Water Grasses is a metre-square woven wool tapestry made by esteemed textile artist Ida Mary Lough in the later stages of her career in 1974. Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū acquired the work in 1988.

Lough’s work depicts a close-up tangle of water grasses and reeds; a profusion of wetland plants that reach from the base of the tapestry to the top. From a distance they give the impression of a dark shadow on a warm background, like the silhouette of wetland flora against the fading light of a hot summer sky. The shadow seems thick at the bottom of the artwork, then becomes wispy, tangled and reaching. Move closer, and the work softens. Individual seedheads become more pronounced and the wiggling lines of leaf blades sprout from tall stems. The plants crowd the foreground in warm chocolatey browns, then shift to light burnt oranges and muddy greens as they layer into the distance. Azure and paler notes of blue are glimpses of water between the reeds. If you were to enter the world of the work, you might hear cicadas, rustling bulrushes and the soft lapping of water.

When you are close to Water Grasses, it is clear that the bumps where horizontal strings of wool, known as the weft, cross vertical ones, known as the warp, form a detailed grid. This texture, reminiscent of a handknitted jumper or a thick carpet, lends warmth and earthiness to the work. The strands of wool themselves are a couple of millimetres thick, like the edge of a 50-cent coin. Up close, the warm colours become more vibrant. The yellow-beige background is striped with grasses in different colours—leaf-green, citrusy lime yellow, pale lavender purple and warm brickish reds—with glimpses of blue water between.

These flourishes of colour reflect the richness of our ecosystems. From afar, they may seem like simple mixtures of dirt browns and sandy greens, but the more you engage, the more there is to notice and care for. Across the work, bright flashes of blue occasionally break through, calling to mind the wetlands that are the foundation of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s landscape. Lough’s inspiration came partly from plants in Hagley Park and in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. She had a lifelong love of weaving, and her determination to educate herself and others in the artform made her one of Ōtautahi’s most esteemed craft practitioners in the mid-twentieth century – and her work was popular, earning her a steady income. Lough sometimes used plant materials like flowers, lichen and leaves to dye the wool she used. The wools she has chosen for this tapestry make it feel alive and organic.