Day 1 Bali - Ende

The first day of our pre-cruise trip started at 5am this morning to get to Denpasar airport to catch the 7.20am flight to Ende, on the south coast of Flores. The plane actually has three stops - Labuan Bajo-Ende-Kupang and those travelling onwards get to sit in the plane on the tarmac until new passengers arrive. Our group consists of so far of 11 people from the US, Australia, UK and Taiwan, but we will be joined in the next few days by a couple of others to go on the cruise.

We were met at Ende airport by David and Sue Richardson who have developed this tour with Seatrek in Bali, this being their third trip. Our first stop was  to visit the nearby district of Ndona to visit some Lio weavers. In the photo above, Teresa is quickly tying her warps for ikat. The pattern is in her head and despite her age and agility issues, her fingers were very nimble, so we could see the pattern emerging as bundles of warp threads were bound with strips og Gebung palm leaves.

We were also given a demonstration by several of the women on their natural dyeing processes using Morinda citrifolia and indigo from Indigofera tinctoria which grows wild.

Weaving the ikats was done on backstrap looms and the women bought out many beautiful textiles to show and for sale, similar to the ones they are wearing in the above photos.

Our next stop was to the village of Saga, where we were greeted with drumming and dancing by local school children. 

We were welcomed by Maxi, one of the mosa laki (traditional leaders) of the area and after a delicious lunch in one of the schoolrooms he took us on a tour of the village with historical homes with wonderful architectural details and carvings.

Driving through this lush, mountainous terrain after coming from a wintery Canberra is quite surreal at the moment, as are the intermittent but heavy downpours. 

Wending our way through some fantastic scenery, we reach our final destination for the day, the Kalimutu Eco Lodge. We make this our base for two nights as we explore further the textiles of the south coast of Ende. The view from my room is amazing, looking over misty rice fields, hearing the turbulent river rushing by below, with a stormy grey sky just threatening to soak us again.

We are given a few hours to fest and relax before pre dinner lectures on Ende textiles by David and Sue followed by a delicious dinner complete with a birthday cake for Kate, one of the women on our trip. Most of us are eager to get to bed early to catch up on sleep and ready for an early start tomorrow.

I am now There

Well, strictly speaking, I am Here....but Here is sitting away from  the pouring rain in a Starbucks in Bali. Why?? Well, its a long story but I am in Bali in transit to Ende in Flores to join David and Sue Richardson, of Asian Textile Studies website, for a textile tour around the lesser Sunda Islands on the Ombak Putih, or "White Wave" boat to visit remote weavers and dyers in the Indonesian archipelago. There is a pre-cruise tour which starts tomorrow from Ende.

So why am I sitting in Starbucks instead of some authentic warung eating sarapan (breakfast)? Well a short version of the long story is that I got up at 5am this morning to catch the early morning flight and it was pouring with rain, the taxi was late and I was sitting in the back of it with my eyes closed as he sped to the airport, weaving in and out of traffic faster than I felt comfortable with. I got to the airport on time, very pleased with myself, negotiated customs, got to the check in counter .....and was told my flight was tomorrow!    

Haha! Thank god for the internet. Got my ipad out, found a new hotel very close to the airport for tomorrow morning, found another taxi, managed to explain and have a laugh about it with the driver in Bahasa and arrived at the hotel....far quicker than it took for Booking.com to send them through the transaction. So, parked my luggage there, and the heavens opened up for about the third time this morning. Desperately in need of kopi hitam and because my umbrella was still packed in my luggage at the hotel, I ran into a Starbucks on the first corner I came to.

Anyway, it has been pleasant, the sun is now out, all the men are busily trying to get rid of the deluge on the roads. My coffee is almost finished and it is safe to venture out again until the next downpour.

Anyway, i am still working out how to use the Blogger app on my ipad and I don't really like it as you don't have all the assets you have when using a computer. So if my posts on my trip look bad, that's the reason. And also posting will depend on our internet connections on our travels, but I will keep you as informed as I can.

Sampai nanti!

