Sunday, 19 July 2009

winterWorks

'winterworks', originally planned as a symposium focussing on sustainability in textile practice; took place last week

a rather less grand event than earlier anticipated, but possibly the better for being smaller and more intimate. who knows?  here's a little of what happened... 


there was lots of showing and telling


making notes




where Dean Nicholle [shown here disappearing into the distance] enlightened us about some of the features of the genus eucalyptus, kindly let us collect windfalls for the dyepots


and generously picked us lots of treasures as well




we broke bread together and spent cosy evenings sewing, bundling and reading books [from our library table]



we managed a few walks despite some serious rain


and hung lines full of dyed samples


towards the end of the week we wandered out again, this time to the South Australian Museum


to study objects in the Aboriginal Cultures Gallery


after lunch at the Art Gallery of South Australia we walked to the Adelaide Botanic Garden where we visited the recently restored Museum of Economic Botany [the last colonial Museum of Economic Botany remaining in the world]
 

and popped into the new glasshouse built around the Victoria amazonica


before heading back to the hills for more gentle stitching
[this piece by Holly Story]



it was a rewarding five days...thanks to the generous spirits and warm hearts of those who attended


7 comments:

  1. Beautiful, just beautiful. Sounds like the kind of retreat that fills one up nicely.

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  2. Just lovely - the objects in the Gallery very beautiful and intriguing! it feels odd to think of you over there in winter (with warm hearts!) when here in the UK we are in summer (well not at the moment but we were a week ago - now raining and windy!!) the candles remind me of what is to come in a few months time - thanks India and happy forest wanderings

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  3. Sounds like there was a lot of food for the soul...

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  4. quality not quantity...you have had a wonderful time i feel it through here!
    love
    yvette

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  5. seems you had a good inspiring time together - like that very much! xDorie

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  6. wow. bundles of surprises, washing lines of coloured cloth, museum exhibits (a personal fave) and sewing with fellow women. Divine. I'm drooling. hehehe. :)

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  7. Such interesting photos. Loved the last one with the stitching.

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