Artist Talk Katherine White Tree Conversations: Networking with the Wood Wide Web

ARTIST  TALK  AT  WAGGA  EXHIBITION Feb 2020 Katherine White

Initially Into the Forest print  was meant as a celebration of the beauty of forests and the joy we experience being in them. The shifting light and shade properties influenced my design  concept of using shadow patterns to represent trees.

This also referenced my experiences as a wood block printmaker, where choice of what to cut out and what to leave is a constant concern. The changing dynamic of positive and negative shapes could also indicate moving between worlds-perhaps the real world of nature and the world of the imagination.

In addition it was my experience of living next to a beautiful Sand Bangalay forest full of gums, wattles and banksias, and all the life they contain.

This changed on NYE when bushfires burnt most of the forests surrounding my home at the South Coast of NSW. As I watched flames burning up the trunks of gum trees 50 metres from my house, I wondered how the trees experienced this horror.

Now on reflection, I observe those patterns of dark and light as mental and emotional states. However with rain this week, we are reminded to have hope and to watch for signs of new life.

Katherine White Into the Forest
 (Foreground Marli Popple Crown) 

Katherine White Plant Life 

Magpie Nets

Magpie nets, National Arboretum Canberra. Photographer Marli Popple

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Covet at Barometer Gallery

Marli Popple, Come to the Edge

Covet at Barometer Gallery

Marli Popple, Come to the Edge (on Plinth); Janet Meany, An Absurdist View (foreground); Katherine White, Pools of Life (5 pieces on wall);  Beverley Thomas, The Living Desert (Natural dyed wall piece). Photo Wendy Dodd.

Rachel Bickovsky, Keep on Walkin. Photo Wendy Dodd.

Marli Popple

 Marli Popple, Entrapment

 Marli Popple, Entrapment

 Marli Popple, Entrapment

 Marli Popple, Entrapment

 Marli Popple, Entrapment

Belconnen Arts Centre

Nets Exhibition Geelong 2012- Artists work

Avril Douglas

Jenny Manning

Julia Triston

Bev Thomas

Marli Popple, Shibori textile

Liz Jeneid, Sieve Book 2009/10

 Left to Right: Maggi Toner-Edgar, Janet Wilde, Gwyn Hunt and Valerie Kirk

Katherine White and Jane Wrobel

Dianne Liebke

Marli Popple

Marli Popple I have been exploring fibre arts for over 35 years. Media I have used include fabric dyeing and painting, paper making, batik, embroidery, patchwork and quilting. During the last 20 odd years I have specialised in shibori techniques and indigo dyeing. In 1996 I moved on to working with synthetic fabric, for environmental reasons not dyeing the fabric.

The unique structure created with shibori techniques I can use to create sculptural forms out of cloth – also wraps that have a dual purpose to be worn or to hung or draped as an artistic
expression.

I like the way the shibori techniques change the character of the fabric from a flat surface to a complex one with texture, line and sometimes surprises. Working intuitively with the changed cloth as it assumes a certain form of itself, I follow this and shape it to the best of my ability for my artistic expression.

Inspiration comes from an observation, a moment an insight, from words read or phrases heard that move me and reference our personal lives and experiences. The medium for my creative expression and process is cloth. I am drawn to it because of its connection down through time to our lives. I find pleasure in every part of the process and hope the viewer finds their own meaning in the work and finds a quiet beauty that can invoke contemplation.

‘Fog Net’ 2010
Medium: Shibori techniques on icy white polyester fabric mounted on black acrylic sheet
Size: Overall size variable, height: 41.3 x Width: 49cm

 Photographer Marli Popple

Artist statement:
At this time of climate change the wonder of a simple and inexpensive construction built to capture water from the fog to supply water to arid areas inspired me to present my interpretation of a fog net with arishi shibori technique on icy white polyester fabrics.

 

 Photographer Gabriella Hegyes

Background to the work:
My way of working is usually to research the subject or idea and often words stand out that inspire and set the path for the creative expression working with textiles.

“Networks” which were the “in thing” in the 80’s with padded shoulder jackets and personal promotional business cards came to mind but didn’t lead anywhere – Aboriginal fish nets also.

“Caught in the net” and “slipping though the net” have physical and metaphorical meanings which really appeal to me. At the Australian National Museum exhibition “Water” the fog nets of Peru have inspired me to interpret by cutting into Arashi manipulated cloth. No doubt it will change in the process. The fog net is a synthetic shade cloth used to trap moisture. It is an ancient concept that has been revived in recent times. You can Google “fog nets” to learn more.

Photographer Marli Popple