Here and There review

There was a great review of our exhibition, Here and There, in Saturday's Canberra Times by Kerry-Anne Cousins which you can read online here:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/review-of-here-and-there-by-julie-ryder-sharon-peoples-and-barbara-rogers-at-belconnen-arts-centre-20160509-gopt0s.html

Here & There @ Belconnen Arts Centre

Last week our group exhibition, Here and There was opened at the Belconnen Art Centre by Sally Burdon, Director of the Asia Book Room, and Dr Chris Bourke, Minister of Small Business and the Arts in the ACT.

Sally Burdon opening 'Here and There' at BAC

Although Barbara, Sharon and I exhibited a portion of this exhibition at the Barometer Gallery in Sydney last year, this exhibition has been extended, with new works by each artist specifically for the Belconnen Arts Centre Gallery. We had a great turnout and received many positive comments about how good our work looked in the space. We would also like to acknowledge the Australian Artists grant we received from NAVA in support of the costs of holding this exhibition.

Admirers of Sharon People's work

Entry to the exhibition - works by Rogers, Peoples and Ryder

Our works respond to the displacement felt when you are in one country and thinking about, or making work about, another. For Sharon, this was a family pilgrimage walking several hundred kilometers of the camino to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Sharon mentioned in her artist talk that while her feet were in Spain, the sounds of the cicadas and bees and smells of the eucalyptus leaves under her feet took her head and heart back to Australia.

Shibori textiles by Barbara Rogers

For Barbara, her experience of the Japanese art of shibori  in Australia with Japanese shibori master, Hiroyuki Shindo, inspired many trips to Japan and abroad to study this magical technique. Barbara's work differs from many shibori practitioners in that she starts with a black cloth, and discharges the colour out using the itajime technique with carved clamped boards or shapes, then develops her complex patterns by building up layers of colour with Naphthol dyes. Her deceptively simple designs are actually the product of years of painstaking development, getting the patterns and colours just right, so it all flows seamlessly.

View of my work with People's work on the left and Rogers' on the right

My latest work shown here are textiles that I started in Malaysia on my Asialink Arts Residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2013, then subsequently finished once I got back to Australia.  Whilst over there, I was finishing stitching some large panels I had started here for an exhibition called Natural Wonders as part of the Canberra Centenary.  Sitting stitching large naturally dyed textiles whose plants had been sourced from Pialligo and Aranda, I had the idea for the Here and There exhibition because it seemed incongruous to me that I was far away from home, but making work about the four seasons in a hot and humid country thousands of kilometers away.  Similarly over the last year or so I have been finishing off the work I started in Malaysia, thinking about place and people, the landscape and the history.

Series of 'bandages' entitled 'Valley of Hope Ara' by Julie Ryder

Many of these textiles have been naturally dyed with plants from the wonderful garden planted by Angela Hijjas at Rimbun Dahan.  Some of them were dyed then post-mordant printed, others were printed with mordants before-hand and dyed later.  By printing with mordants first, you can create some wonderful colours all from the one dyebath.  This is the basis of the workshops that I often teach around the country for textile or craft retreats. Details of these workshops can be found here

The format of these long textiles stems from my research into the history of Sungai Buloh, the closest town to Rimbun Dahan. I have found some subsequent information online here:

"...At its height, the settlement had more than 2,000 residents, its own school, police force, places of worship, library, theatre, and even currency. Inspired by the “garden city” movement of the 19th century, it came to be known as “The Valley of Hope”. So pleasant was it, that even when effective treatment became available, many former patients chose to stay.

Although a large proportion of the sufferers were ethnic Chinese, the settlement was also home to Indians, Malays, Javanese, Eurasians and indigenous people. Whatever their race, religion or class, they shared a common bond in being outcasts from society at large. The result was probably the most diverse yet harmonious community Malaysia has ever seen..."

So this  started me thinking about the bandages that are still knitted today by volunteers all over the world to help bandage the limbs of these afflicted people. Apparently knitted cotton bandages are softer and more cushioning that manufactured ones.  In my "bandages" I have included iconography from Christianity and Islam to reference the harmony that coexisted within the Valley of Hope.  The series of striped bandages reference the 'ara' found on the left and right hand sides of the pua kumbu woven cloths of the indigenous Iban of Borneo.  I had the wonderful experience of staying for a few days with the weavers from Rumah Garie in 2012 where we participated in their ngar ceremony for mordanting all their cotton warps for the next two years of ikat weaving.

