“The Hunter is home to a surprising number of leading textile artists whose work I will feature alongside national and international artists in our inaugural new exhibition, “Revealed: Uncovering the Beauty of Fibre Art” which opens Thursday 25^thAugust and runs for 3 weeks. This opening exhibition will introduce eighteen of the artists who will be featured in solo exhibitions over coming months.

The inaugural exhibition will be opened by the well known Fine Art Program Convenor  at University of Newcastle Dr Kathryn Grushka.

“There is increasing interest and appreciation of the fine skills involved in creating beautiful textiles, the ability to transform fibres into exquisite forms of art.

Building on Newcastle’s avant-garde approaches to art, Timeless Textiles will focus on new works by local and international textile artists using techniques such as felting, dyeing, quilting, surface embellishment and design as well as  and fibre jewellery. As well as the art featured during exhibitions there will be a selection of pieceswhich would make unusual and beautiful gifts, suitable for all budgets.

“I have created a space especially designed for fibre art to expose the fine skills of textile artists and to claim its place as a collectable and desirableart form,” said Kempton. “There is increasing interest and appreciation of the fine skills involved in creating beautiful textiles.  This Gallery will also offer workshops for people interesting in learning the processes involved in fibre art.”

The workshops will provide an opportunity for anyone interested to experience the wonder of fibre art and textile design in a day workshop – on your own or with your friends. “This is a chance for people to learn new skills, brush up on their techniques and most importantly to enjoy themselves” enthused Anne “I hope to see you there!”

Food meets fibre in Taste of Textiles exhibition.

Taste of Textiles, is being launched Saturday 12th December 2014, at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery, which celebrates a passion for humble and exotic, seasonal food and the rich textures of fibre arts.

Taste of Textiles exhibition brings together work from 20 fibre artists from around the world displaying their passion for textile art, cooking and growing food. This creative venture will appeal to everyone with a love of food and a flair for the creative. Artists contributing to Taste of Textiles include Nicola Henley, Marjolein Dallinga, Polly Stirling, Sylvia Watt, Glenys Mann, Judy Hooworth and Meredith Woolnough to name a few.

The contributing artists have represented a variety of vivid produce in their works, including the humble potato, mulberries, beetroot, saffron and rose petals. Each has created a visual narrative based on and inspired by their love for that particular produce.

Inspired by the artists’ passion, local cook Bev Whitehead has created and tested simple recipes to mirror the artworks. These include lemon myrtle spelt shortbread, chilli jelly, fig affogato, pomegranate with rosewater jelly with Persian Fairy Floss.

A limited edition boxed set containing stunning images of the both the final dishes and the artwork that inspired them, beautifully captured by local photographer Garrick Muntz is also available at the opening.

Opening: by Janet De Boer at 2pm, Saturday, 13 Decemberand continues until 23 December 2014.

HOLDING: Contemporary fibre art

HOLDING: Contemporary fibre artpresents a unique and diverse range of fibre art. Showcasing 25 international, national and local fibre artists, the exhibition explores – through textile mediums and techniques – ideas around containment and ownership. The exhibition is curated by Anne Kempton Director of Timeless Textiles, the only dedicated textile fibre art Gallery in Australia.

From smaller and intricate works of art like that of American artist Shannon Weber’s Amulet 2016using wire hemp and stone, to larger scale works such as Newcastle artist Brett Alexander’s five metre high Every time I have sex I think I might die (PEP/Prep version) 2016,

this exhibition expands on Kempton’s ideas around the ‘vessel’ as a form in contemporary fibre art and in this context is represented both physically and conceptually. Kempton states;

“The title HOLDING can allude to a sense of belonging, homeliness, security and memories. For me it’s a gentle nurturing of our souls, our world and each other. The materials for each of these works of art have been created or reused, held (sometimes times for long periods of time) in the artist’s hands during the making process.”

The environment is also a source of inspiration for many textile artists; drawing upon the world around them using both natural and synthetic materials, each artist is the primary creator of their work, all of which are layered with personal and individual meanings. In the Shelter 2016 by Western Australian artist Nalda Searles combines parts of a salvaged doll with native plant fibres and grasses held together using her own unique form of stitching.

HOLDING brings together fibre artists from Austria, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA as well as Australia and Newcastle revealing their deft ability with the fibre textile medium and the realisation of this in three dimensional objects.

Featuring 24 contemporary international and national fibre artists, STITICHED UP gives a voice to the 193 girls who attended The Newcastle Industrial School, in the 150th-year since its opening.

