Textile Art Festival #3

Today is a public holiday celebrating the Queen's Birthday [which is really in April] so it was glorious to sleep in & wake to sunshine. The washing machine is working overtime today! Yesterday at the Textile Art Festival I got to sit behind a desk & take a class with Lesley Riley. It was such a great way to learn about  Transfer Artist Paper which Lesley has pioneered & meet this inspiring artist.

Textile Art Festival #2

Oh there are so many great textile displays & booths at the Textile Art Festival. I had a lovely day catching up with many quilters I hadn't seen for ages but sadly will not see Linda Robertus tomorrow. The challenge quilts above, come from members of the Fabric Art Studio in Coffs Harbour NSW. It is run by Sandy Corry.

Julie Haddrick of South Australia has a stunning display of her quilts. Many are large wall quilts in her distinctive stained glass method using hand dyed & painted fabric.

Textile Art Festival

It's on again in Brisbane- the Textile Art Festival & Scrapbook Papercraft Expo at the Brisbane Convention Centre, South Bank this long weekend. The STATE of the ART quilt 11 exhibition looks great in it's hard wall gallery space.

Curator Ros Ward on R with hanging helpers Felicity L, Alison middle & me, almost! Hope to see you at the festival over the weekend. PS thanks Felicity for sending the photo below.

New rug joy

Little Miss 1 is enjoying the cuddle rug I made her from Minkee, on 1 side and waffle weave on the other. I had enough Minkee left for a small pillow. She is being very busy with it here!

Yes Ali, I too am waiting in anticipation for the STATE of the ART quilt 11 exhibition to open at Textile Art Festival & to see the other artists selected.

Textile Art Festival

The Textile Art Festival June 11-13 in Brisbane will feature demonstrations, displays, workshops & lots of great textile 'things'. The STATE of the ART quilt 11 will be there & I have 2 quilts in the exhibition, the one above 'On Track #1' & 'Circles of my Mind' below. Don't Linda Robertus, Jan McPike, Margie Creek & Mel Forrest also have stunning quilts? Yes this & next year are looking busy Jan, but I love it!

STATE of the ART quilt 11

Very excited here, when I heard both my entries in STATE of the ART quilt 11 had been selected by juror Barbara Macey, 2010 Rajah Award recipient, for the touring exhibition. Barbara is also the founder of Ozquilt Network, an Australian orgainsation for art quilters. The exhibition will premier at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane, June 10-12. Above, a detail of 'Circles of my Mind'. I'll show the full image when the festival begins. 

Detail of 'On Track #1'.

More Textile Art Festival

The wonderful part of the Textile Art Festival is that it encompasses so many fibre fields in the most creative way. This display is from the Australian College of Computer Embroidery & Textile Technologies.

Dairing knitwear had amazing fibres to knit with- linen which looked like paper, leather strips & cord, silk & stainless steel.

Textile Art Festival

The theme for the competitions  was 'Alice in Wonderland' & many stands also had embraced the theme. Here teacups hang from the fantasy tree in the Bernina area. They also sponsored the wearable art section.

Diane, the Expertise Events site has the upcoming quilt & textile shows for Australia & New Zealand, so that will give you an idea of the variety to choose from. Textile Art Festival is specific to Brisbane only.

Some Mexettes at the Textile Art Festival

Me, Marg & Diane pose in front of my work 'Counting' in the STATE of the ART quilt 10

gallery at theTextile Art Festival. Sadly it is over for another year, but I have stocked up on interesting products for playing with & using in my textile work.

Textile Art Festival

I'll get back to Cockatoo Island soon, but now the Textile Art Festival which is on in Brisbane at the Convention Centre, Southbank. Mel, Jane & I set-up the STATE of the ART quilt 10 exhibition so please drop in & say hello today or tomorrow.

Sydney views #3

Kate, it certainly was a captivating sculpture & I forgot to say the MCA is the Museum of Contemporary Art & inside the galleries have more wonderful work from artists who are part of the 17th Biennale which is titled The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age.

Part of the program is on Cockatoo Island, with a free ferry from the Commissioners Steps outside the MCA to the Island, passing under the Harbour Bridge & Lunar Park. The Opera House, above is also passed on the trip.

The Textile Art Festival opens today in Brisbane.

Caught my eye at Textile Art Festival # 3

One of the exhibitions at the Textile Art Festival last weekend was My Place -90 quilts each 50cm square made by 30 quilters from each of these 3 countries- Australia, New Zealand & South Africa. These quilts have already travelled to the 2 overseas countries & I think this was their first outing as a collection in Australia. My quilt is 'Red Centre' & uses my anthill motif- no surprises there!

Caught my eye at Textile Art Festival # 2

The tACTile group of Jenny Bowker, Helen Gray, Beth Miller, Dianne Firth & Beth & Trevor Reid are a talented group who always inspire with their exhibitions. 'Collections' their new touring exhibition is just wonderful! I'm sorry I can only offer these small glimpses. Both Beth & Trevor Reid & Beth Miller used pots & vases as their inspiration but tackled it from 2 different techinique perspectives which was fascinating.

Caught my eye at Textile Art Festival

These are a few of the entries in the Recycle Reuse Textile Art Competition which received entries from all over Australia. First received a cash prize. Some very clever interpretations & sorry I didn't get the makers names apart from Sarah Louise Ricketts R who used printers tartlatan in her piece.

Artists at Textile Art Festival

The great thing about the Textile Art Festival which sadly finished yesterday, was the wonderful displays & exhibitions. These 3 pieces of work with the theme of the Great Barrier Reef are by Felicity Clarke below who is standing with her winning portrait entered in the 'Connections' embellisher challenge. What I can't show you effectively is the life like dimension Felicity has achieved in the man's face.

Other artists I met were

Dijanne Cevaal L demonstrating printing & curator of the My Place touring exhibition &

Lisa Walton, an Oceania SAQA member, owner of Dyed & Gone to Heaven & exhibitor with the STATE of the ART quilt 09 exhibition.

Bernina at Textile Art Festival

There are so many amazing textile displays at the

Textile Art Festival that where ever you look another fabulous creation comes into focus. The garments from the Bernina Fashion Show are truly stunning & can be viewed from all angles. Cactus is a particular favourite of mine so I loved the beautifully beaded ones on the skirt below.

Bernina is releasing this book, Galleria in October & it will be a wonderful showcase of the many Bernina Friends entries in the recent '8' challenge launching the new 8 series machines. My quilt 'Captiv8ing' will be part of it.