21st November – 30th December 2024
This juried exhibition has been long awaited by the gallery. Plans have been in the pipeline for over two years, working with The Surface Design Association and with our amazing juror – Dr Carole Shepheard ONZM. Invitations were sent to members of The SDA in Australia, The United Arab Emirates and the countries on the African Continent and as well as our own Aotearoa New Zealand members to submit works for the jurying process. The topic given was Time.
I am pleased to be able to release the names of the artists who will be in this Exhibition. Here they are in alphabetical order. The statements on this page are the Artist’s own Statements about their practice as it relates to the works in Time. There is more information on either the artist’s own webpage or on this link:https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/further-details-about-the-exhibiting-artists-in-time-2024/
Deb Donnelly. New Zealand. Wrinkles In Time
I was brought up with two main cultural notions of time, often at odds with each other. A sense of past times pervades my oriental values while a respect for the brevity of time in my New Zealand family evokes gratitude for our short precious time together. My art carries both sets of values in the textiles.
Deb’s personal website link: https://debdonnellyecotextiles.wordpress.com/about/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debdonnelly1/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deb.donnelly.98/
Helen Harvey. New Zealand. History is Always Present.
I was born and live in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (New Zealand). My paintings and textiles convey ecological themes informed by my ancestory (Pākehā, Māori) and a background in landscape design. The interaction of humanity and the natural world inspires my layered process. Overlays of history imprinted on the land are communicated through the addition and subtraction of paint and fibre. Including found and natural materials reduces the environmental impact of my creative practice.
For more information about Helen please link to her artist page: https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/helen-harvey/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenharveyartist/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.harvey.942/
Karen Johnston. New Zealand. Fleece to Farm Shed & Authentic Kiwi Bach Blanket
These pieces examine the concept of time as a measure of what really matters and suggests that Time is an inaccurate measure of value. The materials used in the piece were once valued and performed a function however some will now see junk and scraps. Some will still see function and others may see beauty. It’s the individual relationship with the pieces that provides meaning and value – not the passage of Time or age of the piece. This begs the question if Time is not an important measure of value why then does it rule our lives so much?
Karen’s artist page with extra information is at https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/karen-johnston/
Blog: http://orangefloortextilestudio.wordpress.com
Insta: http://@orangefloorstudio
Suzan Kostanich. New Zealand. Taimi lagona: Sensing Time
Taimi lagona or Sensing Time explores the concept of Time through both the Linear Western concept of time and the Samoan perspective of Organic Time. Siapo or tapa provides the base cloth upon which the work is presented. Using a combination of ancient and modern processes that speak to the nature of relationships past and present that exist within myself as a mixed race person. This work has unfolded organically as I printed and stitched the cloth of my Samoan/Chinese/European ancestors
Suzan’sartist page with extra information is at: https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/suzan-kostanich/
Web site: http://www.suzankostanich.com/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/suzankostanich
Wouna Le Roux. New Zealand. Borrowed Time.
My work explores liminality in textile art-making, focusing on themes of loss, change, and transformation. This in-between phase embodies uncertainty and ambiguity, often represented in the work of artists confronting boundary-crossing experiences. As a migrant, I resonate with this sense of outsidership. Using secondhand and discarded textiles, I transform these materials into new artworks, embodying protection and exposure. The making process itself is ritualistic, reflecting cycles of healing and reinvention. My art serves as a metaphor for the sacredness of these rituals, emphasizing the communal and transformative power of textiles.
Wouna’s personal website: https://wounaleroux.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wouna.leroux/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wiwi_makes_wiwi_creates/
Alysn Midgelow-Marsden. New Zealand. Inadvertent Disassembly.
Alysn Midgelow-Marsden (she/her) is a New Zealand based artist with a Northern European heritage. Her works are your invitation to create intimate connections with personal experiences through subconscious and viscerally emotive interactions by walking a narrow path between concept and aesthetics. There is a special union in the work between technical expertise and an enquiring mind. Her works stretch traditional definitions between sculpture, installation, textile, video and wall based works. Alysn is driven by curiosity about the human psyche, science and social stereotypes surrounding textile and stitch. Many of her current works are generated through her proximity to the coast and the marine environment linking to her Marine Biology and Biochemistry training.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alysnmmart/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/alysn.midgelowmarsden/
Website: https://www.alysnmidgelowmarsden.com/
Alison Muir. Australia. Salt Water.
