20/02/2020

Well. I can tell exactly how long it is since I posted - the dates give it away.

It has been strange weather, hot and dry, hot and humid, now it is cool and wet. More summer forecast to be with us in a few days.

I have been working on a small tapestry, for one of my online groups. Every year they have a call for entries on a theme. This year's was Wind in Motion. I had several ideas going at first, not all of them appropriate!

I started on ideas last year. I was inspired by a satellite image of a hurricane that I found on 123RF. 

There have been lots of weather images around lately, with all the fires, smoke and then storms that have been coming though. The maps have been scarily coloured - maybe that is just a reflection of the media's inclination to scare us. So I feel as if my image is rather calm, compared to what we have been seeing - even though it is of a hurricane.

The tapestry is on its way to the organisers. I am looking forward to when it comes to our state and can be exhibited at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild rooms in Victoria. It is going to New Zealand and around Australia, so it will we well-travelled when I get it back.

Time for another post on 1/9/19

I was reminded today about the tapestry exhibition that is currently showing at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild rooms in Carlton North.

It is the annual challenge of the online group. The theme was Celebrate. There are approximately 50 pieces on show. It is a bright and cheery theme.

It will be there till mid-September, then move on to its next destination.

The inspiration of the yearly challenge is what I need to make me think, plan and do. I am very grateful to the ladies who arrange this every year.

Our local group also has a few pieces up. Some of our members gave a talk about tapestry weaving to the general meeting of the guild a couple of weeks ago.
I am often surprised that members of the guild do not know what tapestry weaving is - then I realise that I don't really know what inkle weaving is, and I don't know how to spin and dye my own wool (theoretically, I do, practically, I don't).
So it is good to be able to share the different practices of members.

First of August, 2018

Well, I have to post today - 1/8/18!
I have been a bit busy, will try to be succinct.

I went to a few events in the last week or so:  the Craft and Quilt show, The Winter Warmers exhibition at the Alcove Art Shop, the travelling tapestry show at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild and ... The Buda bi-ennial textile exhibition. I put in two pieces and one of them got a certificate of commendation - very chuffed!!

I have also been playing around with some ideas for the upcoming Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, show - Art Deco Now!

I have been struggling a bit to come up with a workable idea. In casual conversation with another member today, I think I hit upon why it is so hard - I was saying that I don't want to do representational/pictorial images but that I have trouble not doing them. Then I realised that Art Deco Now! is a very NON-represetnational/pictorial theme and that is probably my problem. It is very graphic and design based, not something that I usually do.
Now that I have come to this realisation, perhaps I will be able to cope better. I hope.

I am also going to be the presenter at the Creative Play Day this month. I am going to be working on folding books. I am trying to meld that with the Art Deco Now! theme and it is causing some angst. But I have tried a few ideas.

Using tulle, so it will stand by itself, I have done some hand stitching on different layers to indicate a sort-or Art Deco design.

These are two ways of standing up a design that is machine sewn on interfacing. I don't know how I will develop it - if I do. That is still 'in development'. 

They are not great but they don't have to be, they just have to give the members some ideas. Whew!
I will continue to play around with ideas for a few weeks, till the presentation.

Who knows, one of them might become an entry for the actual exhibition. That would be good.

Two exhibitions

Yesterday we put up the Winter Delights for the Alcove, at the Box Hill Community Arts Centre. There was so much work, it took us hours. But I think we did a good job and it looks great.

The opening was last night. We had a good attendance and it was great to meet so many of the makers. We hear about each other, read each others' names on the rosters but rarely get to meet. So it is a lovely social event as well as a pleasure to see all the works.
The works are all for sale, so some things disappeared almost before they had a chance to be seen. Luckily, as I helped to set it up, I had seen most of it.

I also belong to an online tapestry group that has a yearly challenge that is collated and sent around the country and to New Zealand. It is our turn to have them all. I had other commitments on Saturday but other members of the group set it up in the gallery at the Handweavers and Spinners guild. I was sent some pics of the workers but now I have to make the effort and go and see them myself. It is always so much better to see tapestries (and other art) 'in the flesh'.

