Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Now Open: Brooching the Subject #3 2019 Brooching the Subject is a competition and exhibition of textile/fibre art brooches.   This year we are welcoming submissions from all fibre and textile artists online.  Find our competition details and submission portal online now.  Submissions close soon. The actual brooches are not needed yet, but the details of the submission are   https:// timelesstextiles.com.au/ brooching-the-subject-2019/ Entries close end of February , so  please  submit your entry today! UPDATE - closing date extended to 8 March  Image: Brooching the Subject #2 entries from 2018

"Remembering" - Wood, Clay and Cloth Sculpture : Wilma Simmons  Thank you to all who voted in the  recent People's Choice - Brooching the Subject Competition  held at Timeless Textiles Gallery ( Newcastle NSW Australia) . Special thanks if you happened to vote for my entry, 'Remembering',  a wall brooch pictured above. The winner with the most votes online was a beautiful felted piece, another wall brooch, entitled "  Papevero (Italian Poppy) " by Becky Williams. Papevero : Becky Williams from  https://timelesstextiles.com.au/past-exhibitions/ The competition in the gallery was judged by renowned Queensland artist, Sylvia Watt - Here is  a video of what Sylvia decided and  said about the brooches...  1. Water Guardian : Alysn Midgelow-Marsden ; 2. Amelia : Judith Bee ; 3. We are Connected - Trudi Nisbet  All of the brooches can be viewed on the Timeless Textiles Gallery website here . Congratulations to all the artists ...

Here is a video of Artist Sylvia Watt announcing the winners of the  handmade brooch, "Brooching the Subject"competition. Sylvia had the very difficult job of judging the competition.  Before the announcement, I chose Olivia Parsonage's  wall brooch, "how do you get, how do you get to Parry Street?" as my favourite amongst the 120+ brooches in the exhibition, and purchased it. Now I am so happy I will be the owner of the first prize winning brooch, especially as there were many at the exhibition opening vying for Olivia's work. Olivia has long been one of my favourite artists and you can read other articles I have written about her here and here.  Thank you also  to Sylvia for the generous mention of both my entries, "Silver Lines" and "Bees" amongst the commended. This exhibition is only open at Timeless Textiles until Sunday 2pm, so hope you  are able to see these beautiful small works of art.

Brooching the Subject Competition at Timeless Textiles Gallery - Viewers' Choice.... online.  Would you like to be in the running to win this beautiful brooch created especially by Ines Seidel (German fibre artist) ...make your choice from over 100 brooches   here  . 

More than 100 fibre artists from across Australia and the world will compete for prizes and glory in the inaugural ‘Brooching the Subject’ exhibition at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery in July. The artists have been busy creating the wild and wonderfully creative brooches, using many techniques – beading, stitching, embroidery (hand or machine), felting, painting, pinning and more. The contributing artists have all brought very individual approaches to creating these brooches – to be worn or hung on the wall –resulting in more than 100 unique works that will not only create a spectacular gallery display but also impress the ‘Brooching the Subject ' judge, Brisbane-based fibre artist Sylvia Watt. If you love brooches, don’t miss this playful ‘Brooching the Subject’ exhibition, showing for one week only between 12-17 July 2016. All brooches will be for sale and there will be a people's choice competition online.  My entries are one wearable brooch and one crazy...

On the second Saturday in January, Manitou Springs in Colorado, USA, hosts the  Great  Fruitcake Toss.   This competition is based on the idea that fruitcakes are very dense, weighty hard cakes - unwanted Christmas gifts which can be  readily sacrificed   and in fact, thrown away. By that date, I know that our Christmas cakes would definitely be consumed so I am not sure if it is a sporting event our family could qualify for.  However,  Manitou Springs, a small town of approximately 5000 people, has organised the tournament since 1995. During the competition, fruitcakes are thrown, hurled, catapulted and cannoned into the air using a range of inventive devices. The high-powered equipment used in recent years has sent fruitcakes souring to distances "beyond measurement." Lewis said in 2013, one official distance was recorded as "destination unknown." The record hand toss  with a 2 lb cake  (1 kg cake ) is 415 feet (126.5 metres ), ...