As part of its commitment to the cultural wellbeing of the community, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, sponsors and plays host to a number of cultural and visual arts events, most notably the Biennial Art Festival.
Fibres Stanthorpe 2010

Stanthorpe comes alive in October 2010 with Fibres Stanthorpe!

Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery is proud to sponsor the first fibre event to be held in Stanthorpe. Sixty participants have the opportunity to work with five international fibre/ textile tutors in this intimate event organised and coordinated by reknowned Australian Textile Artist Glenys Mann of Fibre Arts Australia.

This event is scheduled from the 4th October – 9th October 2010
For further details and registration to particpate please go to www.fibresgeelong.viviti.com  and follow the links.

TUTOR AND WORKSHOP INFORMATION

              

Bob Adams, USA Discharged Landscapes

Bob likes to teach in a way that brings out the individual in each student. He doesn’t want to end up with a class of clones, believing instead that every student has their own unique way of working and a very personal feeling for what they’re seeking to achieve. He’s able to draw students out of their comfort zone and inspire them to take what they have to offer in their own direction. Bob fosters problem solving. Students inevitably face problems at some stage of the process and he want them to be able to work things through and come up with solutions. He feels most students don’t give themselves enough credit for their potential and want s them to develop on a very personal level, rather than being spoon feed. Group and individual critiques are always a feature of the class encouraging students to look, reflect and extract the learning they’ve had, and how to take it forward. Discharge techniques using bleach and Thiox on black or hand-dyed cloth have now become a hall mark of his style, which over the years has moved away from the early inspirations of life drawing and landscape, to a more abstract feel with an emphasis on color and line.  He doesn’t feel right when he’s not working and can’t be away from color, line, shape and problem-solving for very long.  In his art, he can lose himself.

Discharged Landscapes

In this 5 day class you will learn how to discharge using various methods. You will spend 3 days learning how to safely use the chemicals and various ways to discharge. We will cover the proper way to use bleach, Thiox and Formosol and the proper way to stop the destructive action. After three days, you will clear away the chemicals and bring out the sewing machines, take your newly formed discharged pieces and create your masterpiece, creating and developing them into a composition of new and exciting art work.

Helen Banzhaf

 Helen Banzhaf UK: Machine Embroidery: Painting with Stitches

 

Helen Banzhaf was born in LLanwrtyd Wells in mid-Wales. She attended Brighton College of Art and graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art with a First Class Honours Degree in Fashion & Textiles. Since 1990 Helen Banzhaf has been teaching in the Fashion Department at Lewisham College.The machine embroideries are worked on a domestic sewing machine, using 100% cotton threads on cotton calico. The pieces are framed in glass and soft wood frames, which she makes herself. When I first began making decorative textiles I had to have a real piece of ceramic in front of me as my inspiration.  Its shape, form and more often than not its colours, spurred me on with the design and its pattern.  I could re-create this three-dimensional piece in stitches.

Nowadays, most of my depicted ‘vessels’ don’t exist – they are figments of my imagination!  And what I’m finding most exciting at present, is that my initial design bears little resemblance to the finished embroidery; the patterns, shapes and colours change and evolve as I work the piece.

Machine Embroidery: Painting with Stitches Let Helen lead you on a journey from inspiration and the development of ideas through to the creation of your final works of art. You will be expertly guided throughout this hands-on course as you develop the skills that will enable you to master this highly enjoyable technique. You can then effectively apply these skills to create a wide range of beautiful and interesting embroidered textile pieces. Witness your ideas come to life in a multitude of stitches. Helen will provide source material which will include Art Deco ceramics; it was these which were the initial inspiration for her machine embroidery obsession and she still revisits them as subject matter. Students are welcome to bring their own artefacts to use as inspiration. Shapes, forms, colour and patterns will be themes for the embroideries. This course is suitable for students of all levels.   

Mary Crehan - When to stop (detail)      

 Mary Crehan UK: Footsteps and Journeys

Mary Crehan is an Irish textile artist and tutor living in the UK. An experienced teacher and organiser of community projects across the age ranges, she now works freelance in mixed media textiles.