Weaving demonstration day at the Handspinners and Weavers Guild

Our small group of tapestry weavers was invited to be part of the weaving demonstration day at the guild rooms in Carlton today.
Congratulations to Amber and the 0809 weaving group for this wonderful day. Not only was there a lovely exhibition of various woven items, there were all sorts of looms set up, ready for people to have a go.

Joy Smith kindly warped up a tapestry loom with various thicknesses of warp and had various yarns available to use with them. It was great to have her there, she is a fount of information and has great technical expertise.

There were a lot of visitors to the demonstration and the happy buzz was most energising. Lots of people who had no connection to the guild turned up, lots of demonstrations were taking place.

It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere. Plenty of interesting questions too.
I had a go with an inkle loom and have decided that tapestry is definitely my go - and not any other sort of weaving. Tapestry weaving may be slow but it didn't look as fiddly as some of the other setting up of warps, working to intricate patterns, etc. To each his (or her) own.

One Goes Down, One Goes Up

The Light and Shade tapestry exhibition that was on at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild rooms has been taken down.
It was great to be able to see the works in person, to really look closely at them all and try to work out how some of the different effects had been achieved. There was a great range of interpretations of the theme as well as different techniques to examine in detail. There is nothing to compare with seeing them right there in front of you.

We had a very pleasant gathering to celebrate the works, then we took them down, ready to post on to the next group.

The guild had a vacancy in the gallery for another few weeks, so we were asked if we were interested in hanging works by members of our group. Of course we were interested!

Carefully stepping over the tapestries!!

Now there is another lovely exhibition (if I do say so myself, who has work in it). We are very pleased to have this opportunity to see our works up in public, and to see them in a different context, with other tapestries.

Opening of Mountain to Sea travelling tapestry exhibition

We had our 'opening' of the exhibition at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild rooms in Carlton North today.  It was so much fun!
There were people there with whom I studied the textiles and design course, people from our tapestry group, people from the online group which called the challenge, people from our smaller, local online group, people from the guild and complete strangers.  Quite a good crowd.
Marie Williams, one of the guild's vice presidents, gave a welcoming speech and Cresside Collette, one of our past tapestry teachers, officially opened the exhibition for us.  She commented on how good it is for her, as a tapestry teacher, to see past students making the effort to keep practising and encouraging each other, and how the online group that mounts the challenge gives us added impetus to keep weaving. It is true, it really helps to have a theme to work towards, with specific size limitations. It is also great to know that we will have a chance to see how others have tackled the challenge and get the opportunity to look closely at all the works.

The tapestries are wonderful. I have seen them several times now and see something new each time I look.  It is amazing how different they can look up close and then from further away.  Sometimes you wonder why the weaver did a certain thing and then you move away and it all makes much better sense.  It is such a chance to see how people attempt the same theme and how they manage to achieve very different effects.  It is a great learning experience to participate but it is also a great learning experience to just look closely at all the works.
We are very grateful to the guild for allowing us to to use their gallery for several weeks.

Mountains to Sea tapestries on display

Today a few of us put up the tapestries from the AuNZ online tapestry group at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild.  The tapestries drew many admiring comments from the many guild members present.  I must admit, I was overjoyed to be able to see them in actuality when they arrived last week.

There were more this year, so we had to arrange them differently.  As usual, it was great to see the different interpretations people had on the theme. The colours are wonderful too.

We laid them out how we thought they would look best together, pinned the names on them and then pinned them on the boards, making many decisions about how to put them up as we went.

Despite them being on display already, the official 'opening' is at midday next Saturday.  I look forward to catching up with some of the weavers.

Our small group that meets at the guild rooms on a monthly basis has its own challenge - Buildings.  The last board in the gallery has our responses to that as well as a 'work in progress' - partly to show how tapestry weaving is done, partly because I didn't get it done in time.