Between 1867 and 1871, one hundred and ninety-three girls aged from two and a half to 18 years attended the Newcastle Industrial School. These girls came from backgrounds of poverty, cruelty and discrimination endemic in immigrant and marginalised communities during Australia’s ‘Gold Rush’ era. Many became notorious in the locality for a series of daring escapes which led to repeated incarcerations. Some of the girls went on to gain national infamy.

The initial concept for the STITCHED UP project came from a chance discovery that some of the girls had been detained in the Newcastle lock up (now home to The Lock-Up and Timeless Textile Gallery) after short-lived escapes from the school. Following discussions with Dr Ann Hardy of the Coal River Working Party, the project idea was seeded. Having met with local historian, Jane Ison, Anne and Wilma were immediately captivated by the life stories of the young girls of the Newcastle Industrial School. The research and writings of Jane Ison and subsequently Canberra based anthropologist, David Eastburn and Bernadette Sheahan have inspired this project to engage worldwide interest in this fascinating part of Newcastle’s history.

Curated by Anne Kempton (Creative Director Timeless Textiles Gallery) and fibre artist Wilma Simmons,

24 internationally renowned fibre artists from Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark and nationally across Australia have contributed the project. The pieces include a large quilt as a comforter; dolls to compensate for lost childhood; cloth books for story-telling; shadow threadworks; and visual poetry.

Adding further dimension and community participation in the project, 30 women from The Wednesday Maker’s group at Timeless Textiles Gallery stitched embroidered narratives of each of the girls’ lives, working for two years  on the project and resulting in seven volumes of cloth books, each page dedicated to one of the girls or a family of sisters.

 “We have lived with these girls for almost two years,” said co-curator Wilma Simmons. “We have been moved to tears, and even horror at times, by the depth and suffering. We have learned to love and protect them, as most never were in life. Through this exhibition, we have to give a voice finally to these lost girls and their extraordinary stories,” she continued.

STITCHED UP is an exhibition that is presented at The Lock-Up in partnership with Timeless Textiles galleries.

ABOUT TIMELESS TEXTILES GALLERY

Established in 2011, the aim of Timeless Textiles Gallery is to raise the awareness of the beauty and collectability of fibre art, and provide an opportunity to people to find themselves through creativity.

Timeless Textiles gallery is the only commercial fibre art gallery in Australia which showcases fibre art with monthly exhibitions, national and international curated exhibitions, master class workshops and a Gallery Shop. Community arts programs is a major focus.

ABOUT THE LOCK-UP

Located in one of Newcastle’s most significant heritage buildings, The Lock-Up is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts space and inner city hub for creative thinking and doing.

The Lock-Up was the Newcastle Police Station and lock up from 1861 until its closure in 1982. Today it stands as a purpose-built gallery space alongside rare heritage listed cells, an event and installation space in what was the former men’s exercise yard and an onsite apartment for its nationally-renowned residency program.

Through its artistic and public programs, The Lock-Up aims to stimulate and challenge audiences and to promote the current, cross-platform, experimental and diverse practices of local, national and international artists.

Artists dig deep for Subterranean exhibition.

Nine Australian textile artists have produced remarkable works in felt to honour the work of innovative German feltmaker Charlotte Sehmisch for Subterranean, a new exhibition opening at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles in July.

Sehmisch studied architecture in Weiner, Germany, before studying fashion in Halie. Since 1998, she has worked as a fashion and hat designer, created stage outfits, including hand-made felt hats and dresses, and taught at various European colleges. Her highly original sculptural techniques have attracted attention, with her work widely exhibited in Germany and France.

Sehmisch has worked with felt, other textiles and even building materials during her career to create her amazing work. She has used techniques such as lamellae, cracks, chambers and helixes to create architecturally based felt structures. Her approach is based in geometric designs.

“I presume my love for sculptural surfaces, three dimensional objects and geometrics has its origins in my architecture studies,” says Charlotte of her approach. “I am a huge fan of Bauhaus.”

The feltmakers invited to respond to Sehmisch’s work for the Subterranean exhibition were given the freedom to apply their own interpretation and felt-making techniques.

Timeless Textiles owner, Anne Kempton, was one of the contributing artists.

“The exhibition explores ideas of land and of layers through the medium of felt,” Kempton said. “Subterraneanhas been interpreted in many ways: geologically, socially, emotionally and structurally.”

TheSubterranean felt makers include Anne Kempton, Anita Larkin, Julie Brennan, Giselle Penn, Sachiko Kotaka, Jessica Forster, Catherine OLeary, Pam Hovel and Pam de Groot.

Subterranean runs from 11 July to 5 August, with the opening from 6 to 8pm on Thursday 12 July.