Cover up Exhibition

A few months ago I was asked to be part of the Cover Up exhibition at the Russell Henderson Gallery at Central Stories in Alexandra. This is being held in association with The Wool Away Exhibition – A History of Sheep and Sheep Stations in Central Otago.

One of the great joys for me of being a working craftsperson, is the challenge and enjoyment of creating pieces for exhibition. These pieces are a labour of love and created for the sheer pleasure of making them.

I had a few ideas of what to create, but no cohesive theme. Odd how inspiration comes at the most unlikely time and unexpected source. I received a message from an old friend from my school days, who I hadn’t had contact with in over thirty years. Turns out he is an extremely talented sculptor, and while perusing his website, Michael Mandelc.com , his series of beautiful bird sculptures and the form of his latest public sculpture, “Phantom Falls” made me wonder how would I express the notion of flight in weaving.

These three wraps are my loose interpretation of flight, birds and gardens.

All three wraps are hand dyed and woven with a fine merino wool boucle.
Boucle is a yarn made with loops of similar size held down by an anchor or core yarn.

Each wrap consists of five strips, individually dyed and woven, then joined randomly along their length to form a stable garment.

I trimmed each wrap with hand made flowers. These are easy to make and burning the edges of the fabric gave the flowers a lovely three dimensional effect. Beading in the centre finished the flowers, and they are all linked by curling satin ribbon held in place with beads.

The Cover Up exhibition also features the work of Svetlena Bickley, a very talented lace knitter and the beautiful hand dyed yarn colours designed by Marnie Kelly from Touch Yarns. I wove these yarns into five throws for Touch Yarns, reflecting the shades on the colour wheel.

The Wool Away and Cover Up exhibitions opened on the 20th March with over 100 people attending the opening. It runs through until the 4th May.