Detail of 'Valley of Hope Ara' by Julie Ryder

 The Leprosy Colony in Sungai Buloh still exists today, albeit with only a couple of hundred inmates and their families, but they have built up a thriving nursery business that is supported by many locals, and that was also a lovely coincidence that I was also using plant dyes to make work about healing and harmony.

In addition I made four textile artworks entitled 'Budaya lintasan', or 'crossing cultures' that have been mordant printed, appliqued and stitched then stretched over canvas.

'Budaya lintasan' series of textiles

These works complemented perfectly the work I had previously done about Canberra for  Natural Wonders and Here and There at the Barometer Gallery last year, which can be seen in previous posts.

The Hindmarsh Prize

Amazing news hot off the press is that my work, Under the Microscope, has been selected for the inaugural Hindmarsh Prize for glass.....yes, you read it correctly... GLASS!

Under The Microscope (Photo: Deb Jurss)

This body of work was created during my 2015 GLINT residency (see previous posts) as a sample for much larger works in glass for future exhibition.  My idea was to create a series of large microscope slides reminiscent of Victorian scientific microscope slides.

Image: http://www.victorianmicroscopeslides.com/slides.htm

These slides were beautifully decorated with printed papers designed by the different individuals or firms who specialised in the preparation of scientific slides for scientists or collectors.  They have become highly collectable themselves, unfortunately well out of my price range, but luckily I have access to the Cryptogam Herbarium at the Australian National Botanic Gardens who hold a lovely collection of Victorian glass slides of diatoms.

Detail image of my slide which has been printed and sandblasted

The image I have used in my slide above is an SEM of Phaeoceros inflatus by Dr Christine Cargill surrounded by a textile damask design typical of the Victorian era. Dr Cargill and I have worked for many years since our ANAT Synapse residency back in 2005, and we do joke that it is the art-sci collaboration that just keeps on giving!

The Hindmarsh Prize is specifically for artists who work in glass from the ACT region, and there were 18 shortlisted artists from a field of 31. More information about the Hindmarsh prize, and a sneek peak at each artist's entry, can be found here

More Mordant Printing

Here are some more photos of the work produced  during the Fibre Arts Workshop in Ballarat a cou-ple of weeks ago (see previous post). These were taken by Gaye, who thankfully had the presence of mind to remember to take them. As usual I got so busy I forgot to do it myself! This first photo is really interesting because we were all trying to take photos of the table runner we made, but only Gaye's phone (on the right) took a photo of the true colours.

Colour differences between phone cameras (Photo: G Nieuwenhof)

Student's Finished work (Photo: G Nieuwenhof)

Beautiful colour ranges (Photo: G Nieuwenhof)

Lots of pattern and layering to build up texture and colour (Photo: G Nieuwenhof)

Natural Dye Workshop @ Ballarat

Had a fantastic week in Ballarat with Fibre Arts Australia printing with mordants and dyeing with a variety of natural dyes, from fresh plant material,  powdered dyes as well as extracts. I had a wonderful group of students who were right on track to learn new ways of creating images and colour combinations by printing with mordants both before and after dyeing with natural dyes.  I think we worked out that we had made over 150 colours during the course of the week.....so all the students have built up a wonderful resource for their future forays into natural dyes.  Towards the end of the week our group had to make something for the "top table" so we decided to make this fabulous table-runner which we printed with mordants and then dyed in iris leaves.

Table runner after printing with various mordants (before dyeing)

We were all so proud of it and we raised $100 when it sold to one of the other tutors during the live auction.

Table runner after dyeing with iris leaves and decoratively stitched by students

After the workshop I had several enthusiastic emails from several of my class saying they had already started putting their new skills into practice.  That is so exciting for me as a teacher - to know that you have not only inspired others with your passion and knowledge but also to create the impetus for independant research and experimentation.

The Ballarat Class of 2016 - Awesome and talented ladies!!

Thank you all so much for a wonderfully calm and productive week!