Her current work revolves around aspects of history, memories and relationships. She is interested in creating personal narrative works using a combination of recycled fabrics, paper and hand stitching.

Mary is a member of the UK Embroiders Guild She holds City and Guilds level one and level two.

Footsteps and Journeys.

Students will be encouraged to explore personal ‘footsteps’ in their life and discover ways to express them in narrative textile pieces. Experimenting with photocopy transfer, rubbing, stamping and bonding can be fun and lead to new creative ways of expression. Looking at hand stitching possibilities will give balance and time fro contemplation. No experience is necessary other than that of being prepared to join in with your ‘story’. No material fess, small charge for handouts.

Polly Jacobs Giacchina - Birdhouses

 Polly Jacobs-Giacchina USA EXPRESSIONS IN TWINING

The view of art expressed by Polly Jacobs Giacchina is through sculptural forms and structures.  Weaving with natural materials allows the artist to respond to her surroundings and develop design ideas. The emphasis is on work inspired by the textures, colors and unique components of nature.  Reinterpreting and transforming natural materials creates a more meaningful complex form.

Polly’s sculptures and wall hangings are shown in galleries, museums and have been included in exhibitions in Europe.  She has been published in Fiberarts Magazine, American Craft Magazine and Craft Arts International, Basketry Traditions and Beyond and 500 Baskets.

EXPRESSIONS IN TWINING

Explore the interlacing basketry technique of twining.  We will twine with different materials to create a natural birdhouse and a uniquely designed “People Rattle”.  Pliable materials (supplied by instructor) will lend themselves to creating the twined shapes desired and experimentation with other natural materials will be discussed.  Those students with prior experience will be encouraged to experiment with other sculptural forms in combinations and groupings.   Participants will work at their own pace, and all levels of weavers are welcome.  The scale of the weaving material will change when we take twining to a smaller format to develop woven beads and brooches.  Discovery of the endless possibilities of twining will be our goal.

Sandy Webster - Curio boxes 2,3, 4

    SANDY WEBSTER, USA Idea to Form – a Master Class  

Sandy has been working as an artist in mixed media for many years. Her pieces are designed and made as a metaphor to memory and place. She works with found objects and makes her own plant fibre paper, that is manipulated with many ways to appear as something that it is not!

Sandy is constantly returning to Australia to be part of the Forum scene!

She lives in North Carolina. USA.

Idea to Form – a Master Class

This class is designed as an exploration of the path from idea to object. Students will bring form to concept and find their own unique voice in the making. We will begin with simple quickly-timed exercises that take less than twenty minutes and are designed to be a starting point for individual ideas that inspire a visual form. Using materials and techniques that are familiar and/or of interest to each student we will begin a body of work based on those concepts. Because of Sandy’s areas of expertise and the interests of many of her previous students in Australia, her suggestions for forms are books, altar pieces, screens, boxes, baskets and textiles ... any fibre based form that is appropriate for the concept and material choices of individual students. It is an opportunity to not only explore one’s own path but to witness the expressions of others. Sandy will use her time, knowledge and enthusiasm to encourage and instruct students who are embarking in new directions or revisiting earlier passions. Please contact Sandy at www.sandywebster.com  prior to class to discuss your area of interest, experience with materials/techniques and any questions you may have regarding the class. Open to all levels.

 

Australian Poetry Slam '10

Got something to say?
The search is on for Queensland's best spoken word post.

Speak, scream, howl, whisper or sing your original poem at the Australia Poetry Slam - Queensland heats - an electric live event where the audience is the judge!

Heat winners will compete in the in State finals at the State Library of Queensland on 22 October. Queenland's top two slam poets will then slug it out for the coveted title of Australian Slam Poet 2010 at the National Finals in Sydney.

Want to sharpen your words before they take flight? Come along to one of the free workshops before the slam. Booking are essential, call the number listed at your closet venue.

For more information and full heat details head to
www.slq.qld.gov.au/poetryslam


Stanthorpe- Stanthorpe Art Gallery: Weeroona Park,
Cnr Lock & Marsh Sts.
8th August at 1pm
Workshops @ Stanthorpe Art Gallery 07 4681 2141