Captivated by Dora Creek which flows close by her home and studio, Judy has been documenting her local environment for over 20 years. A keen bird watcher, bush walker and photographer she has explored the creek and its surrounding bushland as well as the greater Lake Macquarie area. 

These works express her fascination with linear motifs in nature along with the colours and moods created by seasonal changes. She is interested in the ever changing patterns created by the movement of water, reflections in the water from overhanging scrub and trees that line the banks, and detritus revealed in the shallows; and in the abstract quality of grasses and branches, leaf and bark litter and tangled undergrowth.

She discharges, draws, paints, mono prints, screen prints, and collages her one-of-a-kind fabrics, and extensively stitches her work to create an overall textured surface. She works with fabric inks and paints and water soluble crayons. Judy is always interested in exploring new ideas and techniques to further develop her creative practice. 

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ARTIST INSPIRED BY DORA CREEK

Internationally acclaimed fibre artist Judy Hooworth uses her local environment around Dora Creek as the inspiration for her third exhibition at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery in November.

Documenting walks along the creek with photographs and drawings, watching the birds and generally ambling about ‘Down the Creek’ has been integral to Hooworth’s life and artistic practice for the last 14 years. She draws on this resource for the quilts in this latest exhibition.

“I’m fascinated by patterns, light on water, trees and branches, grasses and leaves, the changing colours and moods created by variations in the weather, day by day” she said.

Her quilts have a strong linear element as a design focus. She taps in to her emotional responses to the environment to create personal marks on the cloth.

“Over the last few years I’ve experimented with various techniques as a means of further self-expression,” Hooworth explains. “Discharging cloth with bleach, painting and drawing with brushes, pencils, crayons and even plant material from my garden, overpainting, deconstructed screen printing and intensive stitching are evident in the work.”

Working spontaneously as much as she can in creating the cloth, Hooworth enjoys the process of collage, and rearranging pieces of fabric to make abstract compositions. In contrast to her large quilts, she will show small intimate works incorporating discharged fabrics, photographic images and embroidery.

The Down the Creek exhibition will be opened by Louise Berry on Thursday, 9 November. It will run from 8 November to 3 December.

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.

Detour via the Silk Road inspires acclaimed artist

Of the Detour via the Silk Road, at Timeless Textiles Gallery, Judy Hooworth’s second exhibition, she says:

My new work is influenced by travels in China and Central Asia in 2012  and 2013.

Inspired by embroidery and tile patterns from the region I have connected with artisans from the past, recreating and re interpreting their designs with silk screened mono prints and intensive stitching in my quilts and textile pieces.

Judy Hooworth studied at the National Art School in the 1960s and began making patchwork quilts and stitched textiles soon after. She has exhibited widely, in Australia and abroad, and her work has been published in many books and magazines throughout the world. She has taught quilt-making since 1981, and is the originator of Australia’s first juried and longest-running contemporary quilt exhibition, The New Quilt.

After maintaining a studio art quilt practice for more than 25 years, Hooworth is known for her colourful contemporary quilts that reference traditional patchwork patterns, and has written three books on contemporary quilt-making. She is represented in public and private collections in Australia, UK and USA including the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Tamworth Art Gallery, Wangaratta Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. She was awarded the Quilters’ Guild NSW Inc. Study Scholarship in 1994, and a Professional Development Grant from the Visual Arts/Crafts Fund, the Australia Council in 1995.

This exhibition opens on 20 November 6pm- 8pm and continues until 12 December 2014.

Local landscape inspires acclaimed artist

A new exhibitionby nationally and internationally acclaimed fibre artist Judy Hooworth, Living in the Landscape, is opening at Timeless Textiles on Thursday 17 May 2012

Hooworth, who lives and works in Morisset in Australia’s Hunter region, was inspired to create the exhibition pieces by the landscapes of nearby Dora Creek.

“For the last eight years my work has been inspired by Dora Creek which is near my home,” she said. “I walk there almost every day and document my walks with drawings and photographs. I’m particularly interested in the movement of light on water, the patterns created by time, tidal flow, wind and rain.”

Hooworth studied at the National Art School in the 1960s and began making patchwork quilts and stitched textiles soon after. She has exhibited widely, in Australia and abroad, and her work has been published in many books and magazines throughout the world. She has taught quilt-making since 1981, and is the originator of Australia’s first juried and longest-running contemporary quilt exhibition, The New Quilt.

After maintaining a studio art quilt practice for more than 25 years, Hooworth is known for her colourful contemporary quilts that reference traditional patchwork patterns, and has written three books on contemporary quilt-making. She is represented in public and private collections in Australia, UK and USA including the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Tamworth Art Gallery, Wangaratta Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. She was awarded the Quilters’ Guild NSW Inc. Study Scholarship in 1994, and a Professional Development Grant from the Visual Arts/Crafts Fund, the Australia Council in 1995.

Of the Living in the Landscape exhibition Judy states:

“Changes in the weather day by day, fluctuations in the light, and the changing seasons imbue the Creek’s landscape with endless combinations of colour and pattern. Constant, yet inconsistent, revealing and sometimes concealing, its moody and often dramatic variations from day to day are explored in my hand painted, mono printed and stitched textiles.”

This exhibition opens on 17 May 6pm- 8pm and continues until 10 June 2012

“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!”