Just what is art? and how can we recognize it. I’ve been thinking about this because I have to teach a short introductory class to a group of teenagers.

I think the immediate response to my question "What is Art?" will be "pictures". What sort of "pictures", perhaps painted, drawn. What about photography, is that art. Our family photos don’t seem to fit into that category but perhaps a Max Dupain photo would. Why? What’s the difference? Is a basket art? Well no, but then we see many we would call art. Textiles; are they art? Well the tea towel in my kitchen wouldn’t be considered art by these teenagers but I could show them tea towels that are art. What is the difference?

When the students begin to struggle with words to answer this, I will tell them they have the answer. It’s impossible to describe the differences. We don’t seem to have the right words to define what is art and what isn’t…we just seem to know. This is exactly what art is. The unexplainable, the things where our language fail us. It’s a feeling towards a work by the viewer and an attempt at describing the unexplainable by the artist. An artwork captures another human’s attempt at describing their human experience .Writers, musicians and artists all use their mediums to try to describe concepts which lay beyond our general speech. Making experience tangible.

There is an ancient Polynesian belief that the artist is a vehicle through whom the Gods create. Art has not always been a separate division of life left to ‘talented’ people. It was seen as a birthright. Just as a right to clean air and water. I think the activity of making art is for everybody but everybody shouldn’t be forced to agree with me! Painting, drawing, pottery etc. are not the only forms of art and it may take some experimenting to find a medium that suits. A medium where you can feel comfortable to explore technique. Yarn is that medium for me, but others may like cement, metal, needle and thread, clay, software, pencils, paper etc., etc.

So what art form will I introduce these young students to? Textiles of course. A form where technique, function and beauty can meet. We will do a 16 strand Japanese Kumihimo braid in wool.

All of the Curiousweaver Journals published 1994-1996 are now freely available on the Tutorials and Articles page.
I also have Issues 3,4, & 5 as back issues available posted to anywhere in Australia for $15.00 or to the rest of the world for $20.00 (Australian Dollars only via Paypal. Equivalent to $US15.30). Please email me with your postal details and I will send you a Paypal invoice (overseas customers) or payment details to Australian customers.

Here are the photos of the watermark fabric which was originally green and blue but now overdyed to create a more subtle cloth. I’m pleased with this cloth.. Being a silk it drapes beautifully.

I always have a bit of trouble with silk. After dyeing with Fibre Reactive dyes (Drimerene K) it looses its handle and becomes hard. I’ve tried boiling it in soapy water to get rid of any residue before dyeing but its not alot better. I then read that the stiff feel after weaving silk is normal and a few minutes in a warm dyer or lots of handling will soften it up. This worked and the silk fabric now has a soft, silky feel.

I’m now busily dyeing up my next three projects which will produce 15 scarves and stoles with various techniques. Two different types of woven shibori combined with pre-painted warps and a ridged warp-wise fabric. I’m also keen to use cross-dyeing and over-dyeing again as it produces such exquisite results.I’m using a bit of tencil again to see how it shapes up in the designs. In one of the warps I used a blue rayon yarn every 4th warp. This should bring another dimension to the dyeing and look of the textile.

Also check out Becky’s Vavstuga for mini video tutorials on weaving. They are very effective and informative way of presenting weaving techniques.

Sometimes things just go so right. My overdying day was a great success. I started with this horrible fabric which I have been stitching with a shibori thread. I then overdyed it with a blue and the colours blended and transformed with the shibori stitching in a most sensuous way. Also the networked circular design that I wove played with the shibori highlights.

It’s exciting times like these when I’m glad I’ve spent some time analysing colour and doing samples over the years. I produced an overdye chart using Kim Marie Bunke’s article of Handwoven November/December 1990. The article titled 48 Colors on 12 Dye Baths helped me to gauge what colours I could expect with the overdying.

