The New Zealand Farmers Federation has called for sheep shearing to become an Olympic sport, hailing top wool-clippers as world-class athletes.With the World Shearing Championships set to be held in the North Island town of Masterton in March, federation spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell said shearing was now a bona fide sport that deserved international recognition.
In late 2009, Lynn Zwerling stood in front of 600 male prisoners at the Pre-Release Unit in Jessup, Maryland. "Who wants to knit?" she asked the burly crowd. They looked at her like she was crazy.Yet almost two years later, Zwerling and her associates have taught more than 100 prisoners to knit, while dozens more are on a waiting list to take her weekly class. "I have guys that have never missed one time in two years," Zwerling says. "Some reported to us that they miss dinner to come to class."
Charlotte Haywood visited the Guild in August on the eve of her new exhibition, Blue/Orange and gave us an extremely interesting presentation of some of her work.
Charlotte told us that she had little formal artistic or craft tuition as a child or teenager - a topic she would touch on later. However she developed an interest in fashion. This led to work in costume in film and television and developed her artistic skills as a designer. Her interest in textiles was a natural evolution from this background and she went on to study tapestry weaving at Warrnambool TAFE.
A visit to Varanassi in India allowed her to explore the possibilities of jacquard weaving techniques. On a holiday in Peru she was seduced by the local weaving and the vibrant colours the weavers used. Charlotte also talked about her role as a facilitator of the hyperbolic crochet reef exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum and showed us examples of the work produced. She also gave us a sneak preview of her exhibition of shaped tapestries and installations which look at polarities of colour and the ideas of opposites as exemplified in her video installation of a Samurai council worker, or the contrasts between digital art and hand knits.
The Wangaratta Hand Weavers and Spinners look forward to your participation. The theme for 2012 is: Fiesta - a kaleidoscope of colour.
Registration period: 1 October to 31 December 2011.
The aims of the scarf exchange are to preserve the skills of spinning, weaving, knitting, crochet and felting, to expand our wool craft network and to challenge each crafter to produce their best original work.
Participation in the scarf exchange involves you selecting 150gm of washed and combed natural fibre to be crafted into a scarf by another participant. In return you will be required to craft a scarf using the fibre sent to you.
1. Send your fibre, fibre sample, entry form and entry fee by 31 December 2011 to:
Wangaratta Hand Weavers and Spinners
PO Box 473
Wangaratta VIC 3676
Australia
2. You will receive an exchange package of fibre by the end of February 2012. Over the next 4 months you will be able to spin, dye, knit, crochet, weave or felt the exchange fibre into a surprising creation to showcase the best of your fibre talents.
3. Delivery Date for the return of your finished scarf is 20 July 2012.
4. Scarf Exhibition: All entries for the Scarf Exchange will be on display at Workshop Space, Wangaratta Art Gallery, Ovens Street, Wangaratta for 10 days from Saturday, 8 September to Sunday, 16 September 2012. The exhibition will incorporate the regional Sharing Day hosted by Wangaratta Hand Weavers and Spinners on Tuesday, 11 September. We invite all crafters to visit Wangaratta over this period.
5. Finished scarves will be returned by the end of Nov 2012.
All fibre must be in the form of washed and combed tops. You can use any natural fibre or combination of natural fibres. You can select the colours you prefer for your finished scarf or let the crafter choose whether or not to dye the fibre.
Entry Fee: Australian and NZ participants $16
Info & forms: Marion Stewart
The Tasmanian Craft Fair is the largest working demonstration of arts and crafts in Australia, and the 31st Fair will be held from 4-7 November in Deloraine.
A not-for-profit event run by the Rotary Club of Deloraine, the Fair hosts more than 240 arts and craftspeople, involves more than 1000 community volunteers and attracts more than 25,000 people from Tasmania, interstate and overseas in at least 15 venues, with even shopkeepers in the main street of Deloraine getting involved.
Throughout the Fair, there will be a range of classes for people of all ages, and working demonstrations.
The event also features a Gourmet Festival, with a range of Tasmanian food, wine and micro-brewed beers available while you sit back and relax. There is also a Gourmet Pantry, featuring predominantly Tasmanian-made produce such as jams, preserves, spices, puddings, wines, cheeses and more.
There will be also a variety of local and interstate entertainers throughout the Fair.
Beautiful summer in Christchurch has been hit hard by the earthquakes and now its streets are lined with thousands of shipping containers. Those containers will be with us for a long time, so we'd like to make them more attractive!
This is where you come in!
Help us create a giant container cosy.
Simply kit or crochet a 30 by 30cm square. The more squares you make the closer we'll be to our beautiful container cosy.
The first part of the August GM was simulcast to a small group of invited participants. Committee members Ann Jackson and Katherine Henry (with a lot of help from Katherine's daughter Isabella) put a great deal of work into setting up the broadcast and made a lot of adjustments and adaptations throughout the morning so they could get things working in time for this month's Tool Talk. Ann Jackson emphasised that the idea of the simulcast is not to replace the monthly meetings but to provide another place
where people can join in. Ann then explained the realities of copyright during simulcasts, anything that is broadcast on the internet (or most other mediums) can legally be copied and consequently reviewed or commented upon by anyone. The problem of copyright control for any speakers or guest artists appearing at the Guild is one that needs to be resolved in the future. Ann suggests that people need to accept that if their work is in the public arena they should be prepared to deal with some people borrowing
their ideas or techniques. Any work shown during the simulcast will be acknowledged.
For the first time, the venue for the Australian Alpaca Association national sale and show will be the Falkiner Pavilion at the Sydney Showgrounds, Homebush. And for the first time ever, the show will include an Expo offering something for everyone whether you are considering owing alpacas or just want to come and enjoy a day out with plenty of opportunity to cuddle some baby alpacas (cria.)
On Saturday and Sunday there will be shearing demos, on the hour every hour, together with fleece sorting and classing in preparation for processing. You will be able to watch the entire process as raw alpaca fleece is spun into yarn and then knitted into garments.
When: Thursday to Sunday, 13-16 October
Info: nationalshowandsale.alpaca.asn.au
Mary Schoeser, specialist author in textiles, is working on an project commissioned by Thames & Hudson. Entitled The Art of Textiles, this is to be a major work of over 1,000 images and celebrating the breadth and depth of the field today.
Mary is keen to source stunning images of the work of creative individuals. Of equal interest are pieces that have been collected as outstanding inspirational examples, including ethnographic and historical materials, since one aspect of the text deals with the impact of the eye of the beholder. In particular, detailed images are sought in order to illustrate the complexity and extraordinary variety of surface treatments, manipulations, materials and structures that textiles present. In addition, Mary is seeking personal statements elucidating why or how each piece is of personal significance.
Continue reading "The Art of Textiles: Call for Submissions" »
