Category: Textiles
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Hélène Kuhn Ferruzzi
Venice has long been known for its music, art and artists. In the narrow route along a canal that leads past Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery of European and American art is a small shop with windows that tell of the artistic eye of Hélène Kuhn Ferruzzi. Enchanting and wondrous, this shop is a destination for the…
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Venice and the Biennale (Part One)
Taking place in the beautiful city of Venice with its picturesque canals, boats and bridges as well as its plethora of fine buildings, the Biennale 2024 is thought-provoking and surprising. Spread across the city, the main venues of the exhibition are the Arsenale and Giardini, the former a naval shipyard and the latter, as the…
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Home again
We are home again after our overseas trip and what a trip it was! Over the next few weeks I shall share some of the exciting things we saw in Venice at the Art Biennale, in London, Shetland, and Athens. You can see a few of the things we have seen in the slideshow at…
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Susanna Bauer’s crocheted leaves
Susanna Bauer, the UK based artist who stitches and crochets leaves, has published a new monograph. “IN LEAF”, published by 5 Continents Editions, celebrates the fragility of nature and its interconnections through the threads with which the artist works. You can see some of the sculptures here. To learn more about the artist follow this…
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Lobola – negotiating an African wedding
Thank you to our South African reader who sent this in to share. In Africa, weddings are often marked by a “bride price” – a payment that signals the negotiations for the joining together of two families. Lobola is a cultural practice that differs across the continent, and in South Africa it is often part…
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Conversation and Cloth – Hokitika
The West Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand is full of history and tales. In the middle of the Southern Winter, as the world turns and seasons change, a star cluster rises in the sky. This is known in New Zealand as Matariki, a shortened version of “Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea” (the eyes of the…
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A tapa sampler
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Aotearoa’s national museum, has a unique taonga: a book of tapa samples. This book, rather grandly entitled “A Catalogue of the different specimens of cloth collected in the three voyages of Captain Cook, to the Southern hemisphere : with a particular account of the manner of the…
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Can indigenous knowledge help mathematics?
A university in Australia, the Australian National University, has developed a course in mathematics that includes teaching about Indigenous Knowledge. For anyone interested in mathematics, particularly where the arts are concerned – see the read more section below – a course that includes this kind of knowledge is invaluable. There are many ways of explaining…
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The Coast Salish Woolly Dog
The Pacific Northwest of Canada and the United States has a long tradition of weaving practised by the Coast Salish people. Many readers might be familiar with the blankets and cloaks that incorporate colour and pattern distinctive to the region. What you may not know is that some of those pieces might have been made…
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Of shearing and songs
In April 1956, the magazine Te Ao Hou,offered an article to its readership about Tuini Ngāwai, the Māori musician, teacher, shearer and cultural ambassador. Tuini Moetū Haangū Ngāwai was born in 1910 and survived her twin, Te Huinga, to become one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most well-known and respected songwriters. She was also an accomplished…