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!

A Collection

To coincide with the Fibre Arts@Ballarat workshops this year there will be an exhibition of tutor's work entitled A Collection at The Lost Ones Gallery in Camp Street Ballarat from 16 March to 3rd April.

View of exhibition at the Lost Ones Gallery

This exhibition has been curated by Tara Poole from RIIS Strategic Consulting and will provide a wonderful snapshot of the talent and creativity of the tutors at this year's workshops.  It will give the general public an idea of what goes on at the Ballarat Grammar School when the boarders are away during the Easter holidays, and hopefully inspire some of them to try the workshops for themselves.

I am so looking forward to this year's class, to meet up with hundreds of like-minded fibre enthusiasts and to have a break from cooking and cleaning (and moving house) for a week. It is always inspiring to meet the other tutors, to go for daily walks around the lake, check out the botanic gardens and spend a whole week just exploring natural dyes and mordants in a well-organised and extremely fun working holiday.

Connected Cloth

This fascinating book which was published last year presents an invaluable guide for textile artists who work collaboratively, either in formal situations, such as art residencies with institutions, or informally such as small community groups. It provides useful information on setting up groups, finding venues, establishing ground rules and working methods, and staging group exhibitions. It also gives plenty of practical advice on how to hang and display textiles, themes and inspirations, collage techniques and working towards an exhibition.

My arts residency and collaboration with Dr Christine Cargill at the Australian National Botanic Gardens,  and my 2010 residency in Hill End is featured in the book (p96-97). Also included are many other well-known textile artists such as Els Van Barle, Alice Kettle, Glenys Mann and Machiko Agano.

Connected Cloth is written by well-known UK textile artists Cas Holmes and Anne Kelly.  Cas is no stranger to Australia as she often teaches in residential workshops for Fibre Arts Australia in Australia and NZ each year.