WA Craft Fair 2017 - TAAMMI Challenge and Display

One of the highlights of my year is going to a craft show, and the August one is quite special because I participate on the TAAMMI display stall.

Dorothy and I manned the stall on Saturday morning and had a great time meeting so many lovely people who came over to chat and have a look at our display and competition pieces.  We were blown away with the response this year which is rewarding after the amount of work that goes into it.

Each year we have a Challenge and a Display for our members to enter - this year the Challenge was to create something relating to music and what music means to you, and the display theme was "Doors".

We had two generous sponsors this year who donated prizes for the Music challenge - Halcyon Steppe and The Teddy Tree, with the winners being Wendy Burgess and Trudy Boyce.

We also had a people's choice award for all pieces created over both displays, and I offered, as Thimble Fingers, to donate the prize this year.  The public are encouraged to vote on their favourite piece and write the number on a slip of paper placed in a box over the course of the weekend.

Of course, the craft fair is much more than just our display, there are many fabulous stalls and artisans demonstrating their talents, along with quilt displays, demonstrations, and a fantastic wood work show at the other end of the hall to keep the husbands amused.
Not to forget Dale Rollerson's The Thread Studio stall which is always a big draw card for me to buy up lots of lovely textile supplies.  It's so easy to get carried away and want one of everything!
Caroline Sharkey was a guest artist and her work is simply amazing, really capturing the colours of Australia.  Attending one of her workshops is definitely on my bucket list.  Another lovely lady was Elizabeth Dubbelde from Berry Quilting Retreat NSW showcasing 6 different textile art exhibitions.  I was especially taken with her One Red Thread theme.
I digress ... back to TAAMMI.  So, the following weekend at TAAMMI we had our open day welcoming all the new visitors from the craft fair, and scored 4 new members.  Welcome ladies! We love to see our group growing each year.
Before the open day exhibition and Wendy's texture on textiles demonstration the winner of the People's Choice award was announced.  There was I with gift in hand ready to present it to the winner and whose name was called out  .... yes, mine!  Oops, awkward. Note the look on my face.

I was totally thrilled that my Door piece won, as its my first win, but I could hardly keep my own prize, so it was presented to Wendy who was the 2nd and 3rd place winner for her entries in both categories, and deservedly so.  Well done Wendy.

Next week we decide on the theme for next years challenge, giving us plenty of time to plan, prepare and create but of course we always leave it to the last minute don't we - it's the pressure that really gets the creative juices flowing.  I left my music challenge piece until the day before entry, I found it quite a hard theme to work with.  Hopefully the next theme will be easier.

Now my door piece has been revealed I'll be busy this week putting together the instructions on how to create it.  My minds already running away with lots of ideas for the next design - yes, my mojo's back.  Yayyy!!!

Unfolding: New Indian Textiles Exhibition

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the "Unfolding: New Indian Textiles" Exhibition held at the Fremantle Arts Centre and was blown away by the amazing work created by contemporary Indian fashion designers and textile artists.

This exhibition is curated by Maggie Baxter, a West Australian textile artist who has a long connection to the textile works of India, and what a brilliant job she's done in bringing this exhibition to Australia.

I brought my sister along for the day, and it was wonderful to have someone to "oooh" and "aghh" with, and we definitely did a lot of oohing and aghing, because each new item stunned us even more. The black and white leaf design above was one of the first items we saw as we entered the gallery, and I don't think the photograph does it justice.  It's Aari embroidery (silk thread on silk organza created by using a tambour) created by Mayank Masingh Kaul, and is simply beautiful. 

There were a number of canvases like the one above which were incredible.  This one is called "Rabari" by Play Clan, and is a screen print with hand embroidery on cotton canvas.  If you look closely you will see the vast amount of beading stitched onto the canvas.    

Another, is this one above, entitled "Ghat" by Play Clan - again, you need to zoom right in to see the enormous amount of tiny stitching and beading, to truly appreciate the work that has gone into these pieces.

As I'm quite partial to a bit of sparkle, I did love the sequins trapped between layers of fabric on some of the items of clothing.

I spent a lot of time looking at this Neran embroidery created by Chandra Shroff with Jai Bhatt Singh. This is rayon thread on hand woven wool, courtesy of The Shrujan Trust, Kutch.  As a hand embroiderer myself, I know the amount of hours that goes into anything hand stitched, and I couldn't begin to estimate the time it would have taken to stitch this.  

 Each item that I looked at left me amazed.

This woven piece of fabric called "Latitude" by Bai Lou is made of single filature silk warp and weft with spun silk bands and sequins.  The designers were awarded the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for Handcrafts for creating this special technique of weaving sequins into pockets in the cloth. 

The shawl above has been created by Kirit Dave, and is a wonderful example of Ahir embroidery - rayon thread on hand woven wool.   

Unfortunately I didn't photograph the artist or technique for the above piece, but I believe its silk ikat and has been hand stitched over the top with a gold coloured thread.

Here are some more of the wonderful woven sari fabrics, and below is part of a silk Kimono stitched with sujani embroidery

 Some more work by Bai Lou, hand woven linen with missing warp and weft with inlaid sequins.

The scarf pictured below is marbled and bandhini silk by 11.11/eleven eleven.  They have a facebook page with many photos of their incredible work.  Follow the link here:  eleven eleven 

I took loads more photos, as I wanted to remember everything I'd seen and learn more about the artists and technique, but it would be unfair to post them all here.  Instead I would suggest you visit this travelling exhibition whenever you get the chance as it's well worth it, and for those of you in WA you need to be quick as it finishes this Saturday.

I've put as many links as possible through this post, as I feel its well worth expanding and learning about the work that these artists are creating, its fascinating and very inspiring.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.