lace narratives:
Solo Exhibition, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
Sydney Design Festival, 27 July- 14 August 2010
Lace Narratives represents a major body of work showcased at the Damien Minton Gallery. The collection of over seventy pieces explored contemporary expressions of lace through alternative processes and unconventional materials. Photo transfer and print are combined with constructed sewing methods rarely seen together in lace making. Rust, natural dyeing, digital printing and machine embroidery – evoke both the past and present.
Lace Narratives are a suite of textile (p) lace markers that tell a collective story. Some works are pictorial, some abstract, but both contain a story of connection and belonging, imbued with memory and personal narrative.
A selection of works was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria through the Living Australian Artist Fund.
Dimensions: approx 18 cm x 15 cm
Materials: cotton, linen, phototransfer, machine stitching on a soluble backing.
Photo Credit: Paul Pavlou
lace narratives - the passport suite
lace narratives - rusted
The Rusted Lace Suite combines photographic transfers of images taken in the 1860's of the Mapuche Indians by my Great Grand Father Odber Heffer who is recognised as one of Chile's founding photographers of that era. They have been collaged with rusted linens and natural dyed fabrics to signify the integration of one cultural history with my own attachment to a new land, the Australia and it's landscape.
lace narratives - the colour suite
The Colour Suite is a group of works that explore principles of abstraction through groupings of colour and monochromatic tone. They form assemblages of naturally dyed cottons, linens and silks. Colours have been extracted from a variety of plant and mineral material including eucalyptus leaves, tea, rust, onion skins, tumeric and madder to form individual colour stories.
Dimensions: 170mm wide x 150 mm height
Materials: Cotton, silks, linens, photo transfer, natural dyes, rust, machine stitched onto a soluble substrate
Photo credit: Paul Pavlou
lace narratives - antique lace suite
The Antique Lace Suite is a collection of work that reworks collected antique lace into new textile assemblages. Often lace is gifted to me from special family heirlooms and after careful consideration I have decided to rework these pieces to be create a new collective story.
lace narratives - lace Length
Part of the Lace Narratives exhibition were a suite of lace lengths that explored a variety of open work structures from circular motifs to grid like strips. Some were tinted with eucalyptus dye while others were rusted through a process of burying the cloth in the ground for a period of time. The silk or cotton was bound with rusted nails, the nails left their memory imprint on the cloth.
Dimensions range from 700mm wide x 2200mm height Materials: Silk, cottons, linens, eucalyptus dye, rust machine stitched onto a soluble substrate (Photo Credit: Paul Pavlou.)
