When she lost a small ball of felted wool in her home, Claire Moynihan had no idea that it would change the course of her art. Upon finding the lost ball some time later, she discovered it had moth holes in it and on a whim decided to embroider a moth onto it’s surface, making a ‘moth ball.’
Moynihan’s curiosity about the moth that was responsible for the holes took her to the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge where she learned about the Common Clothes Moth and became mesmerized by the world of insects.
{click image to see the collection up close}
Inspired by the display cabinets filled with rows of insects and hand written labels, she began to embroider the insect collections that have quickly become her signature work. Moynihan’s story reminds us that inspiration often comes in surprising packages when we least expect it.
These are remarkable! I’ve become fascinated with butterflies this summer, and have been remembering the bug collections I used to make as a child. This unique approach to displaying and classifying insects is beautiful. Thank you for sharing Clare’s work!
It’s almost a “100th monkey” effect– I’ve been thinking about insects lately and scarabs too. I’ve made a couple in polymer clay and am in love with a little book by a French woman on making your own handcrafted examples–her examples are more art than craft. Thanks for the post– now I have even more inspiration!