Pattern

Some more student work on Pattern (see more details in the previous posts)

Judy Bushby

Judy Bushby

detail of above - Judy Bushby

Jill Read

Enjoy!!!

I will get some of my own work posted soon but am working on quilts for South Australian Quilt Exhibition in November. Keep posted!!!!

Me and Art

Thought this was a great shot - maybe not of my hair - who has time to do one's hair on holiday??
My son took this in Paris at the Louvre unbeknown to me - naughty boy!!!
Thought you could have a laugh and know that I do actually go to Galleries when travelling

                                   
                                   Enjoy - I was at the time looking at a real Master in the real!!!

Pattern

    Andrea Marten's drawing of pattern - 'create' in Suzanne Gummow's class at Marden Senior College.




What is Pattern?


Pattern is, by definition, 'a repeated decorative design'. They are everywhere around us in nature, in the stripes on a zebra, the petals of a flower,  or the lines on a tree etc etc....

I introduced "Pattern" to my students and discussed how they could create a textile piece using pattern in both the background and in the "animals" they would select for their drawings. They started with working on a series of drawings, selecting one and then creating it using any textile techniques that would suit the pattern exercise.

Below (and above) is the result of one of my students piece based on "Pattern" by Andrea Marten.

The finished piece 

Cartoon (drawing) of the piece

Details above and below

Beautiful use of stitch, pen, paint to "form" the pattern

Well done Andrea!!!

I will show you some more examples in a future blog - keep posted

Travel - its "pleasures"?

Just sorting through some of travel photos and thought you may enjoy these below:-
I travel to many places that the western world calls third world and I love the "oddities" of travel

Fabric (garbage) in the river in the heart of Mumbai (Bombay) India

The footpath in Mumbai back streets - good shoes are needed to walk here

In Vietnam the electrical wiring - which one goes to your house????

I do not know which wires go to my house !!!!

And India is even worse and more tangled 

It would be great to do some line drawings of these but where would the line go?

My Family

My immediate family are very important to me and without them I would not be able to do what I love in the Textile and Quilting fields so I thought I would introduce them to you. My husband is Ken and we have two sons, both are extremely creative and our house was always filled with Art - mainly Textiles.

Ken and myself in London

My husband - Ken is the love of my life. He is retired, a shipwright by trade but worked as a Supervisor in the building industry. He built my studio and is currently renovating our 1950's house. He does all the gardening including growing many of our vegetables and loads of the cooking which leaves me to do more of my creative work and of course this blog. We love to travel to far away places especially in Asia.

My eldest son Ben is an Art Director/Senior Graphic Designer. He worked in London for many years and has just returned to OZ and is working and living in Melbourne. Like his parents he has a great passion for travel, he and his wife spent 4 months travelling in India on the way to the UK and when in London they travelled extensively throughout Europe. He is also a brilliant photographer.

My son Ben's favourite wedding photo - married here in Adelaide two years ago

My youngest son, James trained in Graphic Design and Visual Arts but he is now a Medic in the Army.

What a change but he is very happy in the Army. At the moment he is deployed in Malaysia/Thailand and loves this opportunity for travel too. Last year he travelled to Europe and the UK. He is now based in Adelaide for another two years.

It will be great this year to have the boys in OZ - this will be the first time we are all together in one country at the same time - this has not been so for a few years now.  As I have stated I would and could not do all the creative things I achieve without their love and support. 

Colour

Colour is an element of design with endless variety.
Colour is a mixture of 3 primary colours, red, yellow and blue.
Secondary colours are a mis of 2 primary colours, orange, green and purple.
In class I ask students to do a Colour Wheel - they were requested to do a wheel in Textiles or paper so here are some creative examples from past students at Marden Senior College.

                                          Dorothy Angus - Machine Stitch - what an effort

Detail of above

Wendy Carmen - Applique and Stitch

Wendy Carmen - Paper Collage

Rudy Ladd - Fabric Bits and Stitch

Aren"t they Lovely and very creative. This exercise gives the students a wonderful understanding of COLOUR

Design

I lecture at Marden Senior College teaching students Textiles - tomorrows class is finishing off a Design unit so in the near future posts I will discuss  - What is Design? Why is it important in ALL Art works?
How can you use it and why? I will show some of the students exercises with their permission of course - you must get the "Artists" permission for printing anything on the internet.

