FLYING ARTS AWARD, continued

As announced in a previous post, I am thrilled to be the recipient of the prize for my 'Devil's Dice' fibre piece in the 2012 Flying Arts exhibition and award.
I thought it was worth another post as I am receiving all sorts of congraulations and accolades from near and far - including a full page in this week's local paper and even a hand signed letter from Campbell Newman [Qld Premier]!!!
I'd like to say 'thanks' to Flying Arts [and Gabriella], TAFTA [and Janet de Boer], and all the supporters out there who have sent me good wishes.

About Flying Arts - Flying Arts promotes the appreciation, practice and professional development of the visual and media arts throughout Queensland, especially for artists and communities with limited access. They offer arts development workshops and events in a wide variety of genre, delivered by a team of professional artists and facilitators. The exhibition will travel all over Qld in 2013.

About TAFTA - TAFTA has been a supporter of ‘Flying Arts’ for many years, offering an annual bursary for a fibre artist who exhibits in the annual touring exhibition. I have been awarded flights, fees and accommodation to the 2013 Textile Fibre Forum of my choice.  I will go to Geelong on Sept/October and do a week long workshop.

Statement about the work:

‘Devil’s Dice are iron ore cubes which can change to pyrite then limonite through a process of ‘pseudomorphism’.  This work relates to the mining of iron ore in Australia.

The ‘devil’ is a good metaphor for the industry and the dice has connotations of ‘dicing with death’, and taking risky chances. Will Mankind one day decide that the risk of mining the earth was too great?

My silk shapes reflect the fragility of the situation and the process of metamorphosis that happens not only to the iron ore and the silk but to the whole universe’.

I started with undyed silks which I steeped in green tea and rust for a few days. The resulting tones of brown and beige were a happy surprise. The fabric was cut, stitched and patched with the traditional Korean ‘pojagi’ style seams. Strips of the patched fabric were then constructed into 3D triangular forms. During htis process, I remembered some cubes of iron ore I had found in the outback many years ago. The connection to the pojagi forms and the current controversy surrounding the mining industry in Queensland was too strong to be ignored.

 ...some details. I love the interplay of lines, shapes, textures and shadows.

 

Pojagi in Seoul

POJAGI [Bojagi in Korean] is the traditional 'patchwork' style of fabric construction, often from sheer fabrics, used originally as wrapping cloths to carry food, and all sorts of other goods - [the original GREEN BAG].

The POJAGI Forum in Seoul, Korea, had opened. I was hoping to go, but too much is happening for me back home.
However, I am thrilled to be included amongst the 35 invited International artists to exhibit at the conference.
If you have facebook, got to this link - there are some brilliantly wonderful works from all over the world posted here.

These are my contributions:

This piece is called 'Out of the Box' a linked series of about 15 x 3D silk forms [3 - 5 cm each], some tea dyed, with the traditional flat pojagi seams.

The next is 'Devil's Dice' - a statement about the mining industry's impact on the Australian interior.

This is the silk that I dyed with rust and green tea - amazing results from white silk.

This one is a little more traditional and inspired by the upcoming 'Peace Flag' project that many of us are involved in [World Peace Day - 21st September]



This is my statement sent to accompany the work for the PPP and promotion.

My Appreciation of ‘Pojagi’

I have always had a great connection with the qualities of ‘Simple, Honest and Noble’. The Korean pojagi, the Japanese boro, the Australian wagga, are all examples of textiles lovingly repaired and patched with whatever fabric was available. Not necessarily things of beauty, they have become objects of history, with a life and soul of their own, imbued with the energy of the time and place of creation. These traditional reconstructed fabrics were made in harsh times when money, materials and opportunities were scarce, but ingenuity, camaraderie, and ‘making do’ was prevalent. I imagine the [mostly] women sitting together sharing scraps of fabric, creating new and functional items for the home and family, at the same time sharing problems, hopes and dreams. The fabrics stirred memories from previous generations, helping to reinforce the traditions, stories and cultures that made each group or village autonomous and individual.

I feel very sad that in today’s ‘throw away’ society, we have lost these valuable connections. In my own way, I try to honour the traditions of recycling and reusing in my arts practice, bringing old energies to new life, and as a consequence ‘treading lightly upon the earth’.

