Exhibition celebrates home and garden

Like many of us, artist Wilma Simmons found that during the last year, her natural surroundings and ‘place’ enveloped her. Enveloping, a textile art exhibition opening at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles in May, explores her concept that ‘what surrounds us is what is within us’.

“At times, being enveloped in place made me feel constricted, stifled and overwhelmed,” she said. “At other times, it was protective, comforting and embracing.”

The artist noticed changes, not only in her surrounding environment but also within. Her connection to her immediate surroundings intensified and she became more introspective. Enveloping evolved from two stitched-textile collage series of 100 small artworks created in 2019 and 2020. The works focus on Wilma’s neighbourhood and daily observations.

“I have been changed by what I see and experience on a daily basis,” she said. “These new artworks reflect my responses to what surrounds and envelops me.”

Wilma developed her artistic practice after years of ‘wrapping’ natural and found objects. Her artwork for the 2017 Stitched Up exhibition at The Lock Up, for instance, featured 193 message-stick doll figures in an installation.

In Enveloping, she incorporates her familiar theme of respect and celebration of nature, earthy colours and textures. However, the works also reflect a colourful new diversion for the artist, exploring her garden. The Garden Threads series of stitched, appliqued and collaged scrolls and books was inspired by the beauty of Wilma’s suburban garden.

Enveloping will strike a chord with audiences emerging from a year of isolation and introspection during the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows at Timeless Textiles Gallery in Hunter Street, Newcastle from 12 May to 20 June 2021.