For her solo exhibition, Into the light of things, at Newton House, Llandeilo, Ainsley produced a series of new weavings and sound works that were inspired by the landscape and trees of the Dinefwr parkland as well as other ancient woodlands in Carmarthenshire.

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Taken from the William Wordsworth poem, The Tables Turned, the title of the exhibition calls us to look beyond the confines of our formal education and to allow nature to be our teacher. It suggests that by experiencing nature and existing within it mindfully, we can learn of the world in a more rounded way that involves our senses and our bodies as well as our intellect.

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The exhibition was installed throughout Newton House combining the intricate skills of contemporary weaving and site-specific sound. Large scale jacquard weavings depicted the parkland meadows surrounding Newton House.  The weavings transfigure original photographic images which, by their nature, capture the essence of a moment in time. Through the weaving process, these images are then transformed into three-dimensional structures, merging the material nature of the threads with the two-dimensional photographic image. These very different ways of encountering the world meet in the surface texture of the woven panels, engaging our senses in an experience beyond just the visual.

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The exhibition was given an award of Excellence in Visual Arts & Crafts from the Carmarthenshire Celebration of Culture Awards.

National Trust Dinefwr has since acquired an original jacquard weaving Whispering Meadows,
an important addition to Dinefwr’s contemporary art collection, the piece will provide a point of
continued interest to our visitors and snapshot of this moment in Dinefwr’s history for future
generations.
 

The project was funded by the Arts Council of Wales.