Greetings from Montevideo, from Alison Schwabe, Aussie quiltmaker

More interesting samples - this time showing their age plus dust, and the workmanship is even through all samples.


This group was given to me by a friend who found quite a lot on a market stall.
They are all on fairly fine cotton squares which have been hemmed by machine, and each piece is also backed by aging cream tissue paper whiy I am not sure. The whole lot of them are white on white samples.


The whole bunch, about 14, has been held together in one corner for some years by a large safety pin which has rusted in place.



And several of the designs are the same as I have already in my collection, which speaks of some kind of curriculum to a course of study at a school, college or institute.



This one, of quite pretty lace-ribbon embroidered flowers, is unusual and I really like it.... the rust stains over it say something about where it has been stored all these years....could be the beginning of an interesting little writing exercise.

Labels: lace textile, samples

This is a group of 4 Uruguayan quilters who came to my house last saturday for a workshop on the basics of freehand cutting and piecing, otherwise known as improvisational piecing, an amalgam of the work of Marylin Stother of Canada, Nancy Crow of USA and the tool-free methods of fabric piecing by the Afro American quilters which were studied by Nancy herself and others such as Eli Leon who wrote "Who'd A Thought It".
As the perfect technical framework for the mass of work to be accomplished by students in her colour and design classes, the method for this quick and easy construction has been taught far and wide byNancy, and many others since, with the result that it has become a new tradition in quiltmaking having been taken up by traditional, experimental and art quilters alike. There are countless examples now appearing in catalogues of contemporary quilt shows in countries such as UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, and wherever else the teaching goes or exhibitions travel it will emerge shortly after. So, I look forward to seeing how it emerges here, since the students were very keen, and worked very hard.

In the above sample, the heap of 4 pieces of fabric, all right side up, cut through three times to produce these 4 blocks will be recongised by anyone who have ever done this kind of workshop or construction. We moved on to strips and slivers. It is always a pleasure to teach to people who are keen to learn what you have to show them.

I learned that my studio could have accomodated one more student plus machine without being a squeeze, that I like having the extra trestle table up (dangerous precedent, Wendy?) and that I can easily get used to having quilting on one, piecing out on the other table still have my cutting table free.... theoretically.

Labels: freehand cutting and piecing, montevideo quilters

Because someone I met recently was interested and asked me to blog these, after I was talking about the amazing Gold Treasure wax, well, here they are. Gold tennis shoes, bought in London 1992, ( by Grant, a brand well known in UK I believe) after a lot of wear these looked quite dull and shabby especially around the toecaps until I tackled them with the gold wax. I'm thrilled with the result, because these really comfy shoes have a new lease of life, plus they cost a serious amount and so I was not keen to let them go even though they'd "lost it". At the time I bought them, I was having some foot problems, and my doctor said I really should be wearing joggers as much of the time as possible.... and that did not sit well with me even though it promised comfort and better foot health. And that very month or so, on my first ever trip to UK, these just stopped me in my tracks as I browsed my way down past the shoes shops in Old Bond Street. I think the time I really felt them do well for me was years ago when the doorman at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, who even back then must have seen it all before, offfered the unsolicited comment "Oh maam, I love those shoes"; basically they are "me" and I always feel good in them. Thank goodness glitter is big this year in conservative Montevideo, lots of glittery beads everywhere, and beautiful earings, and it extends to a lot of glitter on shoes. These maybe still a bit extreme for here, but they are going to be worn, and indeed have been, the other night to a concert of Mozart played by a visiting french orchestra in the wonderful Teatro Solis.

OK, this is a textile related blog for the most part, and these do qualify - beneath the side panels of glitter is actual yellow canvas to which the glitter is glued, or now starting to be not glued to, but enough is still hanging on there. Another textile aspect is the new laces I fashioned by twisted cords made from a lovely soft beige coloured, um string, really, with several gold strands entwined, too.

Labels: glitter, gold tennies

This is another of the lace samples I found in the markets at San Telmo while we were in BA a few weeks ago.

One of the themes of the South Project was how vital is the role of story telling in cultural connections and in coming to terms with the past there are stories to be told before constructing in the present. I did a short writing workshop with Ian Gedde NZ and Tony Birch, Aus, where a found object became the trigger to a piece of writing, not about the object itself, but a trigger to write some kind of story.

