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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

2013 SDA Conference


Naiomi Wanjiku Gakunga standing in front of her work in the Russell Hill Rogers Gallery on the Navarro Campus, after giving a moving presentation about her life as an artist and the importance of storytelling in her culture and her work.

In the same gallery Michael James had a solo exhibition,'Organising Nature`.
This work is titled `The Idea of Matter`, 2010.
He prints digitally manipulated images onto cotton, dyes cloth, machine pieces and machine quilts.

À System of Classification` 2009
Michael was also one of the featured speakers. He spoke of his personal experiences with life and art over his forty-year career. It was one of the highlights of the conference.

Some students had made these felt flowers.

They kept appearing and disappearing in different garden beds around the campus.
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Saturday, June 22, 2013

2013 Surface Design Assoc Conference exhibitions


I have just returned from the SDA conference in San Antonio, Texas.
One of the best parts was getting to see lots of fibre art exhibitions.
One of my favourites was by Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga: A tradition of Strings.

Ng'endo cia Mugendi - The Immigrant's Journey, 2012
sheet metal, stainless steel wire; stitching with wire on textured sheet metal, colouration 

Naomi gave a inspiring talk about her work.
She explained how every aspect of her work is rooted within her culture and her life experiences.

Magnetha ma njahi - The Big Harvest, 2012
stainless steel wire, woven kiondo basket strips, recycled glass beads; stitching and crocheting with wire

I was fortunate to have a 3-day, pre-conference workshop in the a studio above the gallery so I was able to visit this exhibition many times.
It is very powerful work.
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Bridging Waters: Joggins Coal Trees


I sewed 3 different trees' leaf scar patterns on heavy cotton velvet.

Embellished with coconut shell and dried seeds.

Embellished with porcelain painted beads I bought while in India.

The sewn pattern on the velvet ends of each form suggest the trees' water carrying xylem cells.

'Joggins Coal Trees'

Luxurious bolsters referencing the wealth of the Industrial Age being dependant on the vast coal reserves these trees formed during the Carboniferous period.
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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Bridging Waters: Inspiration


The inspiration for the forms I am making came from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a United Nations World Heritage Site.

William was our guide down to the site. He passionately explained how the huge surging tides of the Bay of Fundy were actively eroding the Joggins Cliffs to reveal more and more fossils. It must be so exciting to be a scientist going down to the beach under the cliffs when the tide is out, particularly after the high spring tides, to see what new fossils had been revealed.

William explained how the ancient trees were preserved when sediments were laid down.

The tree trunks can be seen preserved in the cliffs today.

William showed us fossil remnants of different trees and named them.

I was intrigued by the patterns made by the leaf scars on the tree trunks.

Samples of different tree trunks are displayed in the interpretative centre. 

I decided to interpret these patterns in fabric.

This is the Calamite's distinctive pattern. It is the gigantic ancient ancestor of the Horse Tail or Scouring Rush found in forests today.
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Friday, June 14, 2013

Bridging Waters Body of Work


For the 'Fossil Tree' work I made and covered 3 forms. 

Then played around with various arrangements of them...

...to see if the sizes and shapes worked.

To see if they were going to give me the look I wanted.

Next step was to make covers for the forms.
I chose a thick cotton velvet. It proved a bit of a challenge to manoeuvre large amounts of such heavy fabric.
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Saturday, June 1, 2013

New Work for Briding Waters Exhibition


This work began with 12 pillows.
I sewed 4 together to make a rectangular form.

Next step was to make a cover to fit the form.

The 3rd step was to make the outer fabric cover.
 I drew a design on the wrong side of heavy cotton velvet and sewed over the lines with a wide twin needle.
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