Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

This time last year was a frantic time of preparing for the "Stitched Up" exhibition opening at "The Lock Up" Newcastle, NSW , Australia.  Here is a beautiful visual record of the memorable experience of being involved in this exhibition and honouring 193 previously forgotten girls from The Newcastle Industrial School 1867-1871.  Thanks to co curator, Anne Kempton from Timeless Textiles Gallery,  Nancy Crawford for the narration of this video ( Nancy is one of the featured artists in this exhibition ) and Konrad Breuers for the video imagery.  Thank also to all the artists who participated in this project and to Jane Ison, whose research made this project possible and real.  Wilma Simmons ( Co-curator, Stitched Up ) 

STITCHED UP is now in its third week of exhibition and breaking all records of visitors - such an overwhelming response - so it is inevitable that a few people have had their photos taken with Wednesday's children,  the stick doll installation.... First of all, Ben, a member of the amazing installation team at The Lock-Up. Thanks for taking such care installing 'the girls' - the digital laser level worked wonders and did I hear you talking to a few them?  Ben from the  installation team The Lock-Up  Wednesday's children up on the wall.  Then, of course , my own family - not all positive critiques, but you can't win them all!   Many of my friends have been really supportive.... they have even visited a few times. Here are some of my Rotary friends on the opening night. Members of the Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland - Clarice, Cia, Sandy, Wilma, Christine   Unexpected visitors even dropped by las...

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 repres...

Wednesday's child is full of woe...  In this ongoing series about the inmates of the Newcastle Industrial School 1867-1871, I have been sharing the progress of my proposed art installation for the "Stitched Up" project and exhibition. I have previously written about the background story on  March 1   and then a couple of weeks later on  March 16   about the process.I am using to create 193 stick dolls representing the girls who were at the school during those four years. Please refer to these previous posts to put everything into perspective  I am happy to report that since then, I have made more progress. Today, I am sharing more of the process, so that by the end of this series, these posts will serve as a tutorial as well as information about the project. In the last post, I ended with the sticks at the stage pictured below.... Sticks collected from the bush - covered with aluminium foil, two way stretch fabric and then cotto...

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons   The work for the "Stitched Up " Project  continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood  Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours.  Trimmed and cut if necessary  Ends sealed with matte sealing solution.  Drying  - solution goes on white but dries clear.  First wrapping - foil to create a body shape  Second wrapping - stretch fabric.  Third wrapping - fabric strips  Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to ...

Wednesday's child is full of woe.. ..  As on ongoing blog story, I will tell you about the many Wednesday children who were "housed" in the Industrial School in Newcastle , NSW, Australia between 1867 - 1871 and how their stories are being retold this year  to mark 150 years since this school began.  Background Summary . ..  The Newcastle Industrial School was established on 6 August 1867 in the former Military Barracks on the Newcastle Government Domain.  The school for females was established under the  Industrial Schools Act  1866.    From 1869 the site was shared with the Newcastle Reformatory School for Females. . It was Australia's first industrial school for girls; that is, an institution defined by legislation and paid for by the government as a place of detention for children charged with neglect, wandering, street-trading or being 'uncontrollable'. It used the convict-built Military Barracks building.   From 1869 the s...