Monday, October 09, 2006

Art Quilts at the National Wool Museum

from Wendy
Last week I checked out the National Wool Museum in Geelong, especially to view an exhibition of intriquing and contrasting quilts, not designed for beds at all, but to hang on the wall. The tiny pics in the cataloque only give a clue to the design as the impact of the textures, and cutout layers of wool, felt, rayon, raw edges, stitching, dyed cloth, is so much more. There was knitting, embroidery, scribbles with yarn, tie-dying, lattices, raised, padded areas. Amazing stuff.

I have heard that quilts originated from a bundle of old clothes thrown onto a bed, then artistic women started to cut shapes and redesign a quilt, often into regular patterns. However at this quilt exhibition there was little of that.

One entitled 'Salt Bush' by Fiona Wright was made using hand dyed wool tops, silks, threads and pigment inks.

'Forest of Contrasts' was made with regular square shapes using tree shapes, one a lone pine at Ocean Grove, the other a River Red from Flinders Ranges.

The quilt I liked best was realistic from a distance, but close-up was made up of hundreds of little stitches with thick woollen yarns, felt,and cotton. Margaret Perkins called her artwork 'The River' and it was like a view from the sky of a river meandering through an arid land.

The fourth example I have given is by Anna Brown, 'Strata #2 The Mine' using wool fabrics, batt, wool bends and silk, and she was inspired by rock patterns and sediments re-organized by mining.

5 Comments:

Blogger Penny said...

Wendy you do such interesting things too, mine seem dull in comparison. Some how I thought you were much younger than me! My husband was once a poet, he doesnt seem to have time now too busy trying to survive in this dreadful year of no rain. Things are just drying up in front of my eyes.
Your drawing is superb, perhaps one day we may meet.

3:15 AM  
Blogger Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Thanks Penny - I get embarrassed though when people say - you're clever, etc. because honestly I can't make a pavlova or keep a tidy house!
Some of the stuff I post is not about what I do, but things I observe, so I'm more of a 'watcher'!
Yes, this drought is terrible. We complain about water restrictions in our provincial city but it must be awful for people on the land. We lived in the Mallee town of Hopetoun for six years and know that people always talk about the weather and rain or lack of it.
W.

6:32 PM  
Blogger Um Naief said...

i like these quilts. i used to have one of my quilts hung on the wall long ago but now i use it. i like the smaller ones in the house - on the wall. they're all so pretty.

2:27 AM  
Blogger YD said...

the black and white negative-pattern-quilt reminds me so much of one of the mensa test which requires us to spot the difference.

They are beautiful! But sadly I don't know how to make quilt, or sew, or do arts, or... I guess I'm not an artistic person afterall. hehe.

10:40 AM  
Blogger Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Yes yd. That one does look like a puzzle - spot the difference. Apparently there's a belief that a quilt should not be regular and perfect but have at least one fault. The designer has to show humility.
W.

10:44 PM  

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