MAPS: politics

BRIEF: The aim of the eleven artists is to create a textile and mixed-media travelling exhibition. The initial inspiration was the map of the Western Hemisphere embroidered by Elizabeth Cook (c.1800) that shows the voyages of her husband James Cook currently housed at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney. Elizabeth Cook’s map provided a starting point from which the concept of ‘map’ can be understood and interpreted in both concrete and abstract ways. Maps can be about many things; geography, history, geology, personal space, migration, movement, memory, travel, genealogy.

Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Friday, 1 October 2010

The west and the map of the world

The ABC's Artworks broadcast a feature about maps and the politics implicit in them. It is available as a podcast and worth listening to.

"Maps haven't always told us where to go. Often they've told us what to think -- about ourselves and about other people. Early maps were powerful documents not because they were accurate -- mostly they weren't -- but because they reflected the politics and ideologies of the world of the map-maker."

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Donna McCaffrey

Before being inspired by this project the most I recalled about Capt. Cook's explorations was limited to the childhood rhyme "Captain Cook chased a chook…". It wouldn't have occurred to me to read generally about the travels of Cook and his fellow explorers or look at the ships logs made at the time. During the course of my readings I recalled places I had explored on holiday. This has inspired me to create textile works of the places noted in Cook's log as he travelled but as explored by me.

Sheralie Wood

I love being out in the natural world and always feel inspired to recreate in some form what I have experienced. I find joy in the process of creation, even though it's often difficult and I love the meditative quality in stitching.

I've recently experimented quite a bit with vegetable and rust dyeing of fabrics which is fun because you never know how it's going to turn out. Then I combine these fabrics with felt and stitching to create shallow bowls – little microcosms.

In my current research for the MAPS exhibition, I have been inspired by the Australian aborigines' “mapping” of the land in their paintings and hope to express the feeling of this in my own work.

Christene B

I aspire to be a fibre and textile artist – I love to stitch. I enjoy experimenting with a variety of techniques, fabric and thread and I draw my inspiration from nature. MAPS 11 allows me to enjoy the company of like-minded friends whilst researching a specific topic and producing a body of work for exhibition. I find the research as much fun as the challenge of designing and stitching and I have the opportunity of travelling to places I never imagined I would both to learn about our topic and to improve my skills as an artist.

Diana Thomas

Diana is a librarian who started constructing quilts and wall hangings in the 1980's. She has completed TAFE courses in Commercial Needlecraft Advanced, as well as Design and Colour, and has had pieces hung at Quilt Australia `88 and with the Hunters Hill Quilters, The Quilters' Guild of NSW and at other exhibitions in Australia and Canada. Currently a part time PHD student at Wollongong University, Diana is writing a thesis on the textile arts in Australian fiction. Texture and colour are Diana's main concerns - any fabric is contemplated for use depending on how it feels to the touch or how it reflects light. Velvet, brocade, taffeta and evening dress fabrics are common inclusions. Quilting is usually random embroidery through the 3 layers – with particular emphasis on the use of chain stitch. The hexagon and variations on the hexagon, and how they can be manipulated through the use of positive and negative space, has occupied many hours. Her latest wall pieces are abstract wall hangings inspired by books that she has read.

MAPS

Exhibition Dates

Friday, 1 October 2010

The west and the map of the world

MEMBERS

Donna McCaffrey

Sheralie Wood

Annette Glare

Catherine McClellan

Christene B

Margaret Gollan

Prue Hill

Robin Kaltenbach

Linda Taglieri

Diana Thomas

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