In her solo exhibition, By The Pricking Of My Thumbs, Nettle Grellier unthreads the complex tapestry of womanhood.
The title phrase is uttered by one of the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, referencing a sense of foreboding as well as the gendered tropes of witchy women and the minor hazards of needlework. The thematic undercurrents of fertility, ritual and healing weave together a complex narrative rich in symbolism. Grellier introduces needles as potent symbols, embodying the essences of healing, dismantling, reconstructing, and mending. Drawing inspiration from folklore, she considers the act of sewing as one of restoration and care, exploring the contrasting roles of pins and needles.
Incorporating elements from medieval needlepoint traditions, the needlework in this series emerges as a new dimension in Grellier’s artistic practice.
The artist considers the various roles of needlework — as so-called women’s work, as community sewing circles, as individual acts of self-care — within society and within her own life. The painted figures, who appear to stitch themselves together, are shown alongside the artist’s own needlepoint creations for the first time. The female figure within her work, while rooted in historical references, also bears a semblance of the artist herself, as Grellier primarily paints from her imaginative realm, capturing what she knows and is familiar with.
Nettle Grellier
The ground had brought us together
2024
90 x 80 cm
£3,500
Nettle Grellier
I’ll bury it at Ostara
2024
90 x 60 cm
£3,200
Nettle Grellier
It won’t help
2024
26 x 16 cm
£1,800
Nettle Grellier
It’s no go my honey love it’s no go my poppet
2024
80 x 60 cm
£3,000
Nettle Grellier
Get away with it, Get a way with you
2024
35 x 25 cm
£1,000
Nettle Grellier
We all knew about the clouds
2024
80 x 60 cm
£3,000
Nettle Grellier
I’m getting on
2024
19 x 25.5 cm
£1,800
Medieval shades of azurite, vermillion and verdigris bleed back into all these paintings. It tints these women – the faces of women we drink pints with – with the colours of something mythical, universal. Womb trouble is, of course, as old as wombs, and Nettle has always magpied motifs from folklore, religion and myth to generate a visual language that’s legible, but unique to her. Nuts and eggs and teeth and seeds are passed like talismans from work to work – giving expression to something not easily coded into the masculine logic of written language.
Phyllida Bluemel, excerpt from exhibition essay, “Wet Round Time”
The series reached its contemplative peak during the creation of I’ll bury it at Ostara. This painting, conceived before the rest of the series, became a process of self-discovery and evolution as Grellier revisited it at different stages.
The work’s title references a pagan celebration marking the spring equinox, a time of year traditionally associated with rebirth and new life. Symbolic objects such as pincushions, needles and acorns, integrated in the final stages, act as vehicles for the narratives unfolding within the artist’s mind. These serve as poignant metaphors for the nurturing aspects of motherhood and the interconnectedness of life’s cycles.
As Grellier reflects on her own experiences and those shared by many women, the canvases harmonise as a sequence of interconnected bodies woven into the very fabric of time.
While the times may change, there are essential elements of life and womanhood that remain constant; these paintings enfold the viewer in a profound exploration of the cyclical rhythms that bind all women through the ages.
By Phyllida Bluemel
Wet Round Time
Read Phyllida Bluemel’s musings on Nettle Grellier’s latest body of work and the contradictions of contemporary womanhood.
Nettle Grellier (b. 1993, Stroud, UK) graduated with a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton in 2015, before completing the Turps Banana Correspondence Course in 2020.
Grellier’s work considers the figure through several semi-autobiographical motifs: disobedient dogs, soft bodies and gossiping subjects. Taking inspiration from artists such as Paula Rego and Dolly Parton, she uses references across high and low culture to delight in unashamedly slovenly, feral and unpredictable womanhood. Based in Cornwall, and having always inhabited rural settings, she also examines the nature of gossip and storytelling as a small-town tradition.
Grellier’s solo presentations include She Always Does Have a Good Time, Huxley Parlour, London (2022); Come to Good, Delphian Gallery, London (2021); and Easy Peelers, That Art Gallery, Bristol (2019). Selected group and two-person exhibitions include Even the Worm Will Turn, Soho Revue, London (2022); Vanguards, Unit, London (2022); An Arcadian Kind of Love, Soho Revue, London (2022); Tide Pools, Ground Floor Contemporary, Alabama (2022); and Safe As Milk, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh (2021).
Chosen Charity
Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugees
Founded in April 2018, Welcome is motivated by a collective wish to help some of the people whose lives have been devastated by war and conflict around the world. The charity’s central goal is to support refugee families in becoming integrated and valued members of the Falmouth and Penryn community. Their aims are to resettle families within the local area and help them to achieve financial and social independence, while also supporting refugees already living in the local area with educational and social opportunities.