QUILT = ART

Yes, it has been a while between blog postings and I do apologise! I have been busy preparing work for several upcoming exhibitions, including my large solo exhibition Fertile Ground which will open at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery on July 18th. I will be driving up there this week to deliver most of the work. I will post more details on this exhibition closer to the opening date.

I was also invited to participate in Quilt=Art which opens at the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery on Friday 3rd of July.  Please see the invitation below, and if you are up that way put this on your radar because it looks like a fantastic exhibition.

BESPOKE: Design for the People

I thought I would just remind you that the 'Bespoke: Design for the People' exhibition continues at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) until November this year.  Here is a photo of the work in situ.

'Political cover-up' on the chaise; and 'Spin'  on the floor

I was inspired to create ‘Political Cover-up’ by imagining who would be using the chaise-longue and under what circumstances.  Mental images of tired politicians and their staff grabbing a quick nap during late-night sittings inspired the form of the blanket and floor rug. The patch-work blanket of original pre-1988 newspaper political articles can be viewed as an object that covers or protects the person on the chaise-longue. Alternatively, it can be seen as a journalistic “cover-up” – hiding the truth beneath or within it. The hand-embroidery is a metaphor for “embellishing a story”, as in journalism, or as “embroidering the truth”, as practised by unscrupulous politicians.

Similarly, the small floor rug, ‘Spin’ refers to the way selective information can be “swept under the rug” and the cut paper reminds us that what is published is not always the whole truth, or in the order that it is presented.

The use of newspaper as a blanket or covering was a practice often adopted by the homeless and down-and-out or those with limited resources in challenging conditions.  Paper has also been used traditionally in quilt-making as templates for pieced quilts – often old letters or newspapers were used because they were not precious materials and were immediately to hand in the domestic environment.

Other artists selected to make work for Bespoke are: Jennifer Robertson, Cecilia Heffer, Niklavs Rubenis and Caren Florence in collaboration with Melinda Smith.

Migrations Exhibition Dublin

As a follow-on from the Cultural Threads: Transnational Textiles Today book launch and symposium that I attended in London earlier this year, Jessica Hemmings has included several of my works in an exhibition, Migrations,  that opens at the National College of Art in Dublin in two days time. If you are in the vicinity, please find this invitation to the opening.

The portability of textiles - the ease with which they move around the globe- and their hybrid position within the worlds of craft, design and art make them particularly apt carriers of culture.  Alongside this portability is the reality that the textile often exists as a multiple.  While versions roam, others stay closer to home.  

Migrations travels throughout 2015 (America, Ireland, Australia) and explores the notion of textiles as carriers of multiple cultural influences put forth in the accompanying publication Cultural Threads: transnational textiles today  (Boomsbury: 2015). Brought together are contemporary artists, designers and an author who all work at the intersection of cultures and use multiple, portable textiles as their vehicle.
 

Jessica Hemmings curator of Migrations & editor of Cultural Threads

IlluminARTe at Picton

This weekend Wollondilly’s cultural and artistic diversity will be showcased through a vibrant festival “Wollondilly IlluminARTe” to be held on Saturday 11 April 2015 where different artworks will be projected onto buildings, walls and public spaces along Menangle Street, Picton.
My artworks have been selected for projection on the seven buildings that will be illuminated on Saturday night, so if you are down Picton way think about checking it all out!

Also taking place during the Festival will be the Picton Chamber of Commerce’s Picton Harvest Music festival, a lantern parade, Art Exhibition in the Shire Hall Art Space, a Street Fair and Market Stalls and illuminated furniture will be positioned in front of illuminated buildings. Click here for more information about the festival.

Picton Post Office illuminated with artwork.

Indigo Workshop

After the three-day intensive Mud Cloth workshop in Mullumbimby, Aboubakar had a day off to prepare the next workshop - the indigo four day intensive. This meant I also had a day off to explore Mullumbimby and surrounds, so I took a ride to Brunswick Heads to have an early morning swim in the ocean followed by a fantastic vegetarian lunch. Later, I prepared a few stitched samples for the workshop, just simple karamatsu shibori, or larch design.
As Aboubakar had previously run a 10 day intensive class, the fermented indigo vat that they had set up was still resting and maturing.  He had also started a new fermented indigo vat for the class after ours, so in total there were two fermented indigo vats that needed to be looked after each day and two fructose vats that we could work with.

The large blue vat is the fermented leaf vat, and the brown
vat at the back is the fructose vat.

