Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

  Connecting and Interpreting : Story #6 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape  Background : The Golden Cape is a collaborative project for ATASDA members and it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ATASDA in 2024. 50 present day members have  received  an image of one of 50 yesteryear members artworks, to use as a muse, to create new artwork based on the past. Inspiration can come from textures, colours, style, design, subject, culture or history of the original artwork.  The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable .  The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.  Angela Liddy drew inspiration from Maz Beetson's 2007 work "Fire Regrowth"  for her contribution to the Golden Cape.  Angela used  a traditional Korean technique "joomchi ' in her work.  Joomchi is a 500-year-old paper-making technique that  uses water to seal...

  Connecting and Interpreting : Story #5 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape  Background : The Golden Cape is a collaborative project for ATASDA members and it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ATASDA in 2024. 50 present day members have  received  an image of one of 50 yesteryear members artworks, to use as a muse, to create new artwork based on the past. Inspiration can come from textures, colours, style, design, subject, culture or history of the original artwork.  The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable .  The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.  ATASDA  member Susan Pepper chose an original work from the 2014 exhibition as her inspiration for her Golden cape contribution.  Elizabeth Robert's Ferris Wheel featured a play of circular light and movement within a subdued colour palette.  Susan Pepper's new work ref...

  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 reall...

  Connecting and Interpreting : Story #2 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape The  Golden Cape  is a new collaborative project for ATASDA members. 50 present day members will each receive an image of one of 50 yesteryear members artworks, to use as a muse, to create new artwork based on the past. Inspiration can come from textures, colours, style, design, subject, culture or history of the original artwork.  (from   https://atasda.org.au/50-years-of-atasda)  The second story in this series highlighting the narratives behind the creative stitching on the contributions to the ATASDA  Collaborative Golden  Cape is a topical and poignant social commentary.  As I contemplate what happens after the disappointing defeat of "The Voice " referendum, I think of the word   ‘Makarrata’, a multi-layered Yolŋu word understood as the coming together after a struggle. It involves truth telling. A beautiful response by Karen Rivers, ...

'Imitation is the highest form of flattery" - or is it? In art, there is always speculation about how much you are influenced by another artist's work .... can we measure  the amount of inspiration,  interpretation , collaboration or outright copying in an art work? What makes an art work truly original?   Let's not get into the discussion of copyright and the grey areas of   appropriation, imitation, and plagiarising.   Perhaps there are not so many questions when the medium used  is different from the original or when you are in the business of making reproductions.  (like my Van Gogh socks pictured above) ?  Why has this topic been on my mind ?  In a recent textile art challenge, set by ATASDA ( Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association), current members were asked to respond to artworks created by members from past  years , to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the group in 2024. Each of the small artwork...