Hand/Eye Magazine

I have been a follower of the Hand/Eye magazine for sometime so it was a great surprise to get an email from Jessica Hemmings to say that my chapter for her book Cultural Threads had been featured in the latest online edition. If you haven't read the book yet, you can see my full article here:
http://handeyemagazine.com/content/generate

Migrated

Migrations:  Image: Jessica Hemmings

Yesterday was the final showing of the Migrations exhibition at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney.  This exhibition was curated by Professor Jessica Hemmings, author of the book my work was featured in last year, Cultural Threads.

I hope you got to see it as there were a few works in the exhibition that were made by artists not featured in the book, such as the printed textiles of Toril Johannessen from her Unlearning Optical Illusions series inspired by wax resist cloths, and Godfried Donkor, whose video work explores his mother's collection of wax-resist prints and the naming of them. I was fortunate to meet both Toril and Godfried in London last year when I attended  and spoke at the book launch and one day symposium.

UNDERCURRENT

Thanks to all my loyal friends and customers who visited my Open Studio last Sunday as part of DESIGN Canberra. It was a great day, perfect temperature, and I was run off my feet chatting and ringing that till! Luckily for me my friend Belinda Jessup popped in to deliver a coffee in the morning...and stayed to help behind the sales desk until 3pm.  Couldn't have done it without her!

This weekend I will be at Undercurrent Design Market at the National Portrait Gallery.  This is my debut at this market, but I have heard so many good things about it I thought I would give it a try.  However, as usual, my busy life intrudes.  I fly back from Melbourne on Friday just in time to set up my stall for the opening at 5pm. It should be a great weekend though, with so many other things happening as part of DESIGN Canberra.  Last night I attended the DesignBuzz talks which included Jessica Hemmings (I have written about her in previous posts) and Indigenous textile designer Lucy Simpson, who gave an inspiring talk about the influence that place has in design.

DESIGN Canberra will be finishing this coming weekend, so if you have the chance to attend some of the events, many of which are free, then go along! Canberra has definitely come of age and it's fantastic to see so many creative people living and working here. All kudos to Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre for initiating this wonderful festival.

here & there

Last Friday fellow Canberran, Sharon Peoples, and I were in Sydney for the opening of our group exhibition, Here & There, together with shibori-artist extraordinaire, Barbara Rogers, at her gallery, Barometer, in Paddington.

Barbara Rogers (left) talking to Jane Burns at the Here & There opening

Here & There responds to the concept of time and place - of being in one geographical location whilst making work about a distant other - about our experiences of dislocation and displacement as artists.

For me, this occurred during my 3-month Asialink residency at Rimbun Dahan in Malaysia in 2013.  I was busy making work about Canberra for my exhibition Natural Wonders ( Narek Galleries in 2013) in the heat and humidity of a tropical home-away-from-home. My thoughts about Canberra, in particular Pialligo and Aranda were more distilled and defined despite the thousands of kilometres between us. It seemed that distance enabled me to envision and articulate my thoughts on home with more clarity.

Seasonal Variations I-IV - Julie Ryder

For Sharon Peoples, her pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella provided the inspiration for new work about walking and thinking, about slowing down to absorb the details of her immediate environment. This camino resulted in her solo exhibition Habitus ( Narek Galleries in 2014).  Sharon states that the word habitus can refer to 'second nature', and that for her embroidery is part of her identity - she embroiders every day. The repetitive and meditative nature of embroidery reflected her camino through Spain - in both walking and embroidering Sharon truly engaged her whole self.

Installation of Sharon People's work in Here &There

For Barbara Rogers, inspiration came from trips to Japan to investigate different methods of shibori. Over many years Barbara has experimented and refined her personal interpretation of carved board clamped resist shibori,  called itajime gasuri.  This technique results in an ikat-like patterning on woven cloth, however Roger's inspiration for this new body of work was found in Meisen silk kimono produced from the 1920's -1950's. Her modern interpretation is bold and graphic, which belies the complicated technique used to produce it.

Barbara Rogers' complex itajime gasuri

We were most fortunate to have Professor Jessica Hemmings officially open the exhibition. Jessica is in Australia for a short time to exhibit the Migrations exhibition (see previous post); to travel and speak in other institutions and to participate in DESIGN Canberra as part of Design Buzz as well as concentrating on writing...and running!

Jessica Hemmings (centre) with Barbara Rogers (L) and Sharon Peoples (R)

We thank her so much for her insightful comments during her opening speech and look forward to hearing her talk with indigenous designer, Lucy Simpson, as part of Design Buzz on 24th November.

