Edges of Australia :Power in Victoria, Loy Yang

I have spent the last couple of weeks in Victoria working with Opendrawer in Melbourne  and Fibre Arts Australia   The population of the area is powered by power stations in the Gippsland near Tralorgan where I stayed.  These have a strange beauty of their own.

 I had a brief visit and found this compelling image appeared in a small sample for demonstration. I am keeping a selection of these small pieces as a recording of my visit around the 'Edges of Australia '  In Melbourne I was able to visit one of my favourite Australian artist John Wolesely in his exhibition Heartlands and Headwaters at the National Gallery.   His Heron at Loy Yang reflects his love of the land and its complexity. National Gallery of Victoria

 I loved my quiet journey on the train in typical winter weather.  I had time to reflect and prepare for the next stage my trip. The colours were reflected in the print colours at the Tralorgan workshop.

The sketches below from Opendrawer  below made a good start to a project investigating cloth.Tcloth.Thankyou to Glenys Mann at Tralorgan and the workshop team at Opendrawer or all their help on this stage. 

 Finally some of Tea Flora Tales is on show in the window of Opendrawer.  Feel free to pop in and look or contribute a piece.(Information about this project appears in the drop down menu on this blog).

The Edges of Australia: Ice cold in Tasmania

Ice cold in Hobart when I arrived but the welcome was very warm. It was not all work. I had time to go and see the Art Gallery at MONA. Taking the ferry complete with cows and sheep.

Set underground for the most part the gallery with Old and New Art was eerily strange and at times very disturbing. The White Library a room of blank books,  and Maso Okabe's and Chihiro Minato's installation of rubbings from railway sleepers from Hiroshima were haunting. A visit of surprises and challenge. I am giving nothing more away.

I was delighted to be back with Stitching and Beyond.  They were featured in an article by Textile  Fibre Forum looking at the success of the group in providing valuable textile focus in the Tasmania scene.

Some of the work in progress on the 'hbook Development' workshop and 'From the Land' is shown below. Thankyou to the participants for allowing me to share their work.

Final image is of a the ladies shadow sketching in a bit of sunshine at the fabulous Moonah Arts Centre. On to Melbourne next.

www. stitchingandbeyond.com

The Edges of Australia. A Road Well Travelled

I have just had a few days in Sydney working with ATASDA. New South Wales  I stayed in Frenchs Forest area overlooking Sydney and the coast in the distance.

I went to the Manley Art Gallery and Museum and saw a wonderful exhibition 'War Time Quilts' which included an example of Wagga patchwork, a quilt made from butcher's cloth. Wagga quilts or rugs, using men's old but strong fabric,  suiting samples or swatches were common in regional Australia in the first half of the 20th century. An example of the Australian practice of reusing materials, or 'making do', when resources are scarce this piece carries the printed text on the cloth.
(Read more Powerhouse Museum collection)

I also managed to get to meet with friends at the Gosford Regional Gallery which had a wonderful exhibition of Ikebana in the community gallery which led you in to the wonderful Japanese Commemorative Garden.  I particularly liked the installation work of Ruth Feeney in the Emerging 2015 competition exhibition.

The reflections in the window were stunning:

A contrast to the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Garden off the Mona Vale Road.

My Romany Grandmother was a Cunningham so this seems highly appropriate in the garden

Finally, I am delighted on be included in an article on Textileartists. I travel frequently and this would not be possible without the friendship and interest from the textile world, so a BIG THANKYOU TO YOU ALL

International Working: A Road Well Travelled

Stitch Stories is on Kindle as well as hard copy now.