyrene – which she then crochets on top of, working carefully to create the different shapes of muscles, limbs and facial features. “One very simple stitch is all I need,” she says, demonstrating. “I highlight the anatomy of each animal as I go along by changing the direction of the stitch.”
She makes it sound easy, but it’s clear that many of her larger pieces are both a creative and physical challenge. “Very large animals, such as the donkey, are a real test of stamina. They’re huge things to handle and work on – I often find I’m crocheting upside down for hours,” she laughs. Much of her work is made for exhibitions and commissions, the biggest of which to date were three 25ft lions for the London 2012 Olympics. They took the best part of two years to complete and ended up being the largest single-handed crochet sculpture in the world. After touring the East Midlands, the lions then found their way to the Natural History Museum, before going on to the Born Free Foundation, and finally being put on display in a museum in the US.
Back home, it’s a squeeze to find room for all of Shauna’s creations. Her garden studio can house most of her menagerie, but some of the pieces invariably find their way into her cottage, an 18th-century ex-smithy in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside. The house, which she shares with partner Mark and their dog, The Bean, is arranged over three floors and, thanks largely to Shauna’s own handiwork, is a sensitively restored building with muted greys and natural materials providing the perfect backdrop for the couple’s carefully edited belongings. Alongside the crochetdermy, there are glass cabinets filled with tiny curios, Shauna’s prized collection of bronze cold-painted miniatures, and figurines of birds dotted around.
There’s a strong sense of Shauna’s curator-like instincts in the cottage, too, but also an inkling of an impish sense of humour. In the corner of the living room, a six-foot brown bear stands on its hind legs. It’s an imposing visual statement but also a reminder, for Shauna, of where it all started. “The bear was the first piece of crochetdermy I ever attempted back in 2007,” she recalls. “It took me about eight months to make and then, as a joke, I decided to enter it into a village flower and produce show. It was at Burnham Market in Norfolk, where we had a caravan, and I decided to try the
‘One Knitted/crocheted Item’ category. I can’t imagine what people must have thought, seeing this enormous bear among all the other entries, but I’m embarrassed to say it won Best in Show!” Since then, the bear has gone on to ever greater glory, including a stint at the Victoria & Albert Museum and being photographed with Prince Charles during Wool Week.
Looking back, it was never obvious that Shauna would choose crochet as her art form. Although she learned the craft at school, and both grandmothers crocheted and knitted, it was painting that first grabbed her attention. Ever-determined and self-reliant, she set off around the world in her late teens, painting and exhibiting to support herself. But it wasn’t until the age of 30, when Shauna went back to university to study fine art, that she started experimenting with new forms of making, including crochet, and found she loved the process. “It’s not only about the animals,” she confesses. “It’s more about the challenge. Part of me wants to try things just to see if I can do them.”
Shauna’s crochet work is undoubtedly unique but she’s also following in the steps of a great tradition. The sheep on Leicestershire’s coat of arms are an ever-present reminder that the region has a long association with wool. Before the Industrial Revolution, textile making in the county was a cottage industry, often a second income for farmers. Nowadays, little remains of the area’s vast yarn industry but it’s a delicious irony that one remarkable woman, working alone in her cottage, might just be putting Leicestershire and its wool firmly back on the map.
Prices for Shauna’s work start at £690. Country Living readers can claim a 20 per cent discount by quoting the code CL1117 when ordering. Offer ends 30 November 2018. For more information and commissions, visit shaunarichardson.com.