Asia Pacific Triennial # 2

The use of barkcloth is traditional in the South Pacific region with  varying motifs. 'Teitei vou' [A new garden] by Robin White, Leba Toki & Bale Jione was a fresh take on this ancient craft.

These are images from the painted piece which lay on the woven pandanus mat, which had a front edge embroidered with wool. These pieces were on a platform & above them on the wall, hung a large story piece.

Asia Pacific Triennial

Thanks for your comment on the Down Under Textile magazine Ros in NZ and Jan the design on the indigo is waxed so a very fine line is possible giving it great detail & delicacy.

This week I'm going to post about the Asia Pacific Triennial at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, as I have now seen more of the gallery spaces & noticed the use of stitch in various works.

These are details of Kyungah Ham of South Korea's work 'Some Diorama' which has been hand stitiched on silk by female artisans from North Korea. It uses imagery from the Vietnam War & the era, set in the underground tunnels used by the Vietnamese.

The artist wondered what impact these images had on the artists embroidering the work. I wondered what the artists knew of the outside world & events when their country is under Communist dictatorship. Her other embroideries were of the mushroom clouds from the atomic bombs of Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

Lijiang indigo

During a holiday in China in 2006, we stayed at the historic Naxi town of Lijiang in Yunnan Province. The cobbled stone streets of the old town are closed to cars & goods are transported on hand carts. Most of the homes have the downstairs area converted into shops & many Chinese tourists frequent the town. We happended to be there during the Lantern Festival.

I bought this very long, 11" wide piece of indigo fabric and have decided not to cut it up but hang as is & can enjoy seeing it every day rather than keeping it in a cupboard.

Textile Fibre Forum magazine

The current issue of Textile Fibre Forum magazine, number 97 has the most delicious cover image from the work of Louise Saxton. Hundreds of embroidery motifs from discarded items of clothing & homewares have been reconstituted into delicate, captivating works of art.

The magazine is also associated with the call for entries for an Australian & New Zealand design book. Conditions of entry & an entry form can be downloaded from the TAFTA website. September is the closing date.

Charity quilt

A group of 5 of us, all Sunnybank Quilters members have teamed up to make a quilt for the Dialysis Unit at a local hosiptal. This is my assorted fabrics in our colour scheme of orange, blue & brown.

Now we have pooled our fabric cut into 31/2" strips & squares.

Yesterday afternoon I had time to sew my blocks. They are 9" finished & this is not the final arrangement- stay tuned for our next meeting in 2 weeks.

Travel bags

Jan made these 2 very handy travel bags for me. The small one holds the cables for camera & mobile phone chargers & now that they're in 1 spot it makes it very easy when I get to my destination to find them. The larger cloth bag with a zip down the length, is for clothes. I put all my shirts in it & also found it very efficient. Thanks Jan.

Granddaughter Ruby Eloise

Granddaughter Ruby Eloise was the reason for our Melbourne visit & here she is in my arms with Mum Rita also.

Finishing off with just a couple of shots from the cottage houses in the area. Hope you like them Diane.