For Lost at Sea artist, Thomas Hawson, making is imbued with meaning. After the death of his father, Tom began making a boat. The process of making recalled Tom’s experiences learning and working alongside his father as a child and as a man. But making for Tom is also imbued with consciousness of the wider context: of the traditions of boat-building and seafaring; of the artist’s practice; and of elemental human experience. Boats operate at the interface between man and nature. The greatest sailors and fishermen are those most empathetic and connected to the natural world.

Tom considers such men to be like shaman with the ability to see between worlds. This ability is also the potential of the artist. Through his making, Tom endeavours to journey honestly and openly within an historical tradition that places human activity firmly within the context of the natural world. In this exhibition Thomas Hawson explores his experience of grief through themes of inheritance and tradition. The making of the boat and its accompanying pods embodies the honest human endeavour at its most natural and elemental.

Written by Kate Neil
Creative writer, photographer and friend of Tom.