Release of Curious Weaver Journals for Download or Purchase of
Back Issues

I have decided to provide the entire texts of the Curious Weaver Journals I published in 1994-96 to freely download. Some of the articles are already provided but I am now providing every issue. Issue 1 & 2 are here, with the others to follow. I also have Issues 3,4, & 5 as back issues available posted to anywhere in Australia for $15.00 or to the rest of the world for $20.00 (Australian Dollars only via Paypal. Equivalent to $US15.30). Please email me with your postal details and I will send you a Paypal invoice (overseas customers) or payment details to Australian customers.

The Manning Regional Art Gallery has been hosting a contemporary Australian basket making exhibition called wovenforms. I attended the opening yesterday. What a visual feast to see this collection.

Fifty Eight basket makers contributed to the exhibition, mostly Indigenous makers with non-indigenous makers from a variety of cultural heritage.

To me this collection was a weavers kaleidoscope into Australian history to date, cultural development and aspirations. Indigenous weavers were identified in the catalogue by their group, whereas for non-indigenous weavers it was only where they lived. This strongly signified the differences in approaches. One works within a social context in a group, the other in a solitary, individual context. One is seeking to preserve what defines them, the other to promote what defines them. One emphasizes the value of functionality, the other conceptual non-function.

The top basket is by Mavis Ngallametta from Aurukun, west Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. The other two baskets are by Jill Nganjmirra from Mamadawerre, Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. I have detailed the exquisite handle finishes here and there is a whole world of information on handles alone. These have been refined by the makers for new uses and needs for the baskets. Disappointingly, yet predictably, some of the traditional items such as eel traps are now woven for the ‘art market’ and are not functional. They need to be made from a stonger fiber such as Lawyer vine to actually catch an eel.

Baskets are such a humble art from. Mostly not considered art, I think because of their extreme vulnerability. They are so transient – they remind us too much of our own transience.

Here is my weaving from my previous entry enjoying a bit of outside activity on the clothes line.I’m reasonably happy with it and it will cheer me up on days when my confidence thermometer goes below zero!

This entry is a bit of blog/web pointing and raving…or as I have just learnt ‘cooling’. I’m new as a volunteer category editor at dmoz directory. Cooling is something I can’t do there but I can here on my own space.:-)

When I go looking at great textile blogs like Sara Lamb and The Keyboard Biologist I realise just how much energy I must lack! Theresa, The Keyboard Biologist has a great archive page which allows you to view all of her topics. Have a look at Scarves – really beautiful….and so productive. Her latest entry has knitting in a stainless steel/wool yarn. Forget about sheep – we will have to own mines instead.

Textilers are the most resourceful people. Have you noticed? And interested in anything inventive, functional and beautiful. By way of a very unexpexted hyperlinking adventure I came across Brenda Paternoster’s lacemaking site. Lacemaking is affiliated with weaving in many ways and she provides a great tutorial on making Paper Bobins. I think these will be useful for braiding/kumihimo perhaps – and perhaps a good project to get young students engaged, ready to start their textiles adventures.

As my favourite dye techniqes always include some type of ikat I was particularly interested in how to tie an ikat warp on a frame. This step-by-step tutorial will ensure a great patterned ikat warp, especially if it is taken directly to a backstrap loom and woven. The idea is leave no excuses for shifting the yarn after ikat dyeing. My simple designs shift a little, as seen in this series I am working on – the Passionflower series. I designed a loom controlled supplementary warp at the edges with a false satin for the body. I needed three separately weighted warps for the job, but it was straightforward beyond that.

I’m always impressed when I come across people who pursue their interests in life with creativity and zest. We are all involved with cooking because we have to eat to live. But Cathy at My Little Kitchen puts much more into her exquisite biscuits. Working through Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Cookies Cathy takes mouthwatering artistic photos of her homebaked creations accompanied by ‘reviews’ from her tasting friends. Really lovely.

Lastly [what a long blog entry today], I’m still drawing or trying to. This is a photo of my current project – a portrait of Dave and I at Penzance in England. When I can’t weave, I can always draw. A pencil is even allowed on a plane and is not considered a tool of violence like knitting needles.