Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

"Beach" tags for Tag Tuesday  Last weekend, I was very privileged to do a workshop with Belgium based artist, Jette Clover.  One of Jette's series of small works features postage stamps of famous people, so after the workshop I rediscovered my stash of stamps ( most of them still attached to envelopes). Fortunately for me, this fortnight's Tag Tuesday theme is " The Beach" which seems to be recurring theme for Australian stamps.  These collage tags have been assembled from torn bits of painted paper, magazine pages and stamps. I have called these tags "Winter Beach" as  the beach still looks as bright and the water as blue even  in winter here in Newcastle. Today's  winter maximum temperature was 16 degrees C with a clear blue sky and warm sunshine. ...with Jette Clover in fromt of her art work " Lives of Girls and Women" in  the STITCHED UP exhibition. 

"Heartbroken" by Nancy Crawford ( Canada)  Stitched Up  is an exhibition featuring 24 contemporary international and national textile artists on show at  The Lock Up  from Friday 23 June 2017 until 6 August 2017. It coincides with the 150-year anniversary of The Newcastle Industrial School’s opening; and is resulting from a partnership between The Lock Up and Timeless Textiles galleries. Stitched Up is co-curated by Anne Kempton (Creative Director Timeless Textiles Gallery) and fibre artist Wilma Simmons, both from Newcastle NSW. .  This exhibition conceptually provides a  voice  for the 193 girls who attended the Newcastle Industrial School, translated into contemporary fibre art. "Memory Cloths " (193) by Anne Kempton, Australia  The title  Stitched Up  is very apt in two ways… Firstly, each of the artworks has been stitched – mostly by hand for many hours – capturing the story of ‘The Girls’. The artists have found themselves dwelling on the

Having neglected Tag Tuesday for a month, I am making a comeback with a trio of tags for the current theme, selected by Wendy from the Design Team - please have a look at  the textural tags created by  the artistic friends at  Tag Tuesday . Here are my three....  Butterfly Collage  Tag - gelliplate print, wax ed cloth,, newspaper, tea bag, fabric  and buttons  Leaf Collage tag  - gelliplate print, wax  cloth, waxed and eco dyed paper, book page, tea bag, fabric and button  Owl Collage Tag  - gelliplate print, wax cloth, , newspaper, waxed and exodyed paper , tea bag, fabric  and buttons  I had actually started a tag for the previous"Animals" theme, and it is also textured with stitch, so I don't feel too bad about also including in this post.  Stitched Kangaroo Tag : Fabric -  applique, stitched and stamped;  collaged paper and fabric with an organza overlay. 

Neglecting my blog in the last month was one of the sacrifices I made for Wednesday's Children. Just a recap since it's been such a long time since I mentioned them.  Here is my submission for the exhibition "Stitched Up" - bringing to life the girls who were  placed in care at the Newcastle Industrial School 1867-71. I have now created 193 art dolls, made from sticks and strips of cloth. Wednesday’s child is full of woe (from a nursery rhyme c.1838) The stories of each of the girls in the Newcastle Industrial School and Reformatory   have been r researched by local historian, Jane Ison. Each story captured my heart....  Stick dolls seemed an appropriate way for me to honour the life of each of these girls and to compensate for lost childhoods.  I like to think if they had the opportunity they might have made little dolls from found materials - sticks and scraps of fabric, just as I enjoy making them 150 years later. These dolls are artistic representati