To keep current with news from Western Australia, visit the WAFTA website: www.wafta.com.au and click on NEWS. This site is regularly updated by the website manager. WAFTA stands for Western Australian Fibre and Textile Association and it’s a useful and active group, find out more via the website. All evening (General) meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month (from Feb-Nov) at 7pm at Alexandra Park Craft House, Clyde Street, Menora. You sign in and pay $4 at the door (non-members welcome; they pay $8). Fabulous supper provided. WAFTA’s evening meetings are on the third Tuesday of the month, Feb to Nov each year. For the WAFTA events calendar see https://www.wafta.com.au/events?mc_cid=3cd3686b8d&mc_eid=040eab0df7#!calendar
The next WAFTA Members’ exhibition is planned for Sept 17-27 2020 at the Holmes a Court Gallery@no.10, 10 Douglas Street, West Perth. The theme will be Hanging by a Thread which challenges artists to interpret the relationship of humanity to the environment and where we find ourselves entering the 2020 decade.
FIBRE is an unwrapping, unrolling and unfolding of fiber and textile artworks from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection, together with work from local artists. Those featured are Tingapa Davies, Mark Dustin, Olga Cironis, Marjorie Coleman, Sujora Conrad, Carmela Corvaia, Angela Ferolla, Nola Hunt, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Eveline Kotai, Holly Story, Kate Thompson, Anne Walmsley, Lesley Parker, John Parkes, Susan Roux, Nalda Searles, Helen Seiver, Debra West and Anne Walmsley. FIBRE features stitched, threaded, strung, rubbed, ripped, folded and pressed Fibre art. From luminous to opaque, delicate to robust, the works speak of processes of material manipulation and ritualistic gestures of repetitive stitching, gathering, rubbing and patterning. Everyday clothing is stitched and sculpted anew; forms of nature are enveloped in matted, compressed and dyed felt; objects are crafted of fibrous textures of bark and grasses; human hair is shaped and strung together and; native flora and fauna are pictured and sculpted with or on fibres. FIBRE runs to 14th March at Gallery@no.10, 10 Douglas Street, West Perth.
WAM (Wearable Art Mandurah) is a major event in the world of wearable art with selected garments becoming part of a well staged performance held over two nights which will be 7/8 November in 2020. (This is a change from previous years when the Showcase was held in June). The deadline for entries is 1st March 2020 (entries open in November 2019). An award winning brand, Wearable Art Mandurah is rapidly becoming a global wearable art leader and receives entries from across the world. The categories for 2020 are Avant Garde, Tertiary, Youth, Migration and Black & White. All the 2020 info will be available on the website, www.wearableartmandurah.com There are associated workshops – when they are determined you can find out the details here: https://wearableartmandurah.com/workshops/
Exhibition by members of the WSN: World Shibori Network. A Stone’s Throw from the Foreshore – Simply Shibori. To be held at Rockingham Gallery (Rockingham Arts Centre) 11 Kent Street, Rockingham WA. Open weekdays 9am-4pm and weekends 10am-2pm. The exhibition is on from now until February 23. WSN members from around the whole of Australia will participate.
Workshops coming up at Mundaring Arts Centre (7190 Great Eastern Highway Midland 6056). Open Wed-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat 11am-3pm when exhibitions being held. Contemporary Bibbulmun Weaving with Lea Taylor. Join Wadandi/Minang/Koreng Bibbulmun artist Lea Taylor to learn contemporary Bibbulmun weaving using bush materials, raffia, string and natural fibres. Over four weeks you’ll learn how to dye your materials, coil with buttonhole stitch, make a raffia basket, string bag and wall hanging. Thu 13 Feb – 5 Mar | 10am – 1pm | 16+ yrs. $220 | $198 members | Materials included. Also offered: Felting Natural Forms with Katrina Virgona. Learn 3D felting techniques drawing inspiration from plant forms and inanimate objects. In this 4-week course you will learn various ways to create intriguing and inventive versions of seeds, pods, flowers buds, bulbs, leaves, stems and stone using wool tops and thread. 12 March – April. 10am-1pm. $210 (4189 members). Materials included. Also coming up: Functionless Vessels with Holly O’Meehan. Join MJAC Artist in Residence Holly O’Meehan to create your own weird and wonderful functionless vessels. Holly’s ceramic and crochet sculptural objects have a whimsical, creature-like presence, inspired by local vegetation and landscapes. In weeks 1 & 2 of this course Holly will show you how to design, hand build and decorate your own ceramic creations. In weeks 3 & 4 you will learn how to loop through and adorn your vessel with weaving and crochet techniques. Saturdays 22 Feb – 14 Mar 2020 | 10am – 1pm | Suitable for 13+ yrs. $200 | $180 members | Materials supplied. Also offered: Textile Printing with Phoebe Todd-Parish. Explore pattern design and stencils through the process of hand-printing your own textiles with printmaker Phoebe Todd-Parrish. In this three week class you will learn how to use both screen printing and relief techniques for printing on fabric. Thursdays 5 – 19 Mar | 6pm – 9pm | Suitable for 13+ yrs. $185 | $166.50 members | Materials supplied. To enrol for workshops see: https://www.midlandjunctionartscentre.com.au/workshops-and-events?category=Textiles&mc_cid=2105ef6f2c&mc_eid=0739498afe
