Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part A

For your summer reading pleasure...

The Panels at the SAQA conferences are, for this attendee, a major highlight -- and the three presentations in Portland did not disappoint.

Rosalie Dace

The first of these was a panel of International Artists, moderated by Rosalie Dace (South Africa).











The Panel members were:

Maggie Vanderweit (Canada)

Hsin-Chen Lin (Taiwan)

Sue Dennis (Australia)

Gul Laporte (France)

Rosalie, as moderator, titled their presentation " Dancing on a Tightrope".  From my notes -- taken during her intro -- defining the 'tightrope' artists walk these days:

• In this time of changing views of art and beauty, how do we keep our balance between the buzz of the new and the security of what we already know?
• How do we know what to keep and what to dismiss as a trend?
• Looking at how the world changes...no matter how technological things become, it's still about the human hand.
• Our views of people change...as do aesthetics.

Then each panel member spoke.  First up, Maggie Vanderweit, a SAQA Central Canada member whose work took a prize in the National Juried Show at Quilt Canada this year.  Again from my notes:

• All of us are walking on the tightrope -- "hands off!" -- learning to let go. An example? Parenting...and then,,,the empty nest,
• We are on journeys.  Going from here to there, we may feel safe, but there's always a risk.
• Sometimes we are sitting still, waiting for things to come to us.  It will be safe, for there's a 'net' -- a community.
• Making takes courage, vision.
• Cited: Kandinsky - considering the spirituality in art.

Second, Gul Laporte, a SAQA Board member and textile art consultant, writer, teacher and curator.  She is fascinated by the way artists interpret so differently the same thing. Her observation: it is important to be open to others and what other artists are doing.

Third, Sue Dennis, an artist and tutor from Australia, and a SAQA Co-Rep (Oceania):

Image from The Galipoli Quilt

• For her, the tightrope is walked by artists engaging with the environment and the landscape.
• She uses strong oranges and colours drawn from the Australian Outback.
• New Zealand, on the other hand, is very green due to its landscape