Tag: craft
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Kate Sheppard
Kate Sheppard was a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand. In 1847 Kate Malcolm was born in Liverpool, England and migrated in her twenties to Christchurch Otautahi where she married Walter Sheppard, a merchant. In 1885 Kate Sheppard joined the fight for liquor prohibition by becoming a member of the new Women’s…
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The shape of wool
Fire! The word sometimes is warming and comforting, and sometimes it is terrifying, especially when it comes to the power fire has to destroy lives and livelihoods. In 2021 a fire ripped through a large area of land in the Xhariep District of the Free State of South Africa, destroying, amongst others, a merino wool…
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Madras check
The familiar sight of Madras check has a long heritage, and has its origins in everyday casual wear. Born in what was Madras, now Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the hand-woven cotton cloth was originally dyed with vegetable colours that ran together when washed, giving a blended look to the soft fabric. It…
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Liz Mitchell supports wool
The New Zealand fashion designer, Liz Mitchell (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) , is looking at a revolution for wool. Over lockdowns Liz started to felt with wool and now is on a campaign to increase the appreciation for New Zealand’s strong wool production. You can see the results of her experiments,…
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New additions to the collection
This week four new additions to the studio collection have arrived. Bought at auction, the pieces are by Malcolm Harrison, Penelope Read and Laura Vassilis. Malcolm Harrison was a well-known textile artist and fashion designer, best known for his stitched artworks. This sales page shows some of those and also the art he created. The…
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Men of the Trees
Trees feature heavily in this week’s blog. Perhaps it is because the first part of the week was spent planting new trees where the studio-on-the-hill is nearly complete, perhaps it is because of the less-than-judicious pruning and cutting out of invasive trees on the land, or perhaps it is just the zeitgeist. Whatever it is,…
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Calling all West Coast Creatives
An Arts and Cultural Sector Networking Meeting will be held on 9th November in the Left Bank Art Gallery.
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Quentin Garel – In The Flesh
Quentin Garel, the French sculptor, works with wood and bronze in a show at Cromwell Place in London. The sculptor is showing his trademark large pieces, portraits and depictions of animals and, in a recent departure, people, first carved in wood and then cast in bronze. The completed sculptures show their wooden origins and in…
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Textiles of the Mbuti
Over in the northeastern rainforest, the Ituri, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo live the Mbuti people who make unique barkcloth. Pounded out by men and decoratively planted by women, these cloths are worn or used to hang inside huts. If they are worn for ceremonial purposes they are called Pongo. This example in…
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Harata Rewiri Tarapata
This woven portrait of Harata Rewiri Tarapata is derived from a painting by Vera Cummings, a version of which is in the National Collection at Te Papa. Harata Rewiri Tarapata is a significant figure in Maori history, as you can read on the link above. The painter, Goldie, Vera Cummings’ teacher, also painted her portrait.…