Rosalie Dace Workshop at AQC 2009

I have never done a workshop with Rosalie Dace, but I have heard her speak (twice!) about contemporary quiltmaking in South Africa and have been utterly captivated. I see that a space in Rosalie’s four day workshop at AQC 2009 has become available. Here is the class description for Branching Out:

Nature has created trees to be the largest life forms that have ever existed on our planet. They have given shelter, shade, food and inspiration for centuries to artists, poets and storytellers. Celebrate their beauty and diversity by using them as a basis for composition and design. In this class discover the different shapes, patterns, lines, textures, colours and symbolism of trees while experimenting with design and using various piecing and appliqué techniques to make a beautiful quilt top. These will include foundation piecing, block making and appliqué (hand, machine and reverse). Enjoy a feast of visual inspiration as well as discussions on embroidery, quilting and finishing. So branch out and try something new by making a stunning, well-designed quilt top based on trees.

Some lucky person will snap up this opportunity. If it’s not you, you can still be inspired by South African quiltmakers by viewing the gallery of South African quilts on the MY PLACE website or viewing the quilts in person at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne in February 2009.

Lines and shapes

The abstract works of German-born Australian artist Karl Wiebke explore some of the endless possibilities offered by lines and shapes.

Each of the 162 drawings in his Flag series consists of an arrangement of rectangles and squares on small, uniformly sized sheets of paper. The positive and negative space is then filled in with yellow and blue inks.

In Sticks, Wiebke has painted long wooden rods in a variety of horizontal and vertical stripes, dots, smudges, drips and lines. The “sticks” can be exhibited all together as one installation or divided into batches, each forming a different fabric of colours. (Here’s another set of sticks from 2002.)

Jean-Francois Favre Website

Mystery solved! After a little more searching, I have discovered the official website of the artist Jean-Francois Favre including images of La Tapisserie de la Genèse that I saw when I visited the abbey in Saintes.

Who was/is Jean Francois Favre?

After visiting numerous Romanesque and Gothic churches in the Poitou Charente region, it was refreshing to find the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes decorated with contemporary tapestries designed by Jean Francois Favre.
  
I’ve done a couple of quick Google searches but have not been able to find out any information about this artist. Can you help?

Colours of Provence

When I think of Provence, I immediately think of the works of Vincent van Gogh during his time at the Yellow House in Arles. I haven’t seen any sunflowers or wheat fields but these courgette flowers are divine.

Esther Aliu Quilt Showcase

The quilting world, like the wider community, is full of tales of people overcoming adversity to do remarkable things. Today I draw your attention to the beautiful quilts of textile artist Esther Aliu. Esther specialises in stencils and is an accomplished domestic machine quilter. Her work is extraordinary and all the more so when you consider that she has experienced serious vision impairments. I am delighted to see that Esther has been selected as guest artist at this year’s Victorian Quilters’ Showcase at the Craft & Quilt Fair from 24th July 2007 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. If you can’t get to see her special exhibition of 24 selected quilts, take a look at Esther’s blog to track the journey of her latest masterpiece that she completed in just 3 weeks.

Disclaimer: I freely admit that I warmed to Esther from the moment I first met her and she uttered the words to gladden any blogger’s heart “I read your blog every day and am so inspired…”

The Gees Bend Quilts Are Coming !

Back in mid-2006, when I was in Seattle, I was fortunate to view a selection of quilts from Gees Bend together with prints by Gees Bend artists Mary Lee Bendolph and Louisana Bendolph and a collection of other works influenced by the tradition of patchwork and quilting. I did not anticipate that the Gees Bend quilts would ever make it as far as Australia but they are coming this November to:

I’ll be back from overseas by then and plan on going to Canterbury for another look.

Totally Floored

It’s been a dull, but productive, morning as I prepared the floorplan diagram for the Sydney Quilt Show 2008 catalogue. The allocated exhibition area has a different configuration this year so I decided to start the diagram afresh rather than trying to modify diagrams from previous years. Now at least I can cross this job off my list and visitors will be able to locate their wonderful quilts.

For floor candy of a different kind, you can’t go past the Designer Rugs website. They have a wonderful range including:

• Minnie Pwerle - one of my favourite Aboriginal artists;
• Vixen - sumptuous florals and paisleys by Melbourne designer, Georgia Chapman
• Drawn from the Land by Cloth; and
• From the Sketchbook also by Cloth.

Today’s Reading List

As requested, here is the reading list that I handed out at my quilt and book talk today. There won’t be any surprises for regular readers of my blog as most titles have been mentioned at some stage. Please bear in mind that this list is not intended to be exhaustive or even particularly comprehensive. It has been tailored for my likely audience and concentrates on books that have had a demonstrable impact on my quiltmaking development - that is, I have a quilt that reflects the book in some way. For example, Nancy Crow’s book and Unplugged that I started in a workshop with Nancy:

 

The presentation went really well. Despite being a glorious beach day and the start of the school holidays, 20-25 people turned up including several enthusiastic drop ins who just happened to be at the library and saw me unpacking my collection of quilts. What serendipity!

The Uncommon Quilter - Podcast

I’m in the process of updating my reading list in preparation for my “Quilt & Book Talk” at Woy Woy Library this Saturday, 12 April. One of the new additions since my last library talk is The Uncommon Quilter by Jeanne Williamson.

Coincidentally, today I have also been listening to a recent interview with Jeanne where she talks about her book, using recycled objects in quilt making, and a little about fiber art vs other art forms. The interview is a little less than 30 minutes long, and can be heard on the web or downloaded as a podcast.