Noela Mills

August, 2012

A Letter A Week, 'Dotty' alphabet

I have started my second alphabet for 2012. For more information on this fabulous international blogger network project, go to 'A Letter a Week' for the details.
These are my first 4 letters, created from paper immersed and allowed to dry in a rusty oven tray filled with green tea - great results.

...and my favourite piece of paper - yes, just green tea and rust on a cheap water colour paper.

This process also creates wonderful results on silk -

...which led me to creating some patchwork 'Pojagi' [Korean] for an exhibition in Seoul.

...more on that soon.

Pojagi scarf

I have managed one small art project this week - I have made another 'pojagi' scarf - this one in soft Japanese Spring colours for Soeda san. She gave me lots of lovely kimono 'bits' and treated me to a Spring themed 'English' afternoon tea  when I was in Japan last year.

POJAGI SCARVES

I have been making lovely pojagi scarves for a few months. Pojagi is a  traditional Korean translucent 'patchwork' technique, using old and recycled fabrics. I am using beautiful silk kimono scraps brought back from Japan last year. Many have found homes back in Japan with new friends, I have given some to friends in Australia, and I have sold some through local galleries.

I love making them. The fabrics are oozing with history - patched, hand stitched and mended wabi sabi elements; stamps and labels indicating names of makers and regions; dyed, faded and stained areas all telling tales of their makers and wearers.

The reds are especially gorgeous - such a rich and vibrant colour . The red silks were used mainly as linings in wedding kimonos -a teasing, seductive glimpse revealed only when the bride moved.

POJAGI

Pojagi [or bojagi] is the name given to traditional Korean wrapping cloths. They were generally made from scraps or patches of fabric sewn together to form a squarish shape with a long strap stitched to one corner. Items were wrapped in the cloth which was then tied securely with the strap. The fabric used was often 'ramie', the everyday, coarse natural fibre which has been in continuous use for six thousand years, famously used by the Egyptians for mummy wrapping. The cloth, when held to the light, was often translucent due to its coarse weave.

Today, the term 'pojagi' refers to almost all styles of Korean patchwork, and it had become popular world wide, due largely to the efforts of Chunghie Lee, a contemporary Korean fibre artist. Chunghie feels strongly about the suffering and hardships women had to endure in the old Korea and she honours her ancestors by creating wonderful contemporary wearables and installations in the pojage tradition.

http://chunghielee.com/

I attended a Master Class with Chunghie at the Geelong Textile Fibre Forum last September. http://www.ggcreations.com.au/tafta/forums.html

It was a fabulous experience. Chunghie's free, contemporary approach to a traditional craft practice inspired me. Her affinity with wabi sabi, her 'breaking the rules' approach, her modern sense of design and aesthetics all sat well with my artisic sensibilities. I came away from the week long class with new confidence and skills which have been realised in the commission screen which I have just completed.

Thank you, Chunghie.

This is what I made:

My traditional pojagi wrapping cloth, which I now wear as a skirt wrap.

One half made window panel [ 3 more to go].

Me wearing my pojagi dress.

Dangly cubes - what to do with them? They were fun to make.

....so I now finish up on where and why I started blogging - recording the progress of the wabi sabi Japanese screen commission which was really based on the Korean traditional patchwork technique of 'POJAGI'. Hmmm

Just a few more close ups of the pojagi style translucency in the screen,

and the elusive, hard to get right ,'kekki' seam which is a very strong fine seam with a triple row of stitching.

STRETCHING THE SILK

WOW - this was a BIG job. I thought it would take me a few hours, but it ended up taking a couple of days. There are two layers of silk and they both stretched all over the place - warp, weft and diagonal - not at all like stretching a canvas.

Background layer stretched

I must have used about 500 staples, half of which I took out out again as I adjusted the tension.

The timber framework had these lovely dowel joints holding the crossbars in place - no warping to be had on this screen!! What a shame to hide this great craftsmanship.

This is how it looked at 3am after I'd finished all the hard work. My hands were swollen and sore from squeezing the staple gun,

...and this is how it looked the next morning with the sun streaming through the silk. Sheer Magic. This is called 'POJAGI' - a Korean patchwork technique. More about that in the next post.

A final stem press on the frame and it all came together without any bumps and lumps.

 Installed over the entertainment unit in the living room.

I was thrilled with the result . The architect, Steve, and I spent a lovely few minutes this morning finding special serendipitous images and design aspects which 'spoke' to us of the magic of the home, the family and their place in the mountains.