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.

Playing Field Residency Talk

Come and hear me talk about my mini-residency at Playing Field Studio this Sunday.  
I have been loving the vibe that is happening in this part of the city this week.  It is so quiet and peaceful in the studio and then you walk out the front door and people are milling around, gathering at the Food Co-op next door to shop, eat and listen to music at nights.  I have been eating lunch there everyday myself and feel totally energised! Plus they have some great cakes for afternoon tea.  The Childers St precinct is just around the corner, as are the wonderful coffee shops and restaurants.  The Drill Hall is diagonally across the road and yesterday I spent some time in there looking at two wonderful exhibitions including some amazing ceramics by Hellen Fuller.

Artist Event Community Arts Residency  You're Invited... Interested to see what our residency artists have achieved during their time in the studio? Please come along to a FREE showing of their work. Sunday 12th October 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Playing Field Studio 2 Kingsley Street, Canberra Julie Ryder (Visual Artist) will discuss how the her work benefited from the residency. Please come along and enjoy this free networking event. Tea & coffee will be provided.

Playing Field Residency

I started my Playing Field residency this week, and have been having fun walking around the Kingsley Street precinct taking photos and becoming inspired by the urban architecture.  I aim to produce a series of block prints on paper every day, paying attention to architectural details and interesting patterns found around this downtown studio. I will be giving an artist talk this coming Sunday - for more details click here.

Top: Block prints on paper with inspirations below

Playing Fields Workshop

I ran a short block-printing workshop at the Playing Field Studios this morning to a group of 12 very creative ladies (14 counting Ali and Gael!).  We had such a great time and I could tell they were focussed because there was utter silence for most of the morning, apart from "ooh" and "ahh" and "I'm lovin' it!" Anyway, here's a few photos of what they achieved in just over two hours.  Well done! I'm really looking forward to my residency there next month.

  

Natural Dyes and Mordant Printing at Sturt

Sturt have just released their  Summer School 2015 workshop information and I will be teaching Natural Dyes and Mordant Printing on Fabric.  Places are filling fast so if you are interested now is the time to enrol!.  I always have such a good time at the Sturt Summer School - everybody is super friendly, the tutors are the top of their field, the Sturt staff are fantastic and the weather is usually lovely. I seem to attract a great group of students and we all end up having a fun yet productive time. I hope to see some of my students return for another great week of printing and experimenting.

While I was in the UK I went to loads of museums and galleries and one of the most interesting I went to was the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  I am including a few images of some very old block printed  textiles which have been done with mordants and natural dyes.

Indian textile from Indonesia (1400). Block printed cotton with resist and mordant-dyed red.

Indian cotton textile traded to Egypt, block printed, painted mordant and resist.

Block Printing Workshop

As part of an upcoming residency at the Playing Field Studios in Canberra later this year, I will be giving a short community workshop on block printing on paper on Saturday, 6th September from 10-12.30pm.  The venue is great, and the price is super cheap ($2 !) but places are limited so book your place now.  The Playing Field Studio is located at 2 Kingsley Street, (Cnr Barry Drive), diagonally across the road from the Drill Hall and next to the Canberra Dance Theatre and the Food Co-op.

Selection of my block-printed works using hand-cut blocks