Weaver of Grass
(Piano Quintet)

"The title refers to the amazing story of Angus McPhee of South Uist who, through many years of mental illness, made sense of his life by making things out of grass--not Weaver of Grass decorative items but household objects such as hats, clothes and even shoes. For me these remarkable but transient artefacts, more than anything of the avant-garde, raise questions about the purpose of art, being deeply rooted in collective memory while not actually functional (with the possible exception of the hats). They are more like cousins once-removed of art--and at the same time emblems of everyday life. Meanwhile || the bending of natural materials into artificial, recognizable forms seems to me a kind of composition process. The work forms a continuous sequence but it is in fact a quilt of smaller panels--a collection of related artefacts rather like the grass weavings."

Piers Hellawell