Chronicle Fibres

I almost missed the Box Hill Textile Art 2013 Graduation Exhibition, it finishes tomorrow. I went to Eckersleys in the city today to see it and it was well worth the effort.  Each student had to produce at least 6 works for exhibition and most seemed to have done much more than that.  Each artist produced works that were very different from each other, it is obvious that the Box Hill course allows the students to develop their skills and ideas individually.
I was very interested in the various techniques and had a good talk with the artist on duty, Carol Dunstan.  She very generously explained her processes to me and even gave me a copy of some of her other works so I can look at them in more detail.

It was good to be able to see the visual diaries of the artists also, to see their ideas developing.

Carol Dunstan

Carol O'Loughlin

Allison Kingston

Donna Williams

Jennie-maree Tempest

Karen McDougall 

Yvonne Phillips

Yvonne Phillips

I am feeling quite inspired to have a go at some of the techniques the artists have used.  Once I get my studio cleaned up, I am still getting around to that. Then there are the works that I admire but could not even think of attempting. But I am still feeling inspired.
You can see more about the artists on their website, Chronicle Fibres.

Tarndwarndcoort workshop

I have just been fortunate enough to have a 3 day workshop with Cresside Collette. We went to an historic farmhouse in Victoria, Tarndwarndcoort. It was a quirky house, built over several generations.  I reminded me very much of Le Manoir, in France, that I visited when I did a tapestry tour with Cresside, several years ago.

The original house was built in 1840, when Victoria didn't exist. It was part of New South Wales. Subsequent generations added to the house, in ways that have caused interesting ups and downs inside. We were taken on a tour of the site with Tom Dennis, one of the 6th generation that owns the property. He told us quite a lot of family tales about settling the property and its subsequent development. 

I was also interested to learn that the Polwarth breed of sheep was developed on this property.  Who knew that Australia had its own sheep breeds? Not me! (Yes, I know that my link is to Wikipedia, which has had bad press here lately.)

A flock of sheep has been bred that is coloured.  

We had a lovely walk around the property and the sheep kept a wary eye on the strange people wandering around.  There were lambs that needed protecting, so they kept away from us and kept an eye on us too.

The wool is usually sold to crafters.  The shop on the property had some lovely wool tops, dyed wool and spun wool.  I was very tempted to buy some wool for felting or knitting but restrained myself, I was there to do tapestry weaving. 

We did get some lovely photos of the surrounding vistas.

The Alcove Christmas exhibition

Tonight was the opening of The Alcove's Christmas A'Fair.  It is an exhibition and sale of members' work.  Many items are specially made for the Christmas season. The exhibition is on till November 30th. Quite a few people were there, doing their Christmas shopping.

I have been a bit slack about it, I haven't made anything for the sale. I have been busy doing my machine embroidery work. I started tidying up the studio today but that wasn't interesting at all. Then I had to go to the opening, thank goodness.

Further signs of Christmas were around today.  I was in the city and decorations have been put up.  I especially liked the walk through the  Royal Arcade.

Two exhibitions that showcase 1920s clothes

I know, I should have posted yesterday because the date was interesting.  It was 12/11/13.  Would it have been 11/12/13 in the USA?  I can't remember how they do their dates.
Anyway, today is ok, it is 13/11/13.

I have recently been to two exhibitions showcasing art deco fashions.  One was at the NGV, the Edward Steichan and Art Deco Fashion exhibition. The photographs were black and white, with some gorgeous lighting effects.  I enjoyed the fashions and photography, my friend is more interested in movies than I am (not hard to be more interested than I am!), she loves the old movies too. So we both had a great time looking at the photos.  The clothes on display were spectacular - and we both loved them.  It took us much longer than we had expected, there is so much to look at.

No photographs allowed of course.

Then today I went to Rippon Lea Estate to see the exhibition of some of the costumes worn by Essie Davis, as Phryne Fisher, in the murder mystery series on ABC tv. 

The costumes and accessories are wonderful and you can get up really close to them, examine the detail. Quite a lot of the fabrics, accessories and costumes come from the costume designer's collection. Marion Boyce must have an amazing collection - and a fantastic cataloguing system, as well as a good memory to know what to look for in her collection.

The clothes are lovely but, as with the Grace Kelly exhibition, they look so much better on the body.  Some of the notes pointed out that the designs are made to swing with the movement of the body, which would explain why they look so much better in the show.  Not to say the exhibition is not wonderful, it is well worth visiting.  It has been extended but finishes on December 1st.

Another thing I noticed is that some of the costumes seem to have been designed for one scene, which might only last a minute or two. Such a lot of work for such little time in the production!

Once again, no photos were allowed.  We could have tried on some costumes at the entrance and photographed ourselves but that seemed a come-down after all the images of Essie Davis that were around.

