Tag: art

  • Pomo Basketmaking

    A new book for the library collection has been added. Pomo Basketmaking: a supreme art for the maker is a Californian publication from Naturegraph (1972. 1988 edition). Edited by Vinson Brown, this volume is a history of the basketmaker, Elsie Allen and an exploration of her work in the art of Pomo basketry. The book…

  • The colour “Giraffe”

    “La Belle Africaine” arrived in 1820s Paris and immediately became a sensation. She was a giraffe from Sudan, transported as a baby on the back of camels, shipped across the sea, and walked to court to be presented to the King of France: Charles X. As a giraffe had not been seen in France before…

  • The colour red

    Red is a striking colour with an ancient history when it comes to textiles. Most of us know about cochineal, the insects from which the colour carmine is obtained, but there are other ways to get the hue. In Europe, North Africa and the Near East, where madder was extensively used, red has gone in…

  • Tamara Kosianovsky

    Tamara Kostianovsky uses textiles to create sculpture and installations that comment on consumerism, violence and the environment. The Argentinian American artist repurposes discarded clothing into works that depict animals, birds, trees and plants. In one exhibition – Tree Stumps – she used her late father’s clothing to make evocative sculptures that reference not only the…

  • Colour workshop

    Today, Saturday, is the second workshop of the winter series. This class is about colour and I have made booklets with exercises to complete for the five participants. They include looking at colour wheels and choosing the colours for a project using complementary, analogous and monochromatic palettes, making yarn wraps using a reference image, finding…

  • Frances van Hasselt and mohair

    Frances van Hasselt is a South African producer of mohair products. Mohair has its origins in Central Asia where the goats produced fibres that were used domestically. The goats were transported to Turkey where they were kept as household animals to produce a precious product much in demand for royal garments. Now Angora goats can…

  • Colour workshop

    This coming Saturday there will be a workshop about colour at the studio in Greymouth. Colour can be daunting to some. It need not be! This small-group workshop will help with choosing colours for a project, using inspiration materials of different types, and art materials. You can learn how to make a colour palette to…

  • A visit North – part three

    This is the last blog post about the recent trip we took to Whangarei for the CTANZ symposium, after which we toured the central North Island. This part starts at New Plymouth where we spent a couple of days. New Plymouth/ Ngāmotu is a sizeable city of about 90,000 people. Home to Māori for centuries…

  • Yulie Urano

    Even though it is officially winter in Aotearoa New Zealand, visitors are still coming to the studio. This past few weeks there have been quite a few visitors. Some are newly local, some came from far away (Australia, USA and Ireland). One of the latest, a couple from the United States who have recently moved…

  • A visit North

    For the past almost-couple of weeks we have been travelling Te Ika-a-Māui/ the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The purpose of the trip was to attend the Costume and Textiles Symposium Aotearoa New Zealand in Whanganui, a UNESCO City of Design. CTANZ symposia are always great fun and informative. After all, what could be…