Broadstrokes Accountability

My textile group Broadstrokes has set a challenge for the year. It is very individualised in that we each chose what we want the group to hold us accountable to in order to meet the challenge and actually do the work.

I chose to focus on vessels. Some I had started some in my mind still and some I hope will emerge from reading, writing and questioning as the year goes on. They may vary and merge into art dolls as vessels, they may be journals, ledgers, sketchbooks or they may be in the form of a quilt to wrap oneself in, who knows.

But here are the three I have made this year, roughly one a month.

This first one is made of ecodyed tissue paper. It is very fragile. After I had dyed and dried it I painted it with a solution of watered down PVA glue. It was then draped over a bowl and left to dry fully. I have in it a collection of found stones, gumnuts, banksia pods and leaves. It is ephemeral and will gradually tear and collapse.

The next one is made from a piece of ecodyed woollen blanket gifted to me by my friend @annamariamaysvermeer.

I have stitched in pink threads, silk and cotton to echo the pink of the original blanket stitched edge.

The next one is using a very fine piece of ecodyed silk. It was sent to me by Atasda NSW as part of a members challenge. Had to use the silk somehow. Also we had to include paper, which here is a piece of ecodyed brown wrapping paper between two layers of silk giving body, structure and strength. It had to include metal , so I attached a metal ring I had amongst my hoarded things. It also had to have a particular ‘squiggle’ stitched on. This s is included on the other side in a hand dyed Valdani thread.