The difference between the two types of vats is immense. The fermented vat uses the leaf matter from the indigo in Nigeria, Lonchocarpus cyanescens, also known as Yoruba indigo. This type of vat is a "living colour" vat, where bacteria grow to ferment the leaves so that the pigment can be released. This process can take up to 14 days and is heavily dependant on keeping the temperature of the vat warm, which is why we were doing the workshop in muggy Mullumbimby! I will not go into the process of the fermentation vat here because we were not taught this in our 4 day workshop, so I will concentrate on the Fructose Vat.

Aboubakar carefully hydrating the indigo powder with
water before adding to the vat

The Fructose Indigo vat we prepared follows a similar recipe to other natural vats I have prepared in the past using the 1:2:3 ratio of Indigo, Lime and Fructose. Aboubakar has his own method of achieving his indigo vat, through years of research in Japan and his home country. The more I participate in Indigo workshops the more I realise how attached masters can become to their vats and ways of preparing and caring for them, so it is futile to start comparing one method to another, because you start to realise that it is not comparing apples to apples at all, it is more like comparing children, and as we all know, no two are alike, even from the same parents!! Although I prepare indigo vats for workshops in natural dyeing, and am very happy with my results, I do not keep a vat as part of my arts practice, the way Aboubakar does (or in his case, thirty huge vats or so!!).  Many people are puzzled by this because  indigo is seen to be such an essential part of a natural dyeing practice - especially to get greens and purples etc.  Indigo is such an intense experience that I am almost afraid if I start it (properly) I will never want to stop and do other things anymore...this sounds dramatic ....but some of you will understand what I mean. Also, vats really do need to be tended and cared for like babies, particularly the fermentation vats.  You must monitor them every single day in order to keep them happy and productive. The 1-2-3 vats are much simpler and easier to create and can be left dormant for periods of time.

Fructose vat ready to use.

After the addition of lime and fructose the vat is stirred and left for an hour, after which time the "flower" or "bloom" on the top has increased in size and diameter, and the liquid underneath is a yellowish colour, signifying that the vat is now ready to use. The surface has a coppery tinge, and often has a wrinkly appearance - this is the vat's "skin" to protect it from air.

Aboubakar prepares to test the vat

The first dip in the vat

Aboubakar has a very particular way of immersing fabric, yarn and shibori textiles into the vat in order to get a good even dyeing.  We learnt how to "massage" our textiles beneath the surface of the vat so that our fingers did not leave marks on our samples, and to open up pleats and yarns so that the indigo could penetrate where it should. It was nerve-wracking at first but after a while you get the hang of it!  Aboubakar then set us our first task - to take seven identical pieces of calico to achieve the seven shades from white to deepest indigo/black.  This is one of the tests for the prospective indigo-dyers and believe me, the lightest shade was the hardest to achieve.  Afterwards Aboubakar shared his insight into this special pale blue - it is often done with the oldest "grandmother" vat which is nearly at the end of its life and takes a lot of skill and sensibility to produce. He says that often this colour is the most desirable because it is so hard to achieve. The colour must be pale, but the cloth must still be saturated properly, and in a young vibrant vat there is too much energy for even a 1 second dip to produce a "last-breath" blue.

Aboubakar's seven samples of indigo...perfect

During the course of the workshop we explored many processes of shibori and rice paste resist.  Aboubakar does not use the clay resist in his vats because the minerals in the vat would contaminate and interfere with the fermentation bacteria. The resist paste worked very well and I played around with multiple stamping and printing and dipping to achieve layers of colour and tone on small samples.  I also completed my Seven Indigo samples to perfection - not on the first day, mind you, but the next day once the samples had dried, I realised one was slightly out and I wanted to take the time correct it whilst I still had the same vats.  Of course, when you change one sample...all the others proceding it must also change...haha! However by the end of the exercise Aboubakar was very happy with my samples and I think they looked very close to his. I also made a beautiful indigo scarf with the pleat and tie method shown to me by Abou....it certainly pays to have long fingers and lots of patience!

Some of my indigo samples with resist paste, shibori and repeat dyeings.

 And lastly, there was another RYDER in our group - Angela Ryder - which is so uncommon we both freaked out a bit, but she made some beautiful work including this lovely rice-paste resist piece which sums up the wonderful workshop with Aboubakar in Mullumbimby....

Muddy in Mullumbimby

I've been offline for the past two weeks because I have been up in Mullumbimby on the NSW north coast participating in two workshops run by Aboubakar Fofana.