With this in mind, I think I have always been aware of these samples being a connection to the past, and valued them for that. But up to now I have not thought about their full potential to me and my inner creative self.

At least someone asked me what I am going to do with them - and more than ever I feel 'nothing' except go on collecting them. Several quiltmakers have suggested I make a quilt design using them all... nah, just going to let a few ideas swirl around in the cranial cavity for a while while I collect them and occasionally take them all out of their box and run them through my hands....

Labels: collecting, lace textile, sample

The day I headed out to South Project in Santiago, I got news that one of my new quilts with leather appliques has been accepted into next year's show. I had the mountain of forms to fill in and the quilt to rush off up to Athens for photography for it all to be there by October 13th - that is really tight for international entries being accepted - maybe there's good reason, but I wonder if they might loosen that. No pic here or on my website yet, because of course publishing it anywhere will preclude future participation, so I'll arrange for a pic to go up after the Memorial Day opening weekend next year. It's hard enough to get in, without shooting yourself in the foot that way. I was accepted for 1993 and 1995, and have entered every show since then, but without success until this year, so I am really thrilled, and of course will go up to the US for the opening and be part of what is always a special weekend - the Dairy Barn people treat exhibitors like royalty, and although Hilary Fletcher will be sadly missed this time, I am sure great and possible new traditions will continue and emerge around this very prestigious show.

Labels: Quilt National 07

A city orientation tour can be helpful when travelling; to set your bearings, get to know some of the important landmarks and whereabouts of some of the particular things you want to see during your stay... many travellers take them and those of us who went on these tours might have overlooked, as I did, the term in their billing; "... roaming performance". I just assumed this guy had been in Santiago a while and was offering this as a service to participants in the symposium, perhaps with emphasis on the whereabouts of places we'd be gathering, perhaps galleries or markets.... good eating places, maybe.

Kaleb and the cab driver he'd hired for the day are pictured left and centre in this photo. Sticky vinyl letters on both pack passenger windows spelled out "tur por santiago gratis" meaning free tours of Santiago.... how nice of this young man to do this for us.


Once we got underway there was a lot of static and feedback, a bit of white noise buzzing through the speakers behind us - just like any other tour I have ever been on, the audio always needs a bit of fine tuning... but this was actually the point - the feedback, white noise, obscuring what was really being said to us about Chile. Before long it was clear that the only things we could hear clearly were comment on what we have always been told, and that's not much, of the obscured truth about the dark period not too far back in Chile's history. What this tour about really was not the fine architecture and beautiful parks and plazas we were crawling past in heavy city traffic, but the recent political history including the Pinochet dicatatorship following the Allende regime, and how these events, and the events leading up to them, in one way were just one more layer in the fairly noisy history of the region that is still dealing with groups of people not fitting together smoothly or trouble free, even now. The Mapuche indigenes being just one of many cases challenging modern governments of Chile. Just on the news this morning was footage of current Chilean President Batchelet visiting a new memorial to The Disappeared, dissidents often students, who vanished from prison and torture chambers during the dicatdura of '70's and early '80's. She herself went into exile as did many of her age peers.

One of the issues behind the symposium is the common one most southern countries have of a colonial past. Many also have a recent history of dicatatorship - and most countries have not managed satisfactory closure on these times. Truth and Reconcilliation in South Africa has perhaps gone further than an other contry's effort. There is still unease in this country, Uruguay, about the late 70's and the early 80's military period, and there are some Disappeared here, too. I haven't much factual knowledge, but I sense the reluctance of people to discuss it - no, call that Fear. At times on the street I see faces that reflect a history of pain, and find myself wondering about their part in the recent history of this country. Artists and artesans can have a role in bringing these acknowledgements forward through this work if they chose. I have often wondered how I could do this, and have concluded that only by changing medium to pictorial words or by actual drawing...food for thought.

Labels: city tour, south project

I spent last week in Santiago, Chile, and believe me, there was literally no time at all for logging on and jotting, no time for emails, finding myself burning the candle at both ends, but it was really interesting, worthwhile, and certainly fun for all attending. I really enjoyed being in that city - it was clean, easy to get around on the metro, signs of history via fabulous architecture everywhere, the wine and seafood wonderful, and the people kind, helpful to travellers - it was a wonderful few days there.

South Project is a 5 year program exploring what it means to be from the South. Through a 5 year plan of annual gatherings aimed at increasing cultural knowledge and understanding, it is hoped to create and enhance artist residencies, exhibitions, publications and critique between and from artists and artesans from coutries in the Southern Hemisphere. An initiative of the Craft Council of Victoria, Australia, the next gathering is in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I hope to be able to go to that one, too. For more information on this interesting project, go to www.southproject.org

From not knowing a soul before I went to the gathering, I came away feeling I had connected with some very interesting people and their ideas, and although I am not sure yet what may come out of it in terms of cultural exchange, collaboration, critique or whatever, I am sure something will emerge, if only several ongoing friendships. Without going through a name dropping exercise, some of the people I met included interesting authors from New Zealand and Australia, an Argentine film maker, a Mexican community arts leader, a gallery director from Australia, a prominent gallery director and arts activist from Paraguay, a chilean embroiderer, a former opera singer turned antiques valuer, a South African woodworker, an eminent Australian cartoonist of whose work have been an admiring fan for many years, a maker of jewellery using found junk, and several arts administrators, curators and researchers. Wendy, I met your pal M.McD, and for that experience alone thank you for encouraging me to go!

There were several exhibitions to attend during the week, concluding with a wind-up dinner party at the end. Several of us seemed to form a dining group and discovered some lovely eating places for dinner at night. So, late nights /early mornings were the order of the day, but on my final night, I got back to my hotel at 2am, in plenty of time for my 4-30am wakeup call for the 5am departure to catch my flight....I can assure you I slept every minute of that flight including through the plane-closing and flight safety instructions! Sleep deprived I was, but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed the weekend visit by our old friends, Jim and Holly, from our Denver days. Now based in La Paz, Bolivia, their visit reinforced this gap in our experience so far, and maybe early-mid 2007 will see us visiting that country.

What have I been reading? Well, almost nothing, apart from the conference program, a couple of artist brochures, a newspaper one day, and a few articles from The Economist, and the captions mostly to some pics in the current Fiberarts Mag. ! Tonight I am finishing off the paper work to accompany my successful entry into Quilt National '07 and sending all that off as pdf's, and then retiring with a book for a good read - it might not be a long read, but is an attempt to get back at last into some normal pattern of living. Oh, and, my plan is some more frequent blogging.

Labels: south project

These pompom earings were made and worn by chileana, Catalina.


Very large but very light, and the effect quite dramatic.... this is what interesting accessories are all about, right?

You could have a pair to match absolutely every garment in your wardrobe....






Detail. 

Labels: south project

Kate, an Australian, wore some very interesting accessories to complement her understated travel wardrobe; a la Sheilah Scotter's advice, which I never seem to get right- the basic tenets being black and white, simple lines, good fabrics, mix and match, add interest with accessories....I didn't handle this piece but imagine it to be styrofoam balls, something very very lightweight, covered in b/w gingham and threaded on thick thread to hang around the neck- whatever it was, the construction was simple, but the effect was quite dramatic. At other times, Kate also wore an extremely long , er, necklace, perhaps 'overtheshoulderlace' of large white wooden beads at first glance looked like bleached vertibrae.... threaded and slung around one side of the neck, crossing chest and back diagonally on the other side, hanging down to around knee or mid calf length. Fun.

Labels: south project

Finally - how's this for a bittaglitta?
Technically this comes under the heading of 'textile' since it is a mesh construction which forms the collar part of this necklace. Covering the strands of the mesh are silver lined little longish glass type beads and tiny opaque coral and turquoise coloured beads. The same beads are used in the 'tassels' which are actually round clear glass or plastic beads, over which there are maybe 12 or more covered strands laid from hole to hole over the curved surface. Anyway, thanks to my new chilean friend, Fernanda, who took me gallery hopping on the last day I unearthed this treasure, or rather it leapt off the shelf into my arms and insisted on coming home with me. Rationale - I am doing some beading classes just now, and this is a very inspiring piece..... it's a sample, really. But no way will it languish in the box with my lace samples....

Labels: south project