Finally I've got around to posting my images of the exhibition and the opening day (it's taken a couple of days). A reminder, as always, that these are just snapshots I've taken, and probably no-one's work is well served by them! They are only meant to show the exhibition as a whole, and the juxtapositions of work. Best to contact the gallery to order a copy of the excellent catalogue if you want better images of the works.
The artists in the show are:
Annie Aitken, Isabel Avendano Hazburn, Nicole Barakat, Jennifer Bartholomew, Wanda Bennett, Veronica Cay, Alana Clifton-Cunningham, Cresside Collette, Sujora Conrad, Adrienne Doig, Daniel Edwards, Esmae Emerson, Hilary Green, Tim Gresham, Mandy Gunn, Cecilia Heffer, Gabriella Hegyes, Judy Hooworth, Lucy Irvine, Adrienne Kenafake, Anita Larkin, Rodney Love, Penny Malone, Elisa Markes-Young, Paull McKee, Ian McKinnon, Julie Montgarrett, Brook Morgan, Catherine O'Leary, John Parkes, Flossie Peitsch, Martine Peters, Teresa Poletti Glover, Karen Richards, Jennifer Robertson, Barbara Rogers, Julie Ryder, Nicky Schonkala, Joy Smith, Patrick Snelling, Anton Veenstra, Carmel Wallace The first thing I noticed when I looked at the catalogue was how many of the names I knew. I realized I'd been in other shows with half of the artists. These shows and these artists:
Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award 2009 - Cresside Collette, Hilary Green, Tim Gresham, Mandy Gunn, Cecilia Heffer, Anita Larkin, Penny Malone, Julie Montgarrett, Julie Ryder, Patrick Snelling
Momentum: The 18th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial - Alana Clifton-Cunningham, Hilary Green, Mandy Gunn, Cecilia Heffer, Penny Malone, Elisa Markes-YoungHands On: Craft in Contemporary Art - Annie Aitken,
Anton Veenstra
Re-Frame - Nicole Barakat, Paull McKee
Entanglement - Hilary Green, Brook Morgan,
Landscapes: A Journey Home in Textiles - Brook Morgan
Luggage... Not Baggage - Gabriella Hegyes
Furr - Nicole BarakatI've put the images in the order you'd see them if you entered the gallery, went to the right, and continued around the exhibition until you get back to the entrance. It was intermittently sunny that day, so occasionally the sun bursts into the photos. This is the view from the gallery door, with Elisa Markes-Young's The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced #27:
From right to left (all subsequent photos will be R to L as well), Penny Malone's Diptych Melbourne Geometrics, My Tool Set by Joy Smith on the plinth, and Curious Wonder by Martine Peters:
A group shot:
Annie Aitken's Untitled #1, Brook Morgan's Untitled, and Cocoon #10 by Carmel Wallace:
A closer look at Brook's work. Made from protea flowers:
Carmel's work again, Kneecap by Isabel Avendano Hazbun, and genes/jeans by John Parkes:
This is around the corner, the back of the previous wall. Hillary Green's Wonderlust, and two works by Adrienne Doig:
Anita Larkin's Roger, I hear you loud and clear... is just behind the person's head, Ride a Wild Pony by Jennifer Bartholomew, and Ian McKinnon's Cascading Black and Tan:
Bartholomew and McKinnon's works again, and Mandy Gunn's TEXT-ile (The Unconcise Oxford Dictionary):
Mandy's work, and Nicole Barakat's obscured I am singing as I am sewing:
Nicole's work again, hmmm..., I'm not sure... Is this Julie Montagarrett's mise en abyme? No, by process of elimination I've realized it must be Tim Gresham's Liquid Module VI. Weavolution is next, by Nicky Schonkala, and Barbara Rogers' Parallels:
Anton Veenstra's Homage to El Greco Sebastian (Never felt a wound) on the wall, and Lucy Irvine's The Traveller. This was my pick to win. It didn't, but it did get an Honourable Mention:
A full shot of The Traveller, with Judy Hooworth's Black Water behind:
Julie Ryder's Transmorphing, and Pulse by Wanda Bennett. It has LED lighting incorporated into the work, but it doesn't really show up well here:
Wagga - Blue by Paull McKee, Esmae Emerson's Glacier, and Ecocover Panel by Flossie Peitsch:
Another overview. I think Veronica Cay's Sleep Little Babies is on a plinth to the right of Hilary's tapestry:
The Wanderlust is in the vitrine and is by Adrienne Kenafake, Patrick Snelling's winning work 8.9, and Teresa Poletti Glover's Every darkness promises a new dawn on a plinth behind the viewer:
A shot of my work Fence on the plinth behind, and Fences in front. They're all woven with a wire warp, and paper weft. The wire has rusted, staining the paper with random patterns:
A different view. Professional shots are in this post:
Cecillia Heffer's Tide, my works again, The making of a Slow Journey by Jennifer Robertson:
Another shot of that corner:
Sujora Conrad's #5 from Drawings for Field Work, and Wave... by Gabriella Hegyes:
I clearly wasn't paying enough attention at the time - I think this is mise en abyme by Julie Montgarrett on the right. Catherine O'Leary's Heartache is the red and white felt work hanging on the left:
Alana Clifton-Cunningham's Pauldron, and Metallic Sun-Orchids by Karen Richards. I'm not sure what the thread is, but it has picked up the flash. It wasn't as luminous in the flesh:
Back to the entrance. Woven Rhythms by Daniel Edwards, and A Trio of New Horizons by Cresside Collette:
This is gallery director Dianne Mangan opening proceedings:
Judge Valerie Kirk and Award Patron Liz Williamson:
Di introducing Liz:
The opening morning:
I got back today from Wangaratta (and the surrounding region for a weekend away), and thought I should at least reveal the winner of the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award for 2011. I have got a lot of photos to upload, but for now I'm happy to say that Patrick Snelling won the (I think) $5,000, acquisitive award for his piece 8.9. The judge was Valerie Kirk. She also selected 4 works for Honourable Mentions - work by Brook Morgan, Lucy Irvine, Elisa Markes-Young, and, Jennifer Bartholomew. I'll add photos of the show in the next few days.
