Cassandra Poad

Cornish Farm Landscape is an interior collection by Cassandra Poad. It illustratively depicts snapshot narratives of the communication between animal or plant with the Cornish countryside, and with the artist. It focuses on Cassandra’s sense of place, on the Cornish dairy farm she grew up on, as well as the surrounding scenery, and her connection to the land, fauna, and flora.

This project was inspired by the countryside around her family farm in Cornwall, including the woods bordering the property and the wildlife that travel from the woods into their fields. The farm and its animals are an extension of Cassandra’s soul and sense of place. Therefore, catching the character and spirit of the creatures alongside their connection and communication with the earth and herself, was important. She achieved this through detailed but quick illustrative pen drawings of the fauna and floras combined with watercolour landscapes, translated with embroidery onto interior furnishings, specifically cushions and stools. The transfer of her designs onto furnishings was an extension of the importance of nature’s beauty being brought into the home during the Corona Pandemic when venturing outside was remote. Being trapped indoors can take away people’s freedom and she believes the free spirit of the outdoors can be brought inside through her detailed depictions of the countryside’s character, the land and its plant and animal inhabitants.

The Cornish Farm Landscape collection consists of five cushions of varying sizes made out of natural heavyweight linen, embellished with characterful designs of flowers and creatures in applique and hand embroidery. Each unique design is embroidered to enhance the foliage’s or wildlife’s characteristics. Cassandra’s embroidery conveys the spirit, meaning, tone, depth and shapes much more intimately than her drawings; the translation of her drawings into embroidery brings them to life. With varying crewelwork techniques providing tone, depth, shape and texture, complimented by canvas work techniques making the overall image seem more 3D and life-like, allowing a deeper reveal of the connection between people and the earth. This is also reflected in the other pieces of the collection that are focused more on an overall depiction of the environment with the designs digitally printed onto bull denim or cotton material and applied to various types of stools and the lid of an ottoman. Each design has a creature as the focus with complementing land and plants, as well as showing the communication and connection between them as part of a snapshot narrative and view into the landscape as a whole. Cassandra’s collection reflects her viewpoint on the Cornish countryside’s lush, rich colours and beauty in her own unique application of combined crewelwork and canvas work techniques in a variation of threads as a transfer of her illustrative and spiritual drawings.

cassandrasdesigns@outlook.com      @cassandras.designs