We spoke to artist Neon Zinn about his creative practice and the inspirations behind his work featured in our current exhibition Vessel, Cloth and Cloak, showing at the Australian Tapestry Workshop until the end of July.

How did you get into making art?

I've had the impulse to make art since I was a child. Visual expression came in many different mediums throughout my life, and then jewellery happened, in rope form, and my entire practice changed overnight.

Who or what inspires you to create?

Creating is a very human impulse and feels like talking to me, so I am inspired by the thought that I can participate in this human conversation on a grand scale simply by adding my own perspective into the stream.

What does your practice involve – what techniques do you use in your work?

So many of the forms I've found in rope have been discovered and refined through months of experimentation. Most pieces involve the placing of colour on cut lengths of rope or cotton fibre in hot baths of dye, rinsing and drying, and then creating the forms by wrapping in yarn and hidden stitching. It's amazing to me how a few basic techniques can open up such a wide scope of formal possibilities.

What does a day in the studio look like?

I love that all I basically need is a table and a few buckets for my dye. It's a very compact practice that doesn't take up a lot of space. If I have specific pieces to make, my day involves sitting at that table with music on, wrapping or stitching centimetre by centimetre my dyed lengths of rope. I always stay open to sudden inspirations; the Respire piece in the Vessel, Cloth & Cloak exhibit is an example of a beautiful detour that could have ended up a dead end.

How does your work in this exhibition relate to your practice and where it is heading?

The work in this exhibit is a good example of taking the techniques I learned for necklaces and expanding into a larger scale where the body of the wearer is still implied but the work can hold more space independently.

What motivated you to create this piece?

The large hanging piece, Second Look, came together during the heart of the Covid outbreak. I let myself go as far outside of my comfort zone as possible. It is a sensitive watcher; there is what looks to be an exposed spinal column in the head/upper portion. Raw exposed feelings and at the bottom is a blue bag which contains all the trimmings from the construction; the parts we usually discard are floating in the sunken heart of the piece.

What are your creative aspirations?

My work in rope came about because of a creative pause, which gave me room to breathe, look around, and let new creative ideas seep in. I aspire to continue allowing those pauses, slowed down moments, and open spaces inform new work that feels expansive and surprising.

‘Vessel, Cloth and Cloak’ is open to the public to view 1-5pm, Tuesday – Saturday until 29 July.

View the ‘Vessel, Cloth and Cloak’ exhibition page here.

Read more from Neon Zinn in interview with Lost in Jewellery Magazine here