The grounds of Rippon Lea are huge, with wonderful gardens.  We wandered around outside a bit before going in. It was drizzling but still worth it.  It was raining when we came out, so we didn't look at the rest of the gardens.  Was I complaining about the heat recently? It has gone, gone, gone.
It is such a lovely old house that it will be worth another visit in the future.
I did take some photos outside. I am thinking of designing a green tapestry and the gardens were so lush that there were lots of photo opportunities.

There are huge trees throughout the garden.

This is part of an apple orchard on the estate. I couldn't resist the windmill.  

Second Parasol

I have almost finished the second parasol. If only I could find the 8th little knob to go on the end of the struts, I would be finished.
Fortunately, I was able to put it all together without needing that little bit.  I wasn't certain I would be able to as it holds the tension on the fabric and allows me to put the parasol together but the other 7 struts have done the job nicely.

I used very bright orange netting.  While researching symbols and their meaning, I came across quite a few to do with the sun and thought they would be suitable for a parasol - protection from the sun while enjoying being able to be in the sun! Maybe even some sun worshipping.

I used some novelty yarn for the top symbol. I did some thread drawing on synthetic organza for the leaves of the lotus flower. The actual lotus was thread drawn on some netting, cut out and then sewn onto the base.

I decided that, even though I am going for art rather than function, it would need something else. The fabric was so sheer that you could see the frame too clearly for my liking. Some of my research was about warding off the evil eye with mirrors, reflections and brightness.  Therefore, there is a layer of gold reflective fabric under the netting. I thought this more solid fabric would give some protection if the parasol is ever used for that purpose. The two layers are not connected except for the side seams and this gives some interesting movement.  I haven't decided what to do about the rim yet, I think it will just float around in the air.

Here it is, almost ready to be put on the frame - HOPING it will fit! (Me hoping, not it.)

I also sourced some real shisha mirrors, unlike the sequins on the other parasol, and sewed two onto each section.  They look like holes to me, maybe they will suck the evil spirits in rather than repelling them.

Another aspect of the symbolism is that there should be some asymmetry - I love that, no need to be exact.  There is lots of asymmetry in the parasol - very protective.

I sewed the circle inside the parasol once again, after I discovered that the whole thing just slides down the centre if you don't! Then the knobs fall off, very annoying.

I also sewed the struts to the seams in two places as they slipped sideways a bit more than I liked.  That has worked well too.

I put the spiral design onto a separate piece at the top that hides all the not quite matching seams.  It seemed to work well but when I put the parasol down it stood out sideways in a most unattractive manner.  So that got caught down in each section too.
Ta da! - The (almost) finished item (as soon as I find another knob to put on the end of the final strut).

Silky clouds

It is almost a week since I have posted, I have been working hard(ish) on another parasol.  More on that later.
We have been having some quite changeable weather, warm, cool, cold, wet, fine, windy, still, etc.
There have been some gorgeous clouds around.  They make me think of silk roving that you can lay out in felting, or you could sew it I suppose.  All gorgeously fluffy and dainty.
So here are some photos I took over a couple of days.

Can't you just see this as silk laid out ready to be felted?

Then, a few days later I was outside around sunset and noticed similar clouds but this time they were also changing colours.  It made me think of the time last year when I was waiting for the colours at Uluru to change. I was less patient this time and only took a few photos.  I was also influenced by the fact that they were changing shape as I watched, getting out of my viewfinder's range.

Shaun Tan exhibition

Blogging about the artists I have recently heard talk about their work has reminded me that I went with a friend to see the Shaun Tan exhibition about the making of his book, The Lost Thing, into an animation.
I really enjoyed it.

I had heard Shaun talk at a book launch a while ago;  he is a wonderful speaker.
There were television screens throughout the exhibition, showing Shaun and other members of the animation team explaining the process.  When you see the detail, the discussions that must have happened, you realise that nine years in the making was quite a reasonable time to have for it to be made.
I loved seeing examples of how the book was translated into animation, the animation software being used, the redrawing, the images of texture that had to be made, discussions about the sound track, the choice of narrator - so much detail! The explanations were clear and interesting.

When I was teaching in a primary school, we did a couple of units of work in which we made small animations. The amount of work was phenomenal and that has given me an appreciation of how much work there must be in professional animations. The animations we made were with 5 - 7 year old children, so the standard wasn't spectacular.  But it was great fun.

In the exhibition, there were original artworks, videos, sculptures, and the actual movie to see. After viewing the exhibition and all the work that had gone into making the movie, I was distracted from the story by seeing what I had been learning about in action. But now I want to see it again, just to enjoy it.  It is well worth the visit - and it is free!!
On the way to the station, I walked in a part of the city I don't usually go through and came across a sculpture that reminded me a great deal of Shaun Tan's drawings.  (Link here) I didn't take my camera with me as I hadn't expected to be allowed to take photos, so don't have any images.