Snapshots
The quilts in the 'Snapshots' exhibition were designed and stitched by the three members of ZigZag during 2009 and 2010.
The exhibition intention was to make a piece of textile work in response to each of 9 images.
Three images were provided by each artist which makes a total of 27 quilts- 9 quilts from each person..
'Long Way Gum'
My thoughts were of the trees and trunks of the Undara National Park where I took the photo. The bush is made up predominately of River Red Gums – Camaldulensis ss Camaldulensis’ which have beautiful patterned bark.
‘Undara’ is an Aboriginal word for ‘a long way’
Background: Stripped commercial cottons to form a background impression of tree trunks. Automatic machine patterns in 2 colours.
Quilting is in free machine stitching
Appliqued close-up insert: Cream commercial cotton fabric used as base with mixed media 'bark'
'Sight Unseen'
These reflections could be of any city buildings depending on your position of vision. I thought about the Melbourne Skyline and represented it with stenciled shapes.
These images were brushed onto hand dyed fabric to form the background which was finished with simple machine quilting.
Susan's photo inspired a very simple imitation which consists of layers of hand dyed silk and cotton, hand quilted to imitate the reflection in the windows.
A stitched grid was made to place over the silk patterns.
‘Above and Below’
Foremost in my mind when creating the response to Yvonne's photo was: aqua colour, sea water, circles/orbs of glass.
In reality these floats can be seen in ocean fishing areas where the ocean forms the background.
To form this background I painted a seascape on brown paper and crumpled it to a rag-like feel.
The paper was accented with shiva sticks and vlisofix transferred colour. It was backed with vilene and batting then stitched with three different threads and stitches and finally machine quilted.
For the close up window I used hand dyed fabric printed with circles in different colours. Circles were then stitched using different threads and programmed stitches.
Larger circles were printed with Xpandaprint and painted with tan and pearl lustre paint.
‘Fale 14’
This is the door to the Fale in which we stayed while visiting Samoa. It is an island of vibrant colour and growth.
The green of the gardens and the blue of the sea make a wonderful background to Samoan lives.
The wood carvings are many and varied – some traditional patterns and others more spontaneous. Patterns are carved into wood, printed onto fabric and painted onto tapas which is a type of material made from the bark of the mulberry tree. I have used the patterns on tapas as a response to the carving on Door #14
Even though I was inspired by the beautiful memories of
Samoa, of the next three snapshots, this one caused me the most heartache.
The background of my work is made from commercial batik and hand dyed cottons. I appliquéd some tropical flowers to add colour and atmosphere to the design. Hand and machine stitching and stencilling form a base for the patterned strips of tapas cloth.
‘Old Coree’
Susan submitted a wonderful ‘rusty’ photo of pressed metal. It reminds me of old deserted homesteads. Whilst visiting a property once owned by a great uncle I saw the remains of old buildings.
A drought period during the early years of last century had driven my ancestors off the land. Homes and machines were left to rust and deteriorate in the weather.
The base of my quilt was made from painted brown paper, stitched, painted, stitched, painted and stitched again. Finally an overall rub with Treasure Pewter to enhance the ‘rusted metal’ look.
I have hand embroidered a piece of rusted silk to add accent and integrity to the overall rusty appearance.
‘Roots Down Under’
I felt like standing on my head until I realized the reality of this image. Yvonne's clever photo actually depicts roots in a cliff above sand.
The purple of the cliff was my initial inspiration.
As I looked more closely I could see many great earthy
colours with distinct textures. The roots appear to be alien to the view and almost like upside down tree trunks.
The base of the textured cliff face is stitched strips of hand dyed cotton fabrics which are over stitched with heavy
automatic patterns. The result was very pleasing.
Over this I sprinkled bonding powder and placed slim strips of white plastic on top. Lastly I arranged pieces of white organza scarf over some areas of the work and zapped with a heat gun, thus shrinking the organza into the texture of the cliff.
It was a fun piece to do with a rather quirky result.
‘Pilbara Rail’
We travelled the Pilbara area in Western Australia during 2005. The landscape is very colourful and powerful. Trains run on this remote rail line, transporting iron ore from the Tom Price mine to the west coast.
The background of my work was painted onto heavily embossed damask fabric, then quilted with cable stitch.
I wanted to give an impressionistic response by only using the colours of the country and not the shape of the hills.
I stitched a grid to represent the rail line which dominates the snapshot. I tried several combinations of threads as I stitched the rail grid onto felt.
Finally I appliquéd it onto the background.
Pieces of tulle were placed over the design to give a distant hue to the rail line.
‘Wharf Augusta’
This is an interesting image submitted by Susan. The twisted and worn timbers in the old wharf at Port Augusta have a fascination as they hide happenings of long ago activities.
The background of my work is green hand dyed fabric with the basic lines of the timber wharf drawn with a fabric marking pen. These lines were accented with free machine stitching with variegated cotton threads
I rubbed crumpled news paper with Walnut Distress Ink. The paper was torn into strips and adhered to black felt.
I machined with an auto stitch in pale blue variegated cotton, then straight line stitched with a black/grey/white variegated cotton. Over this I rubbed Treasure Pewter.
I cut the individual strips up and burnt the edges with a candle flame. The strips were glued to the background and stitched with another auto stitch using a variegated rayon thread.
‘Golden Arum’
I could only think of the common Arum Lilies which are white. I loved the colours, in Yvonne's photo, the colours of the lillies against the garden background, but how could I respond? Eventually I decided on a simple design using the curved shapes of the lilies.
For the background I used strips of hand dyed cotton fabrics in green and the bright colours of the lillies. Over this I machine stitched with a variety of variegated threads and stitches.
Appliqué silhouettes were cut from organza and cotton net then applied with straight machine stitching.
Arum Lilies are native to Europe, northern Africa and western Europe. There are many varieties.