Geelong Fibre Forum 2014

I still don't have any embroidery pictures to show from Fibre Forum. I have been too busy studying and, since my last exam last week, slobbing out, to finish my embroidery. But it's next on my list of fun things to do, so maybe photos will come soon!

On our first morning we went down to Limeburners' Lagoon, a little bit of Corio Bay that is very close to Geelong Grammar, to sketch. The idea was to work on something inspired by our natural surroundings. Now, I still maintain that I 'cannot draw' but I can cobble together vague ideas which was all that was required. We spent a lovely three hours in mild sunshine sketching the bay and flowers/plants that were growing around us. A number of us also took photos to give us further ideas if necessary.

I really loved the bark on this eucalypt. In fact it was this photo that I ended using as the inspiration for my main piece (we also did a sampler which was quite prescriptive but very useful for practice). I sketched it when we got back to the classroom, fiddled with a bit of colour (also fiddled with some of the original sketches) and eventually, with guidance from our tutor, I narrowed down to a section of my sketch and used it as the basis for my embroidery.

I took quite a lot of pictures. I especially loved the lines and texture of this cracked mud. Over the years I have taken quite a lot of photos of interesting textures and things and this workshop gave me the confidence to think of them as being potential inspiration for other pieces in due course.

The Geelong Wool Museum is always worth a visit. This time round there was an interesting exhibition by Australian (though resident in the US) textile artist Ruth Marshall, whose exhibition Vanished Into Stitches is still on till 7 December if anyone is interested. She knits perfect reproductions of endangered animal pelts.  Her work is pretty stunning. I really liked her tiny reproductions of native marsupials.

And for some bizarre reason, the Wool Museum has this lovely exhibit above - Super Croc I think it was called - the skull of an extinct (thank god!) giant crocodile. Nothing to do with wool, but native to the area, possibly. With cool lighting. Very strange.

And of course there is yarnbombing outside the Wool Museum!!

It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding

On Sunday we went up to Bendigo to see the Wedding Dress exhibitions (one from the V&A, one Australian one).  It was fantabulous, but I can't show you any pictures.  Suffice it to say that it was full of frills and furbelows and white and cream and sparkly bits!  (And for anyone wondering, a furbelow is a ruffle !)  Even with corsets I wondered at how tiny many of the waists were.  And the shoes!  Women had very small feet in the past apparently, both in length and width.  But I suppose most people were, generally, smaller in the past than they are now.

I can show you gratuitous pictures of Bendigo as I continued to experiment with my new camera.  (Which is a Lumix of some point and shoot variety, for those interested in the details - anything else would be too technical for me!)

The Bendigo Rotary Club Gardens were full of spring blooms in the spring sunshine:

And the - maybe the Town Hall?  Or some other grand Victorian gold era building - was adorned with dragons and lions very handsomely.

That may have been the same building that housed the tourist information office and a little exhibition space where I enjoyed 'Raw ‘n’ Funky, Fine Art Fashions in Felt' and this charming tiled motif on the doorstep.

It was a nice day to top off a week off work.  A sort of relaxing week in which I finished hats (coming soon to a blog near you!), set up an Etsy shop (see side bar of a blog VERY NEAR YOU RIGHT NOW), watched several episodes of Quincy ME, and carted my children around to medical appointments.  Including Wombat, in an ambulance, to a casualty department.  He came off his bike rather hard.  In the end he was better off than the bike, which is having surgery at the moment, while he escaped with (nasty) scrapes and bruises.  Fortunately we have always insisted on them wearing helmets and I am very grateful that the depressed fracture in the helmet was not magnified into his skull.

Scarves, beads and political cartoons

I have fitted in three exhibitions in the last few days. (It helped that two of them were at the same place!)

The first was Reflections Scarf Festival 2010 at the Geelong Wool Museum. This is run in conjunction with Craft Victoria. Every year I mean to enter some scarves. Do I ever? No of course not. I will try to be firm with myself next year! It was an interesting collection of artworks and there are various categories to win prizes in. Invariably I did not necessarily agree with the prize winners in every case - who ever does? It is always so subjective. But everyone had worked extremely hard and there was some amazing stuff there. Nuno felting was obviously flavour of the month, and very nice it was too. That is something that I know how to do but cannot be bothered doing, so it is nice to see the work of other people. There were also knitted, crocheted, woven and fabric scarves of various sorts. I deliberately wore one of my own creations, made for my Diploma course. Personally I think it was at least as good as the best that were there! Maybe I will enter it next year. I can't post any pictures of the scarves there as I don't think photography was allowed and even if it was, I wouldn't post someone else's creations without their permission. I left with lots and lots of inspiration for future creations so it was a very worthwhile visit. This was immediately after a pleasant lunch with my mum and brother instead of a 'wake' for my father.

