In the Field Studies series, thread, gold leaf, and negative space come together to explore the layered relationships between land, value, and boundary. Drawing inspiration from the dry stone walls and gridded field patterns that shape the Irish landscape, these works abstract the marks we make on the ground—both physical and conceptual.

Stitched meshes suggest enclosures, fencing, or mapped divisions, while gold leaf surfaces shimmer beneath and behind, referencing the richness—literal and symbolic—held within the land. The tension between what is revealed and what is obscured invites viewers to consider not only the surface of the landscape, but its deeper stories: of labour, inheritance, ownership, and connection.

By working in layered transparencies and fragmentary forms, the Field Studies distill complex systems into quiet compositions—balancing geometry and texture, permanence and fragility.

“This work comes from my connection to place, memory, and the emotional pull of the horizon,” Anna explains. “I hope visitors will find moments of recognition or wonder in the threads and textures.”

Mappings is an ongoing exploration of how stitched line interacts with space, boundary, and movement. Using freehand machine embroidery, each piece investigates the way thread can trace motion, suggest terrain, or create new topographies entirely.

In this series, the stitch becomes both line and structure—defining contours, responding to imagined or remembered landscapes, and mapping relationships between interior and edge. Borders are not just limits, but collaborators in flow.

The result is work that sits somewhere between drawing and textile, between gesture and geometry—a quiet charting of something felt rather than fixed.

The Seafoam collection captures the ephemeral nature of the ocean’s edge—those fleeting formations that appear and dissolve in moments. Using freehand machine embroidery over shimmering aqua grounds, these pieces explore the liminal space between water and air, presence and absence.

Loops of thread mimic the intricate chaos of foam as it gathers, stretches, and vanishes. Each work is a meditation on transience—on the textures that exist only briefly, yet leave a lasting impression. Light, breath, and movement are rendered not through depiction, but through trace and suggestion.

By isolating these delicate structures in thread, the Seafoam pieces offer a moment of pause—a chance to witness the overlooked beauty in what is usually washed away.

The Skyscapes series is an abstract response to the ever-changing skies over West Limerick and North Kerry. Each piece captures a different moment in time—sunrise, sunset, the afterglow of light, or a sky in flux—translated through layered threadwork and colour.

Using freehand machine embroidery, the works evoke the rhythm of cloud formations, shifting weather, and the way light interacts with atmosphere. They are not literal representations, but impressions—emotional and sensory recollections of looking up.

In each piece, stitched lines trace movement and stillness, while colour fields recall the sky's capacity to hold drama, peace, and memory all at once.