June 6
Here's a picture of Patrick Snelling in front of his winning work:
This is an image of Valerie Kirk, the judge, and Liz Williamson, the Award Patron, in front of Patrick's work:
(The winner is revealed in this post)The Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award exhibition is coming up, opening on June 4. Two of my works have been accepted for the show. I was also in the inaugural award exhibition two years ago (see this post). This first work is called Fence. It's woven with a galvanised steel wire warp, and a paper weft. The wire was then allowed to rust, staining the paper. The title came because the coils of woven wire reminded me of fences waiting to be rolled out across the landscape. 
(Original images here.) 
Until recent rains and flooding, the dominant discourse about the countryside was the drought that had been causing hardship to farmers across the country. The rusted paper in Fence made me think of abandoned farms, rusted fences, and the brown, dusty soil of drought-affected farms.
(Image by Jason Edwards, available here.)
The other work accepted into the show is called Fences. It is a series of three works similar to Fence, but the paper used for the weft is hand made and includes human hair, plant material, pigments, and spices. The works were all made earlier this year. They are all about 15cm wide, with varying lengths. All are displayed coiled, but there is no set configuration for them.
Forgot to mention that all photos are by Adrian Cook.
This post has images I took at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre of the Hands On: Craft in Contemporary Art show that I'm exhibiting in. They're just snapshots I took in the gallery, without tripod or lighting changes, so not great quality. They at least give an overview of the show. It's a great space, and the work has been well placed by curator Cash Brown. The show has a great variety of textile techniques and materials, and it all works really well together. The information about works is from the catalogue, so I may not have all the correct details. I also don't have images of all the artists' work.
The work in the shot above is Say it with flowers by Linelle Stepto. What looks like a dried flower arrangement is made from cane toad skin and kangaroo fur. Below are 8 pieces from my The Devil's Cloth series:
Here's something I wrote about this series:"The medieval eye found any surface in which a background could not be distinguished from a foreground disturbing. Thus, striped clothing was relegated to those on the margins or outside the social order -- jugglers and prostitutes, for example -- and in medieval paintings the devil himself is often depicted wearing stripes."
Publisher's blurb from The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes and Striped Fabric by Michel Pastoureau
I was intrigued by this book's investigation of striped fabrics from medieval times to the present. Pastoureau also writes about the striped uniforms that concentration camp inmates were forced to wear in the mid-twentieth century. The Holocaust has been a recurring theme in my work, and the use of human hair is a link to that event. The patterns I have used in this series are mainly taken from Japanese fabrics, so the meanings that may have applied in 13th century Europe obviously do not apply. I hope, however, that viewers can draw out and connect these many meanings when they think about the material, the pattern and the technique combining in this series of woven works.In this photo, Newell Harry's Untitled is on the left, Braveheart, take 4 by Dani Marti in the middle, and Phone book fashion by Betty Bird in the foreground:
Silke Raetze's Mayflower series is on the left, Peace in the Universe by Jedda-Daisy Culley, not sure of the next work, but in the case in the foreground is, I think, Rockers in my back yard by Cecilia Fogelberg:
Another view of Cecilia Fogelberg's work, with, I think, Leah Emery's The Exhibition on the wall:
A series of applique and embroidery works on linen by Adrienne Doig is on the back wall, with Alan Jones' Todd on the right, and woven polyester mono filament sculptures by Minka Gillian in the foreground: 
On the wall behind Alan Jones' work are some works by Narelle Jubelin and Barbara Campbell I think collectively called Refer to Source. On the facing wall is embroidery by Timothy Moore:
Catherine Hearse's figures are on the plinth on the left, Michelle Hamer's Only a little bit dead on the wall, the large sculpture is Auropod by Alice Lang, and Adrienne Kneebone's Town'n'Kantri is on the plinth in the background:
Bridie Connell's Hanky Panky Fiction is on the left, Symbiosis #17 by Annie Aitken is next, my work is in the background. Helen Pynor's sculptural hair work Untitled (heart lungs) is in a perspex box on the wall on the right. It's the exhibition invitation image:
Some works by Anton Veenstra on the left, the back view of Todd, Narelle Jubelin and Barbara Campbell's work again, and, I think, Ingrid Wimbury's Liminal Rituals #2: 
Hands On: Craft in Contemporary Art, an exhibition curated by Cash Brown, opens this Friday at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Gymea. It runs from December 4 - January 30, 2011. I'm exhibiting some pieces from my The Devil's Cloth series, the first time I've exhibited any of them (I mentioned them in an earlier post here). It includes artists:Annie Aitken, Betty Bird, Nicolette Benjamin Black, Patricia Casey, Bridie Connell, Jedda-Daisy Culley, Adrienne Doig, Leah Emery, Kirsten Fredericks, Cecilia Fogelberg, Minka Gillian, Michelle Hamer, Newell Harry, Catherine Hearse, Alan Jones, Narelle Jubelin & Barbara Campbell, Adrienne Kneebone, Alice Lang, Rodney Love, Dani Marti, Timothy Moore, Sarah Nolan, Jessica Emily Price, Helen Pynor, Silke Raetze, Linelle Stepto, Anton Veenstra, and Ingrid Wimbury.
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