The other two exhibitions were at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Brilliant Beads was an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Embroiderers' Guild of Victoria, and this is what the blurb said : Tiny brooches, flamboyant necklaces, framed pictures, tables, bottles, vases and small toys are included in a unique exhibition where diverse objects have been embellished with millions of beads to transform them into something new.

Brilliant Beads is presented by the Ballarat Branch of the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria as part of its 50th Anniversary. It brings together pieces as diverse as a beautifully beaded wedding dress to craft and an antique fire screen lovingly restored by renowned textile artist Alison Cole.

The beaded articles on display have been sourced from various places, including the archives of the Embroiderers Guild, the Art Gallery of Ballarat as well as pieces from individual Members' collections and their own work.

This exhibition is one of a series around the state hosted by branches of the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria.

It was really fascinating. I did take lots of pictures, which was permitted, but as I said above, I don't post pictures of other people's work. I took them for my own interest and reference, for display methods as much as anything else. In fact a great many of them were made from books and magazine designs, I think, whereas I design my own stuff, as I was going to point out if anyone accused me of taking the photos so that I could copy them! There was a lot of wonderful, precise work there, probably of a much higher technical standard than I could do, but I had the usual problem I find with the Guild work, in that technique tends to be more important than originality. Which is fine for lots of people, and it isn't really a criticism of people who prefer to work that way. It does, however, explain why I am reluctant to join the Guild! Again, there was lots of inspiration.

The final exhibition I went to see, at the same Gallery, was In Your Face! Cartoons about politics and society 1760 - 2010 :

This exhibition celebrates the tradition of making social and political comment in the form of the cartoon and caricature about current affairs, a tradition that goes back many centuries but has been at its most vibrant since mass circulation printing became commonplace in the late 18th century.

Visitors to the exhibition may be surprised to discover that the things which amuse, annoy, terrify and bamboozle us are in many cases the same as those which exercised the minds of our ancestors 200 years ago - sex, politics, religion, fashion, doctors and lawyers, and, of course, the Royal Family.

In this journey through two centuries of cartooning visitors will look back to Australia's British roots, with the work of satirists such as William Hogarth and James Gillray, with insights into contemporary society and politics from such household names as Nicholson, Tandberg, Leunig and Spooner.

The cartoons cover a range of themes, including John Spooner's personal selection of his favourite cartoons by the great 18th century artist James Gillray. It also gives insights into the things that have tickled Ballarat funny bones from the goldfields era to today.

This special paid-entry exhibition is drawn largely from the Art Gallery of Ballarat's own extraordinary collection of cartoons and caricatures, which is one of the best in the country.

Again, really fascinating. Wonderfully, I had the rooms to myself at that point, so I was able to linger as long as I liked and really read everything. I knew a lot of the cartoons, both the oolder British ones and the Australian ones, but there was still plenty there I did now know and it was wonderful to catch up with old favorites too. I bought the catalogue and there will be plenty of interesting reading there.

Next week we are going back to Canberra to finalise my father's stuff. This time we are taking the kids and staying for a week. Although there will be a lot of hard work, we are determined to include some galleries along the way.

Fabricate 2007

I have just returned from seeing the Fabricate (2007) exhibition at the Embroiderers' Guild. It is their (as of last year) annual 'textile art' exhibition which showcases more contemporary stuff than the Guild is usually associated with.

I thought it was just a tiny bit more amateur than last year's, when there were a few big names involved. There was only one person there this time I had heard from (not counting two exhibitors I recognised from last year) and I was disappointed with her piece, which I thought was a little forced.

Having said that there was some very inspiring work and one in particular that gave me some fantastic ideas. I had a problem choosing my pick for the best of show, there were two I liked equally for it!

There was very colourful stuff (including a great, very PINK piece), some with lovely personal histories, and some that just left me cold. That's fine, that's how all exhibitions should be. The things I found plain boring are probably someone else's favorites, and the ones I liked the best were probably scoffed at by others. It is is good to see the Guild showcasing contemporary, and in some cases very innovative, textile art for at least a few weeks in the year.

I haven't mentioned any names or particular pieces because I know these are my own opinions and all these people and alive and well and likely to get personally cross with me if I diss them. Plus the textile art world is one I am trying to break into, not make enemies within!

If you're in Melbourne or its environs and like this sort of thing, do pop in and see it. Hopefully you too with find something to inspire you like I did. It;s also going to Ararat later on, which is great for other people!