Belinda Rosee of FibreLicious has secured Stacey Harvey-Brown (The Loom Room, France), as the International Weaving tutor for 2020, and will be bringing Stacey to Australia in August 2020. For those who are not familiar with Stacey, she has been teaching weaving since 2005, firstly at The Loom Room in the UK, and now from her new studio near Nerac, in the heart of Gascony, SW France. Further information regards Stacey can be obtained from her website: https://www.theloomroom.co.uk The two workshops being offered are: 1. Three Techniques for Texture Workshop—Texture in weaving can mean creating a flat tactile surface, but it can also mean so much more than that… What if you could create ruffles and seersucker, rocks and rills, lava flows and tree bark? 2. Honeycomb Hybrid Workshop—Honeycomb is very versatile and crosses many perceived boundaries in weave. This workshops is packed bull of variations and forays into different subject areas such as DDW, honeycomb lace based on overshot threadings, huck lace, weft-faced motifs as well as designing for traditional honeycomb with a twist. Both of these workshops are round robin style workshops over a two day period. The cost is likely to be around $150 to $200 per workshop. If you are interested in either of these workshops, please let me know on magnpete@activ8.net.au
The first major national touring exhibition for the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, Manggan – gather, gathers, gathering was created in a partnership between Girringun Aboriginal Corporation from Cardwell in far north Queensland and the South Australian Museum, and is toured by Museums & Galleries Queensland. This exhibition features contemporary artworks by 19 artists from the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, together with selected cultural objects drawn from the South Australian Museum (SAM) collection gathered from the Girringun region. Almost half the works in the show are basket forms made either from naturally sourced fibres from the rainforest, or created using found discarded materials like metal fencing wire. It has beautiful examples of both contemporary and traditional basket forms represented. The exhibition will be at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, SA: July – 14 September 2020. http://www.magsq.com.au/cms/page.asp?ID=9264
Design your own workshop experience in Margaret River: find out more about accommodation (in a self contained studio apartment with ensuite in the village of Margaret River) and learning experiences with Elisa Markes-Young and Christopher Young here: http://no29.com.au/accommodation.html Elisa writes: “You will notice that we have various workshops on offer as well which you can book via Eventbrite. We can do anything you’re interested in doing – basic techniques, idea development (you might have a story, but are unsure how to approach it, or you love a particular material but lack ideas as to what to do with it, or you’re stuck somewhere in between, or you struggle finding out which techniques or materials to focus on, or you’re simply interested in following my process and see if you can adapt certain aspects of it for your work). Hands on assistance with a project is available should you require it, editing of work, stamping, embroidery, bead and sequin work, book making, creative mending… There is also the possibility to tailor something especially for you, for example if you’d like to do a really intensive and extensive class, like, 3 or 4 days intensive and extensive – we can do that. Enquire, suggest something and we’ll see if I can help you. Of course you can also learn everything there is to learn about photography, design and typesetting by booking a workshop with Chris. And if you just want to sit on the deck watching sunsets and do nothing else – we cater for that, too.” If you’re interested in anything but it all looks a bit too confusing you can contact Elisa via the email address elisa@zebra-factory.com or via the contact page on website: http://no29.com.au/contactus.html
http://no29.com.au/workshops-intensive.html In the interest of connecting to other artists and giving them an opportunity to access this remarkable region, we have set aside heavily discounted accommodation for creative practitioners. You will have shared access to the larger studios as well as your own private space. It is the ideal stage from which to explore the region, create new work, write, think or engage with other creatives in the region. Just send a brief CV, your planned outcomes and proposed dates to info@no29.com.au.
http://no29.com.au/residency.html