Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Matriarch? Definitions of ‘matriarch” don’t differ much, but the following one suits my purpose …. A matriarch is a willing protector, a nurturer, and a leader of her family and community. She is a role model, particularly for women, and a fierce advocate for causes close to her heart. She is empowered and makes it her job to empower others. She is open-minded and utilizes her wisdom for the good of all.   ( from https://medium.com › a-matriarch-in-the-making-52b42)   The debate whether a matriarch is the exact opposite of patriarch delves deeper into power relationships and the established   dominance of gender in governing bodies.   I   will not be subscribing to that serious debate in this blog as I just wanted to make an art doll which has a story. The Matriarch I created is an amalgam of European and First Nations concepts of matriarchs: Guardian   of Nature Protector of Environment Healer and Nurturer Cultural Keeper Decision Maker...

  Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016  Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

I often use interesting plants as my inspiration and Bush Lily is no exception. This is a wet felted art doll with a polymer clay face. The face has been moulded from one of my own original sculptures and yes, it does have a  rather sad  and glum look.  No wonder, Nature currently has been taking a battering from  extreme climate events.  It is no secret that one of my favourite plants is the Gymea Lily . Botanically known as  Doryanthes excelsa, the gymea lily  is a flowering plant  found in the  coastal areas of New South Wales . They grow very well around Sydney and surrounding areas like the Newcastle region where I live.  It has sword-like leaves more than 1 metre long and it grows a flower spike up to 6 metres high.   The body of the doll was wet felted first as a hollow tube, with a plastic resist so there are no seams in the shape. Different coloured slivers of wool were introduced into the last layer of wool to bl...

Textile Towers - left to right - Perseverance, Patience, Prudence  Odyssey Within is the theme of a current exhibition I am showing with my friend, Bobbi Oliver at Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle, NSW. Our exhibition is a celebration of  the journey we have taken as individuals and as artist friends over the 15+ years we have known each other. My art journey started with beads and clay, followed by embroidery and textile art, and currently I would say I work in mixed media. Over the last few years, I have also included my love of literature and photography into the mix - even though I would hardly call myself a literary scholar nor a photographer! And so, the textile/mixed media towers became an idea in my head and for over a year, I have been thinking about them and  planning them, and all of a sudden, when I wanted to make towers as homages to Homer (the classical Greek poet)  for this exhibition,  I had a brain freeze - nothing! I procrastinated...

from Soft Scape -  Olivia Parsonage I have been a big fan of Olivia Parsonage's work since I discovered her soft sculptures a few years ago, and  since revisiting the  wonderful wall narrative Olivia created for her exhibition at the Newcastle Art Space in 2014, I  have become more enamoured with her people and sense of whimsy too.  Last week, I went to Olivia's exhibition at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery.....  Soft Scape  is an inviting space of colour and texture created by a multitude of fabric scraps. These remnant pieces, often small and destined for disposal, are made important and useful by becoming part of a bigger picture. The different patterns, textures and colours of the fabric appeal to the senses of sight and touch and interaction with the work is encouraged on the floor space, with the movable blocks. ( from the MRAG website) from Soft Scape - Olivia Parsonage  It was exciting to participate in Soft Sca...

Rose Keemun, Masala Chai, Lady Grey - art dolls.  In my exhibition I have a series of art dolls/mixed media sculptures which personify teas. Here are three... not quite finished but just needing some finishing touches. All the fabrics are either tea dyed, overdyed with tea, or dipped in tea. Rose Keemun tea is Keemun black tea with rose petals - a lovely delicate blend . Masala Chai is black tea brewed with a mixture of Indian spices and herbs - green cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, ground cloves, ground ginger and black peppercorn. Lady Grey is a tea scented with oil of bergamot, with hints of lemon peel and orange peel oil. It is a very "young" tea, first being produced for the Scandanavian market by Twinings in 1994. Exhibition : " Leaves of Distinction" 18 September - 12 October 2014 Timeless Textiles, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle East. NSW Opening 6pm - 8pm  THURSDAY 18 September. 2014

tea bag vest in progress...   It is now 47 days until the opening of my "textile and mixed media art " exhibition - so really I have only about 40 days left to finish pieces. Am I panicking ? YES!  So much still left to create.... Today I am putting the final hand stitching to a tea bag vest for one of the sculptures and sorting and stitching my collection of tea bags. tea bags being sorted.   Last weekend, I scoured second hand shops for the last of the props and found some fairly ugly tea pots,some beautiful teapots and all with character. I am sure you're wondering what I'm going to do with them - watch this space! A "cosy" of teapots? This close to exhibition deadline, I have now taken over the spare bedroom for finished items for the exhibition , cataloguing as I go... It is still rather bare, but I have packed up a box of samples, as the exhibition will also feature a glass case of  experiments, samples, drawings, plans and protot...

During the Easter weekend, I have been doing some" catch up" work, completing some orders and finishing a little art doll I started a week ago as well as eating a chocolate Easter egg or two and going out to dinner  and movies with friends  - perfect weekend!  Here is my little Forest Friend, rescuing a nest of eggs at Easter... and here are the basic steps: 1. Have a good friend to inspire, motivate and help... Bobbi (Lambo Art) explaining anatomy and armature 2. Make an armature from wire and check the proportions against an anatomy chart. Wire armature, secured with insulation tape.   3. Flesh out the armature by covering with lots of  aluminium foil. Armature covered with foil   4. Make foil bases/ armatures for head, hands and feet Foil armatures  5. Cover and sculpt with polymer clay. I used Sculpey" Living Doll" and I made two pairs of hands because the first lot looked like lobster claws!   Cure in an oven at 130 ...