Aboubakar in our Mullumbimby workshop

Aboubakar is a calligrapher, artist, textile designer and graphic designer born in Bamako, Mali but has lived for most of his life in Paris. He is well known for his work with mud-cloth and indigo, which he studied for many years with Japanese master dyer Akiyama Masakazu in Japan.  He now divides his time between Paris, Tokyo and Bamako as he strives to revitalise the lost art of natural dyeing and indigo in his home-country.
The first workshop was on Mud Cloth, or Bogolanfini which is created by using a mud that is high in iron to permanently stain the cloth. Traditionally this textile was worn as a type of camouflage by Malian hunters, and the patterns are rich in cultural significance. Aboubakar always starts off his mud cloth workshops with his favourite talisman of the fish.

Aboubakar demonstrates how to apply the mud to the cloth

There are several steps to achieving this very earthy, primitive cloth.  Firstly the fabric must be prepared by soaking it in a tannin rich broth made from the n'gallama tree.  Aboubakar prefers the hand spun and handwoven cotton fabric from Mali, and we each received a small piece to try first.  Once the fabric has been prepared and dried, the mud is mixed for application.

Mixing the mud to the right consistency

The mud is extremely smelly as it is taken from the bottom of the river at certain times of the year and stored so that it continues to ferment. In this way it is a 'living' colour, very similar to the fermented indigo vats that Aboubakar prefers to work with. The mud can be applied with a paintbrush, stick or even stencilled, and I decided to make a number of small pieces of cloth using the mud in different ways instead of one large project like everyone else.

Some of my mud cloth experiments

Many of the workshop participants made some beautiful and unique textiles as wraps, scarves and even a skirt, and here are some of the results:

Becci with her lovely mandala fabric, handpainted

Becci working on a scarf with Rebecca and Janie in the background

Once the mud is applied to the cloth it is dried and then 'scrubbed' in the air to release the mud.  Once all the mud has been dusted off then it is put into cold water and scrubbed again to get rid of any excess.  The cloth can be washed and dried and then re-tanned for further applications of mud.  Each mud application makes the colour darker, and you can start to build up many layers of varying shades of the mud to enhance your designs.

I will post an article about the indigo workshop in the next day or so.  It was a great experience to work with such a professional and passionate advocator for natural dyeing and the lost textile arts of Mali.

Leaving London

My last day in London was a whirlwind of activity, trying to fit in the last "must-do" things on my bucket list.  As my plane didn't leave until the evening I had the opportunity to visit a couple more places before I left. First stop was "Alfies" off the Edgeware Road.  Many of you know I am a big fan of mid-century design - textiles, furniture and ceramics mostly, and this mecca of antiques has been in existence for over 30 years. Alfies is housed in the former Jordan's department store in Church Street, so encompasses four floors with over 100 dealers selling antiques.

Alfies Antique Market, Church Street, Marylebone

One of the treasures I found was up on the third floor, humorously called "Naphthalene Textiles" and run by Carole Collier.

Carole Collier from Naphthalene Textiles

Carole and partner June sell a lot of vintage textiles, laces, haberdashery, jewellery and clothing and as soon as I walked into their shop my eyes spied a lovely 50's dress which just had to come home with me. However, to get to Carole's store on the top floor I had to bypass the most fantastic collections of mid-century furniture and lighting I have ever seen in one place, so it was just unbearable for me not to be able to look seriously with intention to buy. If you have ever been to my studio you know I am a sucker for retro furniture and design.

As I was just about to walk out the front door (although the place is such a rabbit-warren you could get lost in there for hours) I happened to glance to my left and did a quick double-take then a sidestep....I had walked into heaven.....well, if heaven is a shop crammed packed with the most wonderful African textiles, that is. 

Duncan's shop, Adire African Textiles on the first floor has some lovely examples of Ewe kente cloth from Ghana, Asafo flags, indigo stitch resist and dyed cloths, adire and adinkra and much, much more. Again, hard to resist buying anything but I had neither the time to look seriously with intention to add to my collection of African textiles, nor did I have the money to invest after having spent 2 weeks in London on a shoestring! Besides, I haven't yet unpacked or displayed the wonderful Ndop cloth I received from Cameroon recently, but Duncan's shop and website is now on my radar for the future!

Conscious of the time, I tore myself away from Alfies to get to my next destination - the October Gallery in Bloomsbury where a magnificent exhibition of work by El Anatsui had opened the week before. Amazingly I was allowed to take photos of the show, so here are a few to whet your appetite. And I thought I was a bit obsessive about my work....haha!

Now I am finally back in Canberra after the long flight home, and getting back into the swing of things.  Great news that Craft ACT POD has moved to The Hamlet in vibrant Braddon and I'm looking forward to seeing their latest exhibitions that opened last week in my absence.

A final thanks once again to artsACT and the ACT Government for their support of my trip to speak at the Cultural Threads symposium and book launch.