Art Quilt Australia 2019 opened at the National Wool Museum, Geelong last night. The exhibition continues until 15 December 2019 and will tour to Yarra Ranges Regional Museum, Lilydale, Victoria from 8 February-16 May 2020. I am thrilled that my artwork Integrifolia#5: Propagation is part of the exhibition. Here’s how this work came to life.
Art Quilt Australia is presented by Ozquilt Network with support from the National Wool Museum. OZQN defines a quilt as a stitched layered textile incorporating any material and employing any technique and sponsors the OZQN Award of Excellence ($3000 cash prize). The National Wool Museum sponsors the Expressions: Wool Quilt Prize, an acquisitive award for a predominantly wool quilt.
As highlighted in my workshop Creating with Felt, felt is a luscious, soft and pliable fabric available in an array of colours. It presents design and construction challenges for makers used to working with cottons but also offers exciting possibilities. I decided to make one of my entries for Art Quilt Australia 2019 with woollen felt.
In the make-do spirit of a traditional wagga, my challenge was to create from materials to hand and still satisfy the minimum parameter of 300cm. In my stash, I had some Oliver Twist wool felt in warm pink hues. I also had a long skinny piece of black felt.
I sketched up a design on translucent kitchen paper and then created freezer paper tempates. My design inspiration was a banksia cone.
I only had a few scraps of pink felt left over when I completed my composition. Phew!
After I determined the placement of the shapes, I tackled the nerve-wracking task of cutting out the corresponding shape from the black fabric, laying in the pink shapes and securing with a kind of machine blanket stitch. I could have simply appliqued the pink shapes but I was concerned the work would be too bulky as I also used woollen backing and batting.
For the final step, I cross-stitched seed motifs by hand in perle and woollen threads.
INTEGRIFOLIA #5: Propagation
142cm H x 46cm W
Statement: The cone-like fruits of the banksia integrifolia contain lenticular-shaped chambers that open up to release feathery seeds full of potential. Each cone is the embodiment of possibilities.
Materials: 100% wool melton: backing and black background; 100% wool wadding; 70/30% wool/viscose felt for pink shapes; perle cotton and wool blend threads for cross-stitch embellishment.
Techniques: Inlay piecing with machine blanket stitching. Hand cross-stitch.
Installation photos at the National Wool Museum, Geelong.
Left to right: Judy Hooworth, Pat Forster, Norma Slabbert, Dianne Firth, Brenda Gael Smith and Linda Steele. See Art Quilt Australia 2019 online gallery.
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