Estelle Woolley: Gathering Stillness
A meditative window exhibition of contemporary sculpture celebrates Spring, nature, and renewal in the heart of Chester.
Installed in the windows of the former Topshop unit at the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, this unique exhibition offers a contemplative glimpse into the artist鈥檚 world, visible to passersby during regular shopping centre hours.
Gathering Stillness evokes quiet reflection and connection to nature through a series of sculptural assemblages. Woolley鈥檚 practice is rooted in fragility, ephemerality, and the poetic interplay of natural and found materials. Central to the exhibition is a garment-sculpture resembling a giant nest that embraces the model鈥檚 form鈥攁ccompanied by documentary images from a life drawing event. Alongside this, delicate sculptural works鈥攕ome newly created, others reimagined鈥攁re imbued with new life and meaning.
The materials used carry deeply personal and rural histories: farming tools, cow teeth, baler twine, horsehair, fragments of ferns, and a child鈥檚 sewing machine. Thorns collected from hedgerows where Woolley spent much of her life appear throughout, reflecting a tactile memory of place. Each assemblage is precariously balanced, supported by salvaged display stands found in the depths of the former retail space鈥攍ayering the work with narratives of transformation, memory, and quiet resilience.
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A meditative window exhibition of contemporary sculpture celebrates Spring, nature, and renewal in the heart of Chester.
Installed in the windows of the former Topshop unit at the Grosvenor Shopping Centre, this unique exhibition offers a contemplative glimpse into the artist鈥檚 world, visible to passersby during regular shopping centre hours.
Gathering Stillness evokes quiet reflection and connection to nature through a series of sculptural assemblages. Woolley鈥檚 practice is rooted in fragility, ephemerality, and the poetic interplay of natural and found materials. Central to the exhibition is a garment-sculpture resembling a giant nest that embraces the model鈥檚 form鈥攁ccompanied by documentary images from a life drawing event. Alongside this, delicate sculptural works鈥攕ome newly created, others reimagined鈥攁re imbued with new life and meaning.
The materials used carry deeply personal and rural histories: farming tools, cow teeth, baler twine, horsehair, fragments of ferns, and a child鈥檚 sewing machine. Thorns collected from hedgerows where Woolley spent much of her life appear throughout, reflecting a tactile memory of place. Each assemblage is precariously balanced, supported by salvaged display stands found in the depths of the former retail space鈥攍ayering the work with narratives of transformation, memory, and quiet resilience.
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