Coincidences

I called in at the Handweavers and Spinners guild, in Carlton, last week and had a chance to have a look at the latest show in the gallery.  There was quite a lot of lovely wool, spun by guild members, as well as articles made by them.
One was by a lady I have met through the guild, and through Ivanhoe Makers Market, Teresa Bennett.  She had done a lovely little nest shape, made of paper and wire.

 I met Teresa in the street on Friday, we just happened to be in the same shopping strip, at the same time.  It is not a shopping strip I go to very often.  I mentioned I had seen her work and she told me about the exhibition in the CAE - I would have seen it as I go there every week and always look to see what they have on display but I may not have noticed her name, I am very bad at taking notice of who has done the work. Teresa gave me permission to take photos and here they are:

The display is of works by recently graduated Arts students from CAE.

Tapestry Group meeting January 2012

Another good date to be blogging - 1/2/12
This one is a bit late, we had our monthly meeting of our Tapestry Group last Saturday but I am only just getting around to reporting.
Only four of us could make it this time.  It was the Australia Day 'long weekend' and it was hot, so we decided we would let the non-attendees off the hook.  Hopefully we will see more at the next meeting, on the last Saturday in February, at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild in Carlton.
Two of the ladies were working on the Square and Circles pieces for the AuNZ Tapestry Group Project for 2012.  Actually, it looks like they are nearly finished.

I have finished mine - how amazing that I am ahead of schedule.  It is not perfect but that wasn't the point for me, it was a learning experience.  It was quite a challenge as I decided to try to do the geometric shapes, something I am not good at.  And I had trouble with sewing up the slits, not sure why, I just did.
I decided that I was not quite happy with the overlapping shapes and started another one.  Here is a pic of my first one, the overlapping shapes. (I did mention it previously, here.)

All the pieces were relatively small as the challenge requires the pieces to be 20cm square or less.

We will need to find a new theme to work on now.  One member recommended that we bring along any cones of tapestry wool, or parts thereof, to swap at the next meeting.

The tapestry group

Well, we had our inaugural meeting today.  We had a lovely time catching up and showing and telling about what we have been up to lately.
 Linda showed us the beautiful weaving she is currently working on for her Studio Textiles and Design course, Glennis showed us some of the work she is doing for the SWTAFE tapestry course, Marion got on with some of her en plein air weaving (not outdoors today, finishing off  a piece started earlier) and I got some advice on a design I am thinking about doing (after I complete my course, only 6 weeks to go!).

A sample that Linda has made for her planned tablecloth.

As you can see, the venue was bright and comfortable.  There is a good library there as well as dyeing, spinning and weaving supplies for sale. 

We also discussed future directions for the group.  There were two calls for entries that we looked at and have decided to go with the tapestryweaversoz one, based on circles and squares (the 2012 file).  So the idea is to think about how we might approach the topic and bring along ideas for the next meeting. This will be a good incentive to start a visual diary on the topic.

I have had a fascination with optical illusions for a while, so I might play around with that for a while.  After I do all my other work that is due for various courses. 

New Tapestry Group

We are going to have our first tapestry weaving group meeting next Saturday.  It is being held at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild, 655 Nicholson St, Carlton North, between 1.00 and 3.00pm.  We are going to meet every 4th Saturday of the month.

As it is our first meeting, we do not have much planned.  We are hoping that members will come with ideas for us to work out an agenda for our meetings, something to focus our weaving.

It is a group that has started up because we met in tapestry class in our Studio Textiles and Design course at RMIT and we want to keep up the skill.  Unfortunately, tapestry will not be taught at RMIT anymore, so we are especially keen to keep in touch and maybe find another outlet for inspiration and skill development.

I haven't done much tapestry weaving this year although I did design two in my Design Concepts course in first semester.  Hopefully this will give me the impetus to actually start.  I did get as far as warping the loom but no further, other subjects have taken priority.  This is my big chance - if I don't get bogged down in doing my graduation piece - and my work for the Machine Embroidery as Art course that I am doing through SWTAFE.  Hmm, maybe I should just make sure I am in touch with the group and let ideas mull around in my head till I have the mental space for them.

Anyway, if you live in the area and have the time to come, please do so.