The Dunedin School of Art graduate loves wool but despairs about the state of the crossbred wool sector so for her end-of-year exhibition she chose a two-piece item with a wool carpet in the shape of a wolf as an eye-catching element in a none too subtle dig at how synthetic carpet manufacturers have laid claim to wool’s natural attributes.
Duncan hopes it will provoke conversation about the attributes of wool and issues with synthetic fibres.
“What synthetics are trying to do is claim the warmth, durability and colour, which is what wool is.
“In a way synthetics are the wolf in the flock, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Born in Scotland but living in urban NZ for the last 21 years Duncan was introduced to farm life when invited to go four-wheel driving on a farm in Wyndham, Southland.
She was hooked on rural life, so much so she offered to help the farming family she met milk their cows for free so she could experience life on a farm.
“I love the land and I love the connection to the food I am eating.”
But it is wool rather than cows that has captured her attention, partly because she learnt to knit when she was five and grew up in a family that uses wool for clothing and art.
When she had to come up with an idea for an art school graduation project she chose wool.
“I wanted to spotlight the crossbred wool industry, to examine why people are not using wool and to get people to think why not.”
In a bid to learn more about the wool supply chain and processing Duncan enrolled in the wool technology certificate course through Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre.
Work on her project only highlighted the parlous state of the sector.
That started with trying to find some carpet wool yarn to make her piece while a visit to a carpet retailer emphasised the dominance of synthetic carpets.
“It shows that as a nation we are not using our own resources.”
She eventually secured some Axminster carpet wool yarn she hand-tufted into a rug replicating a wolf skin, called Careful Where you Tread.
The second piece is called Golden Locks and the Three Fadges, an abstract handwoven wool fadge made from discarded crossbred wool with screen-printed silk labels complete with stencilled branding.
Her project was also driven by concern for crossbred wool growers who receive so little for their fibre, despite its desirable attributes, she fears it could turn some off a career in farming.
“I’ve always loved rural areas and always been concerned for people in rural communities.”
Duncan is uncertain exactly what next year holds but hopes to create a bigger art exhibition around the crossbred wool theme, one she hopes will encourage further debate about why many consumers choose synthetic fibre over wool.
“I want to talk about this amazing fibre and material and that we should be using more of it.”