One of the units is Colour so above is a great pic of part of my stash.... the "PINKS"

More coming!!!!

Exhibition - Murray Bridge

Maude Bath - "Extreme Texture" - detail

Just visited "Ancient Crafts - Contemporary Applications" an exhibition at the Murray Bridge Regional Gallery.
Four Artists exhibited  - Sandra Tredwell, Maude Bath, Kathryn Hill and Carol Bath. The exhibition dates are July 31st - September 4th, 2011 so there is still time for many of  you to get to see this fabulous show. It was well presented and the works were executed beautifully - these works were all textile based techniques  included felting, stitch, dyeing and mark making.
The Gallery is such a lovely venue - there were two other smaller exhibitions which were also very interesting. It was nice to get out and about too.
So visit the Gallery's website to find out what is on in the future.
www.murraybridgegallery.com.au

SAndra Tredwell - Travel Rug 1"

SAndra Tredwell - Travel Rug III: Indian Courtyard"

Sandra Tredwell"s Cockatoos

More Indigo

Just thought I would add a few more pics on Indigo. These pieces I bought in the village of Wuzhen in China.

stencilled indigo - China

Indigo

I often state that I do not like blue BUT I do love Indigo and every country that I travel to I look for Indigo fabrics, their dyeing methods and processes - I still have loads to learn about Indigo .....

Indigo was used in India, which was also the earliest major center for its production and processing.  It was the primary supplier of Indigo to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. It is now grown, cultivated, processed and dyed in many countries  - the main ones being Japan, China and Africa and of course still India.

I have found that many things have happened of late that has made my interest  in Indigo grow for example I am attending the "Japanese Club" at Riverlea, a quilt shop here in Adelaide and the tutor talk about Indigo in Japan. When I visited  China recently  I visit a village named Wuzhen that produces Indigo fabrics - dyed, printed and stencilled. It was fascinating and I bought a few small pieces (photos below).

Indigo "cakes" - in a market China

My own shibori dyed Indigo

Detail - Random piecing - a new piece for an exhibition 

Wuzhen village - CHina

Wuzhen - the Indigo village

Stencilled fabric

Odd childrens fashions using Indigo fabrics

My Studio

Myself in front of my inspiration wall and some of my work

Myself in fron of my collection of beads, threads, fabrics etc......

  Thought you may like to see a few detail shots of my studio. My husband built me the studio and storeroom about 6 years ago - it is very large - about 100 square metres. At first I thought it was too large but I have managed to fill it and just about live out in it now. I am SO lucky to have this studio.

Indian Art Works

These are a few of my Textiles from an exhibition on my 10 years of journeying to India and the influences that India had on my own work

A4 piece of work 

A4 piece of work

Myself in front of a larger piece and garland

A Temple 

A detail of cords 

Hi
Sorry did not post last night - had a awful migrane - wonder if it was the posting or rather the excitement in becoming a new blogger
I have been thinking about what I will put on the blog and it will be all things Textiles
For those that do not know me I am extremely passionate about Textiles and have been all my life. It has been a consuming passion. I have taught Textiles for at least all my teaching career of 40 years and have studied over that same perios just completing my Masters in Asian Education with a focus on Art and the History of India. Several trips to the subcontinent - India  has had a great impact on my Arts Practice and increased my knowledge of the history of Textiles. So I will share some of that with you in the future posts.
I would also like to share what my students at MArden Senior College are doing too - this is an Adult Campus so my student's ages are between 16 and 70 - rather like Tertiary study. They are studying in Nationally acredited Certificates specialising in Creative Textiles - covering dyeing, printing, stitching, drawing, painting, photoimaging etc............

A new start - blogging

As a new person to blogging I quess I have to think who my audience will be and what I want to say to the world and what I wish to share with you all
As a Visual Arts Educator I think I want to share my knowledge of textiles and art, my love of travelling, my own Arts Practice as a Textile Artist and a little about who I am etc
It will be a good focus for me too to see what I can achieve and try to delight you all
So the best start is to post some interesting photos from one of my trips to India - a country that I feel at home in - its colours, its people, its textiles ....

Torans hanging in the windows

Local people at Goa

Children at Festival time 

Palace in Bjuh

Indian women sewing a shisha mirror on my dress

Local transport in the city