Trained as a commercial Interior Designer, Muir developed a fused applique technique to impart messages in 2 dimensional textile works. Over 80 works about fresh and salt water have been exhibited Internationally and nationally. In “Fathoming the depths”, Muir’s Master of Design Hons exhibition, textile works were 3 dimensional and larger than human scale. Scale became a fascination for Muir and a series of small felted bowls have been made that tell stories about her local environment. These works use natural dyes on natural fabrics and continue to impart messages about the environment and water, often political and always passionate.’
Website: https://muirandmuir.com.au/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/textile_expressions/
Beth Pottinger- Hockings. New Zealand. Time as a Spiral.
I have a passion for fibre! What is important in my work is colour, balance, shape and texture – it must please or draw the eye in. My inspiration often comes from life’s meaningful and quirky events. I find the very act of creating is contemplative, meditative, soothing and energising and is essential to balance my other life as a counsellor. The vast majority of my recent work is wet felted using wool – I love the feel, the smell and the possibilities – making felt really is like magic!. I have created many pieces, useful and decorative, for fun and exhibitions to extend my knowledge and skills – light floaty scarves, heavy floor rugs, 3D sculptures and wall hangings. Further info about Beth’s practice can be found on her artist page: https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/beth-pottinger-hockings/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beth.pottingerhockings/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefibrestudio/
Barbara Rogers. Australia. Traces Years 2011-2023.
In a process of adding and subtracting, masking and revealing, textile artist and designer Barbara Rogers incorporates innovative Shibori techniques with other traditional resist-dye processes in her unique artworks to create subtly varied patterns and rhythms that work in harmony with the cloth
Rogers has gained international acclaim for her work which has been exhibited in Australia and Internationally. Based in Sydney Rogers completed Dress Design at the National Art School and worked in the fashion industry for many years. Rogers now works primarily in Shibori, an ancient Japanese resist dye technique.
Barbara’s personal website: https://barbararogers.com.au/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbararogerstextiles/
Kate Sellar. New Zealand. Time Markers.
Drawing inspiration from the ever-changing landscape this artwork captures the essence of nature’s constant evolution through colour and texture. My work seeks to reflect the passage of time as evidenced in the subtle shifts in hues, the intricate patterns of growth and decay and seasonal transformations – time markers that shape and influence each piece.
The creation process itself is a reflection of time. Crafted on a domestic sewing machine, each piece involves meticulous drawing with thread, a method that requires patience and dedication This slow and deliberate process is a meditation on time, mirroring nature’s changes and serving as a chronicle of its temporal flow.
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/katesellar7/
Meaghan Shelton. Australia. Folly.
As a fourth generation Irish-Scottish/ Anglo Australian woman I rely on the evocation of memory within domestic spaces to unravel aspects of female experience enmeshed within the historical marginalisation, and its hierarchical valuing of materiality, of art made by women.
My practice is auto ethnological in its exploration of the craft/fine art nexus and seeks to untangle the restraints of past historical narratives to re-craft connections with nature and the transpersonal, I engage my practice as affirmative action to embed the healing phenomena of more than human connections to access the transformational.
Meaghan’s personal website:https://www.meaghanshelton.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meaghan_shelton_artist/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meaghanlshelton/
Christy Strickler. UAE. Multitasking From a Woman’s Perspective.
Christy is a self-taught mixed media artist. She works primarily with paint, ink and thread.
Her work is a balance between the subconscious and the physical world. She still isn’t quite sure where she fits in, causing her to question how social and cultural norms have affected her life and the lives of the people she cares about. She uses her art as a vehicle to explore mental health within her roles as a wife, friend and mother.
Christy has created a youtube video about her piece, the thinking behind it and her processes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrfTm0ojIwY
Christy’s personal website: https://cesartevolutionlab.com/about/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepaperscientist/
Jeanette Verster. New Zealand. Counting The Days & Ticking Away.
The dimensionality of hand-scored folded paper with no joins provides a sculptural base for much of my work. The additions of fabric, threads, intuitive painting and colour choices contrast with the rhythmic precision of the folds. Stitch elements create further planes that add interest to the ever-changing shadows that are cast by both the threads and the angles surfaces. In my 2-D works a single motif is stitched in patterns formed by overlapping geometric shapes or other made layers of paper.
There is more information and images of Jeanette’s works on her artist page: https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/jeanette-verster/
Jeanette’s personal website: https://www.jverster.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeanette_verster/