Skip to main content

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #4 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

 

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #4 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape 

Background :
This year, 2024, ATASDA ( Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association) is celebrating its Golden Anniversary. The Collaborative Golden Cape is a celebratory garment representing 50 years of creativity in textile arts.
Members of ATASDA have joined together to create a beautiful cape comprising of 50 art panels inspired by 50 past ATASDA artworks. Each contribution to the Cape is a personal response to its corresponding historic artwork and its story. The Golden Cape, embellished with these beautiful cameos of textile art and surface design, will travel and be displayed throughout Australia.

Parrwang: 
Jo-Anne Britt drew inspiration for her contribution to the cape from the 1987 work by Bobbie Winger . This was a dramatic wearable textile artwork, entitled , "Dancing Cloak for a Currawong". The limited colour palette and the "feathery" form of the cloak really appealed to Jo-Anne and it's easy to see this attraction, even from this archived photo. 
Dancing Cloak for a Currawong : Bobbie Winger 1987 

Living on Wadawurrung land, Jo-Anne chose to interpret Bobbie's work by featuring the parrwang (magpie). The black and white might have been obvious, but Jo-Anne took the concept further and the colours she has included in her palette reflect the Australian magpie's eggs and the vast  blue sky as contrasts. I think these are  brilliant choices which add to the parrwang's narrative. 

Parrwang : Jo-Anne Britt 2023 

This completed panel for the collaborative cape shows careful consideration of materials and techniques and attention to detail before the abstraction of the parrwang wing feathers. 
Jo-Anne researched and sketched the parrwang wings, transferring the shapes onto silk fabric. Further details were created with fabric paints  and free machine stitching. 
When the entire piece was stitched, Jo-Anne cut shapes again and re-assembled an embellished abstract interpretation of the parrwang wing feathers. 

This is a such thoughtful textile artwork which so aptly celebrates the golden anniversary. Because the parrwang (magpie) is a highly adaptable bird that can thrive in a variety of environments, this has made it a symbol of adaptability and resilience. Jo-Anne's interpretation shows not only her skill and creativity but also her love and respect of her natural surroundings and indigenous Dreamtime.  This artwork  looks stunning as part of the Golden cape ( see lower right in the photo) 

Collaborative Golden Cape ( front)  ATASDA 2023-2024 



Other stories in this series.  Please check them out if you haven't already. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Stitched Gardens and Magpies

  Magpies are always around  in our garden , strutting, poking about for insects and having a splash in the birdbath.  They often call if the water is at a low level in the birdbath until one of us replenishes the water supply. It is no coincidence then that they have figured prominently as part of  recent little works in the stitched garden series.  I also like to include human figures in my gardens, especially taken from old photos of family members. This "impressionist ' stitched garden features  my husband's great aunt,  Sarah Ann Bath.  I like to think of her in this abundant garden , when in reality,  she grew up  in the early 1900s in rather cramped living conditions in Birmingham UK  See more and read more about my stitched gardens - other posts:  How does your garden grow with stitch?  How does your garden grow with crayons? 
Post a Comment
Read more

Dotee Divertissement

Dotee by Wendy Anderson  What is a "dotee' doll? ...  A dotee is a mini art doll, meant to be traded or swapped. The dolls 6 inches /15 cm tall or smaller, but the hanger or tail can exceed that measurement. They have a face, but do not require arms or legs. Dotees have a loop for hanging, and come with tails (tails are fibres, ribbon, charms or other string-y things that add to the theme of the doll). Dotees can be made from a variety of materials - fabric, felt, paperclay, yarn, beads, gourds or any other material/media that you can make a doll from. Most dotee makers add buttons, beads, sequins, embroidery, or charms to embellish the doll. Dotee dolls by Wilma Simmons At the February meeting of Gumnut Dollies Newcastle, the group activity was to revisit these little dolls, which were very popular for doll swaps around the world about 10 years ago. As our theme for 2020 is The Twenties, the little flapper girl face buttons were a good start....  Dot...
Post a Comment
Read more

How does your garden grow with crayons?

How does your garden grow with crayons? With a little bit of imagination and lots of stitches!  Why does your garden grow with crayons? Because that was the challenge of the monthly assignment of my creative embroidery course.  It was a surprise to open my package and discover a packet of twelve coloured crayons, some white cotton fabric and lots of coloured stranded embroidery cotton. The task was to create a stitched garden, after colouring the fabric with crayons. I have always loved the impressionist Monet gardens, so I approached this task happily.... until I realised how long it takes to fill a space with stitches! Crayon applied to cotton fabric with texture ( rubber stamp under the fabric) - Empress Wu Designs 2015  Stitching the "distant" spaces first - French knots, Lazy Daisy stitch, fly stitch, straight stitch. Empress Wu  Designs 2015  Detail  1 - Crayon Garden - Empress Wu Designs 2015 (French knots, fly stitch, straight ...
Post a Comment
Read more