Craft / Woven geomorphic formations, Jennifer Robertson. At Cox Gallery, Deakin, until May 15. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

Jennifer Robertson is interested in geomorphology and the landscape.

Through a complex weaving process, she transforms yarn to create tactile, sculptural works that represent the undulating, crusty appearance of the earth’s surface.

She captures the glinting colours of harsh rock formations through the use of stainless steel, quartz, glass unbleached and bleached linen and a carbon blend fibre. These yarns, when woven on her digital hand loom and finished, are placed on armature giving them rolling surfaces. The light captures the surface of the weaving as the viewer moves around it.

The fibres are new and technologically advanced, facilitating her complex weaving processes. Some are specially developed for her use.

But Robertson doesn’t only use these unusual yarns – she also uses more traditional yarns such as silk, cotton and mohair – and blends the two types of yarn.

As Robertson points out, trees are a vital part of the landscape and to capture their surfaces she is showing works from Tree Skins series, woven in 2023. Copper, brass, titanium, stainless steel and carbon blend fibre. They appear to have been freshly peeled off a tree and hung on the wall and are shiny. Unlike bark they haven’t begun to break down.

Robertson is also showing works that appear to have open pockets.

Weaving such as this is challenging, and Robertson embraces those challenges. She uses multiple shuttles and keeps them under tension during the weaving process. When the textile is released, she can see the results, with individual threads swapping sides and showing the reverse of her design.

This show is demanding for viewers as its development was for the artist. It is well worth a view, however.