Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Still Waters - Sharon Peoples Artist Statement

Exhibition opened until 11 January 2020. Tuggeranong Arts Centre


Sharon Peoples 2019

Sharon Peoples 2019

Sharon Peoples 2019

Sharon Peoples 2019


Still Waters 
Sharon Peoples 


In January 2019 I spent four weeks as artist in residence at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. My project was to work on ideas about gardens in the area. The residency was a springboard for thinking and in subsequent months a new body of work was assembled.  It is not the terrestrial gardens that is the focus, rather other blooms that are the subject of Still Waters.  

Canberra is often seen as a city that is entirely designed with little organic growth, although that seems to be loosening, socially and design-wise. And perhaps in other unintended waysNature has its own way of indicating the limitation of design. The environment cannot be fully controlled.  

On my walks during the residency, I pondered the beautiful extensive landscapes at each turn in the path around the lakeadmiring the designer’s skill at framing the water, hills and mountains. I revelled in the general quietness but was puzzled by the lack of interaction with the water during the peak of summer.  

The still waters of Lake Tuggeranong in the early Summer mornings are glorious. Becoming more familiar with the Lake during the residency, details caught my eye: the birds, the occasional dead fish, the water reflections, the plant life. I revelled in the general quietness with bird calls as a backdrop, until I realised the only interaction by humans with the Lake were two men who regularly motored a small boat to the top end of the Lake. 

I subsequently came upon an area of blue/green algae and quickly realised the connections behind the tranquillity and the inhibition of use. Blue/green algae has made it presence felt on the Lake. Its reverberation felt downstream no doubt. The organic growth of the city is perhaps not what was imagined.  

I later learned that the men were scientists and were checking the water readings in an effort to understand the source and typology of the toxic algae. A small area in the water was fenced off by rope with orange floats. Once they finished their work for the day silence returned.  
  
In the exhibition the larger lace works, which are machine embroidered, reflect fragility of the environment. For the smaller hand embroidered pieces, I use darn stitching as a metaphor for repair: repairing the environment. In these works, I particularly used cotton thread to link climate change with industrial crops, such as cotton. Layered within the use of the glass cases is the assistance glasses give to our vision. As well the ability to open and shut the cases at will.  


Gallery 1
Tuggeranong Arts Centre
137 Reed Street, Greenway ACT


Sharon Peoples

Sharon Peoples


Emily Tull

Emily Tull: From conception to creation

By Hiedi Ingram
This is a great Article in TextileArtist.org, very insightful into Emily Tull's stitching portraits.
Emily Tull

The delicate but haunting imagery in Emily Tull’s portraits expertly depicts the fragility of life. Layers of fine fabric are embroidered over with a worn, frayed effect of sketchy stitching.
Her work “A Conversation with Death” was inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, intertwined with the personal story of the portrait sitter. The subject matter guided her in the select of dark and sumptuous fabrics to layer up the piece.
She is obsessed with faces and how they show the passing of time, keen on showing the fragility of flesh through her thread colour choices and stitching. From her use of fabric layering and stitched mark-making, her work grows into semi-abstract faces with a sense of mystery hidden behind. Read the full article in TextileArtist.org

Thursday, November 14, 2019

UTOPIA EXHIBITION - TEXTILE WORKS GALLERY

TWO DAYS ONLY
CANBERRA REGION FELTMAKERS
 AND
 CANBERRA SPINNERS AND WEAVERS

FRI 15 NOV 2019: 10:00 – 15:00 

SAT 16 NOV 2019: 10:00 – 15:00



Members responded to the idea of Utopia, the theme of Design Canberra Festival 2019. Exhibitors explored and translated their vision of Utopia using various and varied textile forms. 
Works are for sale through silent auction - You are invited for nibbles and drinks at 15.00 on Saturday
Quality textiles gift ware is for sale on both days

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Sharon Peoples - Still Waters exhibition



Still Waters
5 December 2019 - 13 January 2020
Tuggeranong Arts Centre 


In January 2019, SharonPeoples spent four weeks as artist in residence at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. The residency was a springboard for thinking and in subsequent months a new body of work was assembled to create the exhibition, Still Waters.

Jean Littlejohn interview -Textileartist.org

A very interesting interview with Textile artist Jean Littlejohn on Textileartist.org on her new exhibition Taepa's Portal 


Jean Littlejohn: Taplow Court Sketchbook

The notion of ‘a layered history’ takes on a whole new meaning in textile artist Jean Littlejohn’s hands. Her work ‘Taepa’s Portal’ literally captures hundreds of years of period designs in a single piece through fabric layers and varied stitching techniques. And now you can learn how it all came together with this very generous insider’s look from Jean herself.
Pay special attention to her use of an embellishing machine, which she thinks is often underestimated. It’s incredible how she uses it for mark-making by stitching on both sides of her fabric layers. 
Read Full Article on Textileartist.org
Suscribe to Textileartist.org

Katherine White - Work in Progress

Katherine White, 2019. Plant Life, Charcoal Drawings

Ola Robertson - Work in Progress

Ola Robertson 2019 
Vines - using recycled materials-old charger and electrical cords plus packaging kraft paper. 

Ola Robertson 2019
Vines - using recycled materials-old charger and electrical cords plus packaging kraft paper.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Deb Faeyrglenn - Work in Progress


Deb Faeyrglenn Underground Forest: sharing water, sharing danger. raffia, recycled cloth, silk and cotton thread, found bird and insect charms. 270cm x 300cm x 150cm 

Deb Faeyrglenn Underground Forest: sharing water, sharing danger. raffia, recycled cloth, silk and cotton thread, found bird and insect charms. 270cm x 300cm x 150cm 

Deb Faeyrglenn Underground Forest: sharing water, sharing danger. raffia, recycled cloth, silk and cotton thread, found bird and insect charms. 270cm x 300cm x 150cm 

Artist Statement 
Science is revealing what indigenous communities and poets have long known: trees are connected and communicating via vast underground symbiotic networks of tree-root and fungal thread (mycelium). Trees share water, sugars and chemical information about threat of disease or insect invasion with nearby trees of same species and even with other species of trees. Older ‘hub’ trees have memory of chemical they can use to repel threatening insects and diseases. Sharing helps the trees survive tough times but the sharing web can also pass on deadly new diseases. 
By Installing a tree-root and mycelium web from the gallery ceiling I am tipping our above-ground perception of trees upside down – revealing the underworld of trees. 
Coiling, Stitching and knitting are processes that mirror the slow-time of tree-life. This artwork took two years to weave, stitch and knit.               

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Jenny Manning - Work in progress

Jenny Manning 

Jenny Manning  Seed Pod 2018,Copper wire, 75cm wide x 100 cm 



Jenny Manning  Kurrajong 2019, 
 Pen and Ink on paper  h 57cm x w 75cm  unframed  67cm x 85 cm approx framed



Artist Statement - Jenny Manning 

Every tree begins with a seed

A seed contains all the genetic information to create the most complex and important growing plant in the world.

My wall piece is made from a number of crocheted seed pod shapes using fine copper wire. They are connected together to form an oval form 75cm wide by 100 cm tall.

In am interested in the patterns and the shadows that these crocheted seed pods cast on the wall as well as the way repetition of a small form can create a larger form of identical
 shape--- a structural system often found in botany.

I am also interested in interpreting this imagery in two dimensions. This large black and white pen and ink drawing explores the complex botanical structure of the Kurrajong tree.

jennymanning (AT) grapevine.net.au
Instagram.  Jennymanningart