Here & There continues until November 28th.

Opening Hours are 11 - 5pm,   Wednesday - Saturday

For those of you who can't make it to Sydney, we will be showing an extended version of Here & There at the Belconnen Arts Centre in April-May 2016

Migrations @ COFA

Jacarandas in full bloom in Oxford St, Paddington....

I had a fleeting visit to Sydney this week to give a talk about my work and to attend the opening of the Migrations exhibition at COFA.  This exhibition has literally travelled the world - from Dublin, Bergen, Omaha, Miami, London, Cape Town and now Sydney. Curated by Professor Jessica Hemmings, editor of 'Cultural Threads: transnational textiles today', this exhibition evolves on each leg of the journey as Jessica packs selected pieces into her hand-luggage and wings her way across the globe, aptly illustrating her writings about the transportability of textiles.

Liz Williamson at the COFA seminar

It was great to catch up with Jessica again at the Seminar and to attend the opening of the Migrations exhibition. It was also wonderful to hear from Liz and students Blake Griffiths and Jennifer Goodwin about their experiences as interns in India.  In the foyer gallery Cultural Textiles : rug project was on display, with design work and some woven rugs by a recent trip to India by Liz Williamson and her students. This was part of the Cultural Textiles fieldwork course conducted in Gujarat in Jan/Feb 2015.

The student's designs were block printed in natural dyes by Sufiyan Khatri in his Ajarkh workshop in Ajarakhpur  in Kutch.

Book Launch and Symposium

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early (well ...up early anyway...London is dark and cold at that time of the morning!) to attend the 'Cultural Threads :Transnational textiles today'  symposium and book launch.

Forecourt of CSM, Granary Square, King's Cross

Central St Martin's is just near King's Cross station and it was buzzing with people even though it was an early Saturday morning, where there were several conferences happening.

Jessica Hemmings opening the symposium

There was a good attendance and an impressive panel of speakers including Christine Checinska, Godfried Donkor, Françoisé Dupre, Helen Jennings, Toril Johannessen, Jasleen Kaur, Sarat Maharaj, Sarah Rhodes & of course myself!

Delivering my talk 'Walking with Darwin'

I would like to formally thank the ACT Government and artsACT for their support towards my trip to speak at the symposium, because it was a wonderful opportunity to meet so many academics and practitioners from Europe.

The start of my talk

There were lively panel discussions at the end of each session and all the talks were recorded so that Jessica can make them available in the future.

Panel: Christine Chechinska, Sarat Maharaj and Helen Jennings

There were two speakers who were not represented in the book, Godfried Donkor and Toril Johannessen, who gave wonderful presentations about their work and we all managed to have a wonderful catch-up afterwards over a celebratory drink. 

Myself, Jessica Hemmings and Lycia Trouton catching up over a drink

It was weird speaking at a conference where the only person I knew was Jessica, however after my presentation I was virtually mobbed and made a huge number of contacts and acquaintances which I am following up on this week - in fact my final week has shrunk considerably and now I am pressured to fit everything in! However thanks to the internet we can all remain in touch in the future.

Once again, thanks to artsACT for making this trip and opportunity possible. And of course a big thank you to Jessica Hemmings for not only including me in her book but for organising the launch and symposium with her wonderful team of helpers on the day.

Cultural Threads

I am sitting in the airport waiting to catch my flight to London via Melbourne later tonight, and thinking of the fact that no matter how hard I try to "pack light" I always seem to be lugging too much stuff with me! Do you feel the same??? And this time I only packed 2 pairs of shoes....! Must be all the winter clothing...
I am going to London to give a talk about my work at the book launch and Symposium of 'Cultural Threads:Transnational Textiles Today' at Central St Martins this coming Saturday, the flyer is below for your information.
This event has been organised by Jessica Hemmings, and is just the tip of the iceberg for a series of international exhibitions showcasing work by artists featured in the book who work on cross-cultural and post colonial issues. I will be looking forward to meeting the other speakers and artists.
My sincere thanks goes to artsACT for quick response funding for the airfare for this trip, and of course I am also indebted to my husband for making aspects of this trip possible.  It will be an amazing experience and I have already lined up other talks and events to go to, as well as artist studios, exhibitions, museums and cultural events.  Phew! I will need to come home to have a rest after all that!
I will blog again from snowy London and fill you in on how it's all going.