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