back to Yankalilla and the Colours of Home

it's a tight week [off to France at dawn on Thursday]
but i was keen to see the flags we dyed at Yankalilla a few weeks ago
fluttering in the wind
and the big cloth that was pieced [with lots of handstitching]
from silk dyed with bunches of greenery from people's gardens

so i pootled down to the south coast
sadly no time for puddling in waves

the two separate pieces either side were extra bits
that i made to give the patchwork some friends

i hope they find a permanent home for the big cloth...

orange at Orange

2893 [or, fun with numbers]

2893 kilometres, 8 sleeps, 13 lovely women in a 5 day class, too-many-to-count participants at the Orange Textile Forum, 1 wild end-of-forum party and an exhibition opening later
i am back home
here are some [18] pictures while i gather my wits...

firstly some of the fabulous work by the wonderful people with whom i spent my week

even the walls are orange at the Orange Regional Gallery

treasure found on the way home [sadly too big for my pocket]

silo art

more treasure [also too big for pocket]

[Camaro's are quite rare in the wilds of NSW]

an early morning wandering

a late night bundling

nearly home [crossing the Murray on a ferry]

one thousand little birds

please click here to read more about this project

loose ends

wandering down Adelaide's main shopping drag
i spotted an interesting window
[at Sportsgirl]
the message surprised me

back in 1981
i worked for this company
in those days
make do and mend was never in their brief
they did have some odd practices though
every Friday, staff were made to wear clothes from the shop floor
if the manager hated you [ie me]
she would dress you in the oddest combinations
the icky bit was
at the end of the day we put all the tags and kimballs back on
and hung the clothes back on the racks
without cleaning
ew.
[i never shop at Sportsgirl for that reason - and a few others]

then a little later in the afternoon i had some stuff to give away
the Cancer Council didn't want it for wigs
even those overseas spurn it
[grey hair not required on voyage]



but lots of this felted together
perhaps with some nice strong wool such as English Leicester
would make a good mat for soaking up oil spills

humbled and honoured

Elizabeth Rimmer is [among other things] a poet, gardener and riverwatcher
her first collection of poems, Wherever We Live Now will be published by Red Squirrel Press in 2011
nip across to her blog
for a glimpse between the covers


http://burnedthumbblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/poem-for-artist.html

a surprise in the dyepot

one of the delightful things about getting a group of people together
is the occasional mad surprise that leaps out of the dyepot
the project at Yankalilla last week was called 'Colours of Home'
which described it perfectly

in the lead-up to the residency, volunteers had been busily hemming silk flags
so
during the first weekend
the flags were dyed in two one-day workshops
unusually [for me] rapid instruction in the bundling process
mostly we used eucalyptus

then during the week it was open studio
folks came back at times that suited them
bearing bunches of greenery from their own gardens
to dye more silk for the community patchwork
truly the colours of home

one adventurous participant brought fruit from her Strawberry Guava tree
which produced spectacular colours
particularly
when bundled with eucalyptus leaves

some deep breaths

Rosie Grace kindly let me have these lovely images she shot
of the double dress in 'breathe'

if you wander over to An Archive 
you can see what Helen Lyon
is doing with a similar dress...

meanwhile the ecoprint technique continues to wander the whirled
my lovely East Coast correspondent sent me this link 

yankalilla

those nine days away were fabulous

working at Yankalilla
in the midst of beautiful rolling hills that look like sleeping beasts



driving down the coast each evening
to a wee house by the sea
wandering over the cliffs in the gentle last light



we dyed and dyed and stitched and stitched

97 leaf-printed flags will flutter at the Leafy Sea Dragon Festival



and a huge hand-pieced patchwork will hang at Yankalilla
dyed with the "Colours of Home"
[about 3 metres high x 6 metres wide]

the last stitch went in at 7pm last night
by which time it was getting a little dark

for photography

and now i think of it
my first solo exhibition since 2009
opened at the Orange Regional Gallery last Friday
there will be a gathering in the space on April 13
...swing by if you're in the area?