'Weavers ....... Showing Off - Ray Walsh House, Community Gallery, Tamworth 17 October to 24 November 2008

Helen Barnard – winner of ‘The Best Use of Colour’ at our 2008 Exhibition

Since childhood, textiles and fashion have held my attention above all other interests. At school we were taught basic weaving, if we were not good at needlework. Those lessons gave me a platform from which I could design and make my own cloth and fortunately, my needlework has improved a little over the years.

Inevitably my love of weaving, fashion and textiles became inextricably linked and I began to make garments from cloth I had woven. My preference is to weave simple cloth in which colour plays a prominent role, then employ other techniques, such as stitch, felting and dyeing, to further embellish and change surface texture of my fabrics.

________________________________________________

Kay Faulkner – winner of the ‘Complex Weavers Award’ at our 2008 Exhibition

Why do I weave?

It is a passion; a way of life.

I dream. I problem solve. I design. I create.

It talks to me of things not yet explored.

It inspires. It challenges. It enthrals. It is a hard task master.

… I weave because I can!

‘To Great Lengths’ – Gallery 159, Brisbane – 21 June-11 July 2010

Suzy Furness was the Winner of both ‘The Best in Show’ and the ‘Complex Weavers Award’ at our 2010 Exhibition

My first weaving lessons were in 1976 at an Adult Education class. Over the next four or so years, my weaving projects were fairly pedestrian. Although I won a couple of awards during this period, I felt that there had to be a more satisfying depth to weaving. When I went to live in Darwin in 1979, I enrolled in the fine arts degree at the Darwin Community College (now Charles Darwin University). The first year was an exploratory year, with drawing, painting, photography, printing and pottery. Textiles did not get a look in, and weaving was a four-letter word. After first year, I transferred to the Associate Diploma of Ceramics course from which I graduated in about 1984. Somewhere around this time I had a rug acquired by the Northern Territory Museum.

In the meantime I attended a Marcella Hempel workshop in Alice Springs. Her teachings unlocked a magic box for me. Marcella then came up to Darwin to do a number of workshops. Other artists/craftspeople/teachers who influenced my work include: Lillja Duks, Wilma Hollist, Ingar Hunter and recently Sharon Hall. These and many other wonderful artists and tutors have transmitted their energy, enthusiasm and knowledge with great generosity of spirit.

In the early 80s my husband convinced me to let him build a floor loom with a computer control on the shafts. I was not interested but I was a good wife so the first loom was built with the assistance of a grant from the Australia Council. That first loom is still in operation, and has been joined by three more computer controlled floor looms, and three computer controlled table looms.

At the moment I am working on getting a draw loom up and running. The problem with this loom is that I was not able to convince my husband that computer control was not necessary. Consequently he has developed a system whereby the shafts are eithor raised, lowered or left in a neutral position via computer controlled solenoids. It is all good fun and hopefully I will get organised soon to get it operational.

The piece that won the “Best in Show” at the recent Weavers Forum exhibition, involved an interesting dyeing technique. I pre-mordanted a 20-metre warp and then wound it into a plastic basin that fits into my dyeing microwave oven. I then syringed colours onto the entire warp before microwaving it. The top layer of the warp had the most diverse colours, but by the time the dyes hit the bottom of the basin, they had all merged together and resulted in a grey and white warp. I then dyed the individual wefts for each scarf length of the warp.

I have learnt over the years how difficult it is to sell hand weaving, so I tend to weave now with a different frame of mind – it is a hobby that does not have to be time sensitive. When I travel overseas, a country’s textiles are always a focus for exploring their culture. On a long walk in Turkey it was fascinating to see the ladies in the isolated villages using their drop spindles, and weaving on their upright looms – I felt a wonderful connection with them.

My interest in weaving is a gift and a passion, which brings me new challenges everyday.

___________________________________________________

One of our members, Ruth Saunders participated in a very successful exhibition with four other artists from ceramics and painting mediums, at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown, Sydney in July 2010.

Ruth says her interest in fibres started when she did a spinning course at Gosford TAFE - in 1990-1991 under the tuition of Lorraine McLarty. Ruth says that “she was always fascinated with weaving and thought I could incorporate my hand spun yarns into woven scarves”.

Ruth has since participated in classes and workshops at the NSW Handweavers & Spinner Guild, Sydney and at the Textile Fibre Forum, Orange including:

• DEVORE with Anne Field

• RAG WEAVING with Tua Jorgenson

• DYING with Allan Tremain

• WEAVING with Liz Calnan
  
  

Ruth has another exhibition planned at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown in April 2011.