Victoria, Amy and Molly counted one hundred and seventy nine Windsails hanging from the rafters of the St. Cuthbert’s Centre this summer.

‘Windsails’ was an exhibition of large scale stitched paper mobiles hung there during August.

The inspiration came during a brief visit to the island in 2004. I was intrigued by the creels piled on the harbour-side and most especially the spaces between them, making curved triangles.

These I replicated in cane and filled the shapes with hand-made paper combined with stitch and threads. The triangles strung together, hung from wires to fill the central space, moved slowly round each other and danced in the light producing changing shapes.

People came and watched their slow, measured movements and found themselves slowing down too – observing their different textures, their slow collisions and resolutions, their touching and moving on.

Some listened to the music, held a stone and prayed while others sat quiet or wrote

‘an oasis of peace in today’s rush of life’
‘The breath of the spirit – Shalom’
‘Thought provoking especially the torn ones.’

and as they left one of the girls wrote
‘...they calmed me down’

and as we leave the island, I echo her words.


Wendy Rudd - Details and Contact

Click on the picture to see the Windsails gallery