Exhibition driven by an obsession with colour.

Sydney based artist, Cathy Jack Coupland demonstrates her mastery of colour in her first solo exhibition at Timeless Textiles Gallery in Newcastle, opening in January 2016.

The works in the Colour: Cathy Jack Coupland exhibition range from bold use of bright, solid colours to the subtlest interweaving of contrasting coloured threads.

“I have conversations with colour through my work.”  Cathy said.    “It mesmerizes and teases me and will always be integral to what I do. Its use and interaction, I find enthralling and makes me ask questions of myself.  How far will I go?  How much is too much?”

Cathy often references the work of artists such as Hundertwasser, Sonia Delaunay, John Olsen and Brett Whitely. “Growing up in the Riverina has had a huge impact on how I perceive and use colour”.  Cathy said.  “Changing seasons, fire, drought, landscape and weather are all colours fixed in my memory of home”.  

For this exhibition, Cathy has let her imagination dictate the motifs. For instance, in My Country My Way, she uses blue flooding lines, a bright rainbow, shooting grass and an oversized sun to demonstrate her response to the Dorothea Mackellar poem, ‘My Country’. 

An exchange of work with a felt-making friend has led to a new body of work using simple circles.  “I was given a beautiful piece of bright pink felt with huge bubbles worked into it.” Cathy said.  “I could only stitch around those bubbles.  This is my current addiction!”

Cathy’s works are entirely covered with thousands upon thousands of stitches.  These beautiful works are all free-machine-embroidered, a technique also referred to as ‘thread painting’.   The resulting surface shimmers and undulates with a life all their own.  

“I am thrilled to hold my first solo exhibition at Timeless Textiles in Newcastle.  I want to show how important colour is to me and to my work.  It’s an amazing subject to study and research and it can have a huge impact on our senses and emotions.  It is inspiring and pleasurable for me and I hope, all who view it.”

Colour will run from 20 January 2016 until 14 February 2016 and will officially open by Mary Brown on 21 January.

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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.

Stitched masterpieces celebrate connection to place

Experimentation with colour is a feature of a new exhibition of textile art by Cathy Jack Coupland, on show at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery in September.

 In the Place – Stitched Masterpieces exhibition Coupland tries to capture her emotional response to the world around her. The resulting works are a vibrant and complex tribute to Sydney suburb of Breakfast Point.

“Breakfast Point is only a 40-minute ferry ride from the Sydney CBD, yet it abounds with the beauty of the natural world,” Coupland said. “It is a busy commercial and recreational waterway on the Parramatta River. Yet it also has a sense of history and timelessness.”

Coupland uses her imagination and creativity to produce unique textile artworks that are deeply personal and yet accessible to an audience. Her love of colour and highly-evolved technique result in extraordinary textile art. She uses strong, bold colour palettes.

“Colour is always foremost in my work,” she explains. “I like the crisp, clean lines of contrasting, and sometimes unusual, colour choices. I have an irresistible desire to continue learning.”

Starting with colour choice, Coupland then turns to the design process. Creating and working her designs to a finally resolved piece takes time. She creates and stitches every day.

“That process is everything,” she says. “It is restorative as well as creative. I learned that algorithm long ago and have maintained it ever since. Structure and routine is the basis of my work.”

Machine work is Coupland’s preferred technique. The rhythm created by the stitches, and the tactile nature of the finished work, produces art singing with colour and optimism.

Place – Stitched Masterpieces exhibition runs from 5 to 30 September. The opening is from 6 to 8pm on Thursday 6 September.