The Process
Sometimes art looks pretty, and sometimes it doesn’t and isn’t meant to. Let’s talk about it…
Hi everyone! The commission is so close to being finished now it’s crazy! I have so many thoughts and feelings I’d like to share.
When I applied for the commission it was not only for the opportunity for my work to be seen my so many people, but to highlight my own personal experiences of travelling as a neurodivergent person and the coping mechanisms I use to make travel more comfortable and accessible. Over the past few months on this blog I have been walking you through the technical skills and ideas that have gone into physically making the piece and of course I wanted it to look visually pleasing up in the station, but that wasn’t the most important thing.
It’s been a labour of love and hard work to make this piece possible, hundreds of thousands of individual stitches, hundreds of hours sat at my sewing machine and countless emails and planning sessions, and documenting all this has been to highlight that creating art is a labour intensive process and doesn’t just happen in a short time frame.
The messages behind this piece are what are so significant to me, the view I saw when I was trying to ease my anxiety on a journey, focusing on all the small details in the scenery I was looking at. My goal was that each different area of the piece would show you something new, a new colour or texture of skill and keep you busy while looking at it that you also would feel a sense of calm.
As an autistic person, the fear and anxiety of travel will never go away, it’s how I cope with the situations that make all the difference, and this commission has given me the ability to demonstrate this through my art and to show others. Every person that looks at this work in the station will feel something different, and that’s kind of the whole idea, art is subjective after all. It is a pretty landscape, and some people will view it as just that. But I invited you to Sheffield Train Station from next Friday (16th January 2026) to take a look for yourself and to embrace your own sense of calm.
I’ll be uploading some photos next weekend after the unveiling at the Station for you all to see, but this will be my final Friday blog post about the commission! Thank you everyone for reading along and being a part of the journey with me.
I’d once again like to thank the East Midlands Railway team and everyone working on the Artworks Together 2026 Festival for trusting me with this opportunity and giving me the creative freedom to explore and improve my skills further.
-Jodie