“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!”

Exhibition inspired by tea

A simple cup of tea was the inspiration for an exhibition by fibre artist Wilma Simmons that will open at the new Newcastle East premises of Timeless Textiles Gallery in September.

After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world and crosses all cultures. Well-loved local artist Wilma, who is presenting her second exhibition at Timeless Textiles, loves everything about tea and drinks it every day.

She was inspired to create the pieces for her exhibition, entitled Leaves of Distinction, by the experience of drinking tea, as well as by literature about the comforting beverage.

“I love the smell, taste and experience of tea – all types of tea,” she explains. “In most of the world, drinking and offering tea signifies trust and friendship. Drinking a cup of tea means warmth, peace and comfort to me and obviously to many others who write lyrically about their tea experiences.”

In 2012, Wilma’s sister gave her a book of poetry by Elizabeth Darcy-Jones describing various tea-leaf types as people. While sipping tea and imagining the teas’ personalities, Wilma also saw them as art dolls. The other literature that has inspired the exhibition ranges from the sublime – the tea poetry of Lu Yu (c750): “tea…. does more than brace the body. It opens the eye of the spirit, it suffuses one with peace…” to the ridiculous by Edward Lear:

There was an old man of Dumbree,
Who taught little owls to drink tea;
For he said, ‘To eat mice,
Is not proper or nice’
That amiable man of Dumbree.

The exhibition commences on 18 September, with an official opening at the new location for Timeless Textiles

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.

Odyssey Within: an exhibition by Bobbi Oliver and Wilma Simmons.

Outstanding artists and friends, Bobbi Oliver and Wilma Simmons, explore their shared artistic journeys with startling results in Odyssey Within, a new exhibition opening at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles gallery in May.

Odyssey Withinwill showcase art works resulting from the influences on each of the artist’s lives – the journeys they have taken.  They acknowledge different literal journeys – through childhood, work, travel, cultures and places – but the most significant journey revealed in their work is the internal one that has resulted in the evolution of their individual art practice.

This artistic journey, shared by all artists, encompasses the joy of creating something, the drive to achieve excellence in what they produce, and the attempt to interpret their individual experiences and emotions to share with others. In this exhibition, Bobbi and Wilma celebrate reaching a stage in which they accept that their artistic journey is not about reaching a destination. It is an adventurous odyssey where they find, and display, heart-felt fun and joy in each creation they make.

Bobbi explores media – textiles and clay, surface treatment and colour – in her sculptures and jewellery, and reveals her fascination with the world of spirits.  Sculpted figures with titles such as “Pathfinder”, “Time Explorer” and “Follow Your Dreams” reflect her personal spiritual journey.

Wilma interweaves legend and myth with the everyday in her work, which demonstrates her continuing interest in the manipulation of textiles and paper, including tea bags. Her complex textile towers – entitled ‘Perseverance’, ‘Patience’ and ‘Prudence’ – are inspired by interpretations of Homer’s Odyssey. She also demonstrates a growing mastery in her use of fibre art with poetry, in hand-made books that pay humble homages to home and travel.

While Bobbi’s and Wilma’s styles differ, the friends have a shared appreciation of art and its processes, and inspire each other on their individual odysseys. Their friendship, developed over 15 years, is based on their passion for creating art that is true to the journeys of their lives. Their shared, and individual, journeys have created a remarkable exhibition that will take those viewing it on their own Odyssey Within.

ViewOdyssey Within from 18 May until 12 June, with an official opening on 19 May.

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.