My Review of 1000 Artisan Textiles

There was much huffing and puffing, and even accusations of “trickery”, as the Laundry King made his way home from the Post Office yesterday. He was weighed down with a white santa-like mail sack containing a couple of copies of the new book 1000 Artisan Textiles by Sandra Salamony and Gina Brown published by Quarry Books.

It is a substantial book brimming with quality images of contemporary fibre art, quilts and wearables. It’s a paperback but the smooth soft cover is a heavy weight (with groovy holes punched out in the zeros of “1000”) which makes it a pleasure to hold in your hands. The book is divided into five chapters:

• Wearable Art & Couture – 121 images
• Fashion Accessories – 176 images
• Soft Furnishings & Vessels – 106 images
• Tapestries & Display Art – 294 images
• Art Quilts – 303 images

Images are presented in a clear grid format with up to six images per page. Like 500 Art Quilts, they have generally been sorted into groups sharing a common palette – the rainbow colours of my Magic Carpet on page 261 are something of an exception as they bounce of the works of Ree Nancarrow and the limited palette of my other featured work – Acacia Bloom.

There are 1000 images but as the image count includes several detail shots (denoted by a dashed motif between the related images), there appear to be less than 1000 works featured. Each image is individually numbered and accompanied by the name of the artist. This has the virtue minimising the text on each page and putting the focus on the image but means you have to cross-refer to the listing in the back of the book to find out the name of the work which often has useful cues. The numbered listing also contains the dimensions of the work and a short description of the materials and techniques used.

The artist directory at the back of the book is a welcome inclusion. In addition to listing the contributing artists (and their country) in alphabetical order, the directory includes e-mail and website addresses if the contributor has made these details available. So when I have finished savouring the beautiful images, I have a whole new source of online inspiration and aspiration to pursue.

As with 500 Art Quilts, the publishers have compiled the book from images submitted by textile artists responding to calls for content. This appears to be an economical way to produce a book but the good news for readers is that the book is beautiful and great value for money. Available from Amazon and the Book Depository now for around A$27.