...a piece of string...

...a piece of string... curated by Dr. Al Munro 4 to 29 August 2015

...a piece of string... curated by Dr. Al Munro 4 to 29 August 2015

Textiles are ubiquitous... they are our tea towels, our footy socks and our great Aunt’s floral curtains. Textiles also mark rites of passage: birthday dresses, wedding gowns, school uniforms. But textiles have also been at the centre of some of the most important concepts maths and science. The word line - one of the most fundamental units of Euclidean geometry - is derived from the Latin linea or linen, recounting the string used in ancient times to measure parcels of land. And the nautical unit for measuring speed - knots - refers to the knotted rope which was used to calculate how fast a boat was travelling prior to mechanical devices.

And it is precisely because of this combination of everyday-ness and fundamental spatial qualities that textiles provide artists with a rich ground for exploration. ...a piece of string... presents the work of Jacqueline Bradley, Kirsty Darlaston, Lucy Irvine, Melinda Le Guay, Jemima Parker, and Al Munro to demonstrate the diversity of artistic possibilities offered by textile-based art media. These are artists who engage with textile forms in order to test the boundaries of art/craft and to work with the specific material and cultural associations of fibre. The exhibition points to the diversity of current textile art practice and alludes to the endless possibilities a single ball of string might provide...

Installation view ...a piece of string... 2015. Jacqueline Bradley, ‘Love Mittens’, ‘Boatdress Mutoscope’, ‘Travelling Shoes’.

Jacqueline Bradley Artist Statement Jacqueline Bradley has exhibited nationally and internationally, and has been recipient of prizes, residencies and awards, including the Rooms Artist in Residency (Newfoundland Canada) and the Harris and Hobbs Small Sculpture Prize, 2014.

The works in A piece of string demonstrate Bradley’s focus on physical and emotional relationships with the outdoors as articulated through wearable sculpture. Travelling shoes show a pair of ladies shoes; well-worn, and linked with a handle. These shoes begin a poetic and tactile dialogue, hinting at a long journey requiring endurance and ingenuity. In Boatdress Mutoscope a series of photographs show the artist running into a river in an inflatable, floral boatdress, protection for a voyage yet to be taken.

The hazy blur of grass at the finger tips of Love Mittens is reminiscent of the unmown corners of nature strips in Bradley’ home of Canberra. Each work is a link between idea and physical form, making tangible the complexities and misconceptions involved in adapting to and negotiating outdoors environments in Australia.

Kirsty Darlaston, ‘Hand Eye Coordination’ 2014, animation

Kirsty Darlaston Artist Statement During a year-long residency at the School of Computer Sciences, ANU, I collaborated with Professor Tamas (Tom) Gedeon, Adjunct Professor Richard Jones, and PhD students Dr Sabrina Caldwell and Martin Henschke, whose research uses vision and gesture mapping technologies. After participating in an experiment using eye-gaze mapping technology I became obsessed with a graphic representation of my eyes looking at a photograph. The movements that the eye-gaze software recorded seemed to always be straight with jerky, sharp intersections, never curved or caressing. The muscles that pull the eyes in these quick movements are some of the strongest in the body.

I began to think about the stretch of vision, the eye pulling from one point to the next. The word saccade, meaning the quick simultaneous movement of the eyes between points of fixation, or seeing, has its roots in the words ‘to pull’. Utilising a gaze diagram of my own eye movement I stretched thread between pins to translate the movements through the handmade as a way to understand what was happening. I began to explore animation when the textiles processes of pinning and embroidery needed a temporal dimension to explore the eyes in movement, as the gaze is rarely in repose. The long process of pinning the threads up to take over 500 photos highlights incredible speed with which the eyes can take in the world.

This work was developed during an Australian National University Vice-Chancellor’s College Artist Fellows Scheme residency at the Research School of Computer Science.

Lucy Irvine, ‘Being many things’ 2015, irrigation piping, cable ties, steel, paint, 140 x 90 x 85cm

Lucy Irvine Artist Statement My work engages with complexity by creating the opportunity for a sensorial, phenomenological experience of it: expanding upon the question of what complex knowing can be.

I present my woven sculptures less as metaphorical models and more as form of emergent knowledge in their own right. I juxtapose dynamic organic forms with industrially produced utilitarian materials that manage to transcend their original function through their use in the process of weaving. Created within the parameters of an immersive process, each incremental cable tie stitch and each minute shift in the alignment of piping or cord, can thus be understood as responsive rather than working to a predetermined design or concept: a physical line of enquiry that embodies complex interrelations.

Melinda Le Guay, ‘Red’, ‘Black’, ‘Orange’ 2012, ink and gesso on calico, 23 x 26cm

Melinda Le Guay Artist Statement Using process as an end and a means, and allowing for elements of human error, vigilant hand-eye co-ordination will underpin the performative nature of the work reflecting rhythm and movement.

Al Munro, ‘Homage to the Everyday (Indigo)’ 2015, installation view, various yarns

Al Munro Artist Statement Al Munro’s series ‘Homage to the Everyday (Indigo)’ pays tribute to the beauty and significance of the everyday – both in terms of household objects and vernacular textile practices. These objects and practices speak of repeat encounters, quiet interactions, deep and complex relationships developed over time. The works also references the paintings of Giorgio Morandi whose calm, patient attention to painting a small set of ordinary objects throughout his career demonstrates the possibility of finding infinite interest and beauty in the commonplace. In Munro’s crocheted textiles, the forms speak of the time of the handmade, the repetition of daily routine echoed in the rows of stitches, and the soft contours giving quiet voice to the ebb and flow of the everyday. In this series she employs shades of blue, some hand-dyed with indigo and some commercially dyed blue yarns. This colour reflects Munro’s recent Australia Council residency in Japan and her interest in indigo as the colour of everyday Japanese textiles during the Edo Period.

Jemima Parker, ‘undefined objects’ 2015, hand-printed paper, linen & cotton, sewing thread, machine & hand sewn, instaalation view. Photograph by Brenton McGeachie

Jemima Parker Artist Statement Jemima Parker’s recent work explores repetition and alteration of shape and form.

Continuing her fascination with pushing everyday materials beyond their expected capabilities, Jemima uses lightweight fabrics that are inherently soft, flat and shapeless, together with construction techniques of piecing and folding, and machine and handsewing, to create shapes that are structural and self-supporting.

Jemima’s work references both the natural and urban environment. Her forms draw inspiration from the abstract geometry of nature - loosely referencing shapes found and repeated in organic matter. The fabric used to construct the forms has first been hand-printed with designs and textures based on Jemima’s investigations of her urban environment - patterns observed in surfaces such as concrete, rust, peeling paint and rust. Combining these elements with her construction techniques, Jemima’s intent is a collection of objects that arouse curiosity, and are at once familiar and unknown.

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