The Magic of Re-purposed Paper @ 2QAQ

We had the pleasure of Robyn Woodrow as our guest speaker  at our July 2QAQ meeting. Robyn's work involved the recycling and re-purposing of paper - and this gown was no exception. Made from recycled encyclopedia pages the gown flows as it moves - so many question about the text and textures - an exquisite piece. Robyn, of Red Zebra Designs, also shared other paper creations including a bridal veil, shoes and an interpretation of community, created from thousands of rolled pages of print. We were also treated to stories from Morocco - a few of our group journeyed into the Sahara on a Moroccan Textile Tour - wonderful stories and textile experiences shared with our group. Thanks for a great afternoon!

WA Craft Show 2013 and SAQA's "This is a Quilt"

Songbird  #1: Robin, Vivika Hansen DeNegre

On Wednesday Dad and I fly out to the WA (West Australian) Craft Show at the Claremont Showgrounds in Perth. The Craft Show and the WA Wood Show runs from 2-4 August. Okay - in truth Dad is visiting his sister but I will be at the show with SAQA's Trunk Show C "This is a Quilt". The exhibition comprises 43  framed art quilts - each 12 inches square - and I'll be giving floor talks throughout the show. I've chosen five of the quilts that, for me, give an fabulous insight into the breadth of materials and methods used by their makers to create a quilt. Artists such as Vivika Hansen DeNegre have shared personal insights specifically for the floor talk. This is a very special exhibition of SAQA's talented membership. Anyone joining SAQA and becoming part of our Oceania region gets a 10% discount on membership - simply quote the code AGT in the discount code box, and your reduced membership fee will appear at checkout. "This is a Quilt" exhibition will also tour to Newcastle, Sydney, New Zealand, Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville and Adelaide before returning to the United States in November. If you happen to be in Perth next weekend, please come by and say hello. I'd love to meet you!

Ruth Stoneley and A Stitch in Time @ QAG

This is one of my favourite photos of Ruth Stoneley and Judith Baker Montano. It was Ruth who took me on a magic art-quilt ride in 1991/1992 where I made my first two art quilts on a retreat at Griffith University, Nathan. It was around the same time I met JBM. An exhibition of Ruth's quilts, A Stitch in Time, is currently on show at the Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane). So many memories of her shop (Patchwork Supplies) and evidence of her love of Houston TX, La Veta CO and adventures in Taos, NM are to be found in her quilts. Her passion for textiles, embroidery, patchwork and quilting continue to inspire. Don't miss this opportunity to share the works of one of our most intriguing, ground-breaking and generous quilters.

2QAQ meeting - with special guest Robyn Woodrow

It's that time again when the Queensland Quilters Art Quilt group (2QAQ) gets together at the Wellers Hill Bowls Club (44 Esher Street, Wellers Hill, Brisbane). We usually gather from 12.30pm - and tomorrow is no different with special guest Robyn Woodrow, artist and designer. Robyn creates amazing art at Red Zebra Designs through recycling, up-cycling - especially recycling paper.  Robyn creates beautiful garments, asks you to suspend belief with the way she re-purposes books and makes fabulous items out of moulded vinyl records. One of her folded paper gowns was recently featured in  Peppermint Magazine (Practical Publishing) earlier this year. Robyn is sharing her artistic journey with us tomorrow from 12.30pm. We also have our demonstration / mini-workshop - tomorrow we'll be making beads - using rolled papers, water colours, Shiva sticks and wires - lots of fun and we'll be focusing on adding textural qualities to the surface of our art quilts.  We will also spend about 20 minutes dabbling in our journals and having some fun with creative thinking -  and some of our group will be sharing their recent experiences on a textile tour of Morocco. Please join us - visitors are always welcome.

Creating more texture ...

Another opportunity to use some threads - different variegated, holographic, silk and plastic ... playing with differing stitch widths and rolling the upper and lower tension to alter how much (or little) of the bobbin thread became visible on the upper layer. There are endless variations ... Then to secure it all with a layer of fine tulle. Using black has the effect of allowing the viewer to see "into" the underlying mix, while using a light colour (in this case a pale pink) reflects more light and reduces the level of visual depth. This I learnt from the WMBM - who paints the very front wire of his aviary black to reduce reflection and giving a view into the entire aviary. Why wouldn't this work with textiles?  I do love the way the mesh adds another texture to the surface, and also protects the painted bread wrapper. Maybe some more stitching later on today .....

Revealing the post-mesh bond

Once wrapped bread ...

The Oceania Collection Blog Hop

Twenty four members of SAQA's Oceania Region are lined up ready to share a "behind the scenes" glimpse into how they create. Over the next six weeks you can visit each of these contributing artists and see the inspiration behind the piece they made for the Oceania Collection, quilts donated to the SAQA Benefit Auction 2013. The first studio and artist is Sue Dennis on 16 July. This is going to be a magic trip around the artists and studios supporting the Oceania Collection Blog Hop.

16 July Sue Dennis
18 July Caroline Sharkey
20 July Lisa Walton
22 July Lisa Repsevicius
24 July Averil Stuart-Head
26 July Mel Forrest
28 July Brenda Gael Smith
30 July Ruth de Vos
1 August Me (Ali George)
3 August Rasa Mauragis
5 August Alison Schwabe
7 August Maggie Gilbert
9 August Susie Cujes
13 August Linda Robertus
15 August Linda Stokes
17 August Robin McGrath
19 August Kate Oszko
21 August Felicity Clarke
27 August Jenny Bowker
29 August Sally Westcott
31 August Stephanie Newman
2 September Hilary Metcalf
4 September Buffy Beggs
6 September Helen Beaven




Creating texture - making magic

This started as a Sol Bread wrapper - and once the bread was consumed (it's as close to home bake as you are likely to taste) the brown paper wrapper was opened out - it's a bit bigger than A3 size. Add paint (acrylic or textile) and also paint a piece of vliesofix (slightly smaller than the paper size). Once it has all dried, bond the paper to some backing fabric - cotton, or in this case a previously failed experiment - anything really. Sprinkle some magic (metallic leaf, Angelina fibres) over the painted side then bond the vliesofix (webbing) to the painted side. Be ever so patient and just leave it to cool completely. Go make a cup of tea or something - don't get too excited and start peeling the backing paper from the webbing before it has completely gone cold.  It will be a little bit sticky when peeling. It will pull a bit this way and that. It will certainly leave a lovely textured surface! If too much glitz come off with the paper, heat the iron up again and just use the tip (through baking paper of course) to push some more glamour onto the background. Different variations can be achieved with acrylics or textile paints, adding water colours, creating a collage from old papers (just take care when heat setting that you work in a well ventilated area ... )

All that stands between me and ...

We drove down to the creek yesterday afternoon - the mountains provide such a stark contrast to the paddocks of small crops - and all that stands between me and the rest of the world is a .... bridge.  Villis Bridge used to span Warrill Creek to the left of the tree on the far bank. Said bridge now rests about 150 metres (130 yards) downstream.  Some of the neighbours have made their own version of a crossing - however I've been stranded twice and it isn't happening again. Sometimes the 10 km (6 mile) scenic detour through the pastoral company is a pain in the nether-regions but mostly a blessing. October 2014 cannot come around quickly enough ...

Lino cut - reworking St Martin's church

This print is (no longer a surprise) for my friend - a new lino cut of a place that is dear to her heart - and then some experimentation with the printmaking process. The print is a mix of Japanese oil based inks on hand made cotton paper. Once dried, about 24 hours or so later, the print was hand painted with water colours. I also experimented by printing on a metallic gold sheet, cartridge paper, coloured paper and limiting the area burnished during the print process to just my hand. Final image (below) is a ghost print made before the decision to remove more of the "sky" area.  A lovely way to spend the afternoon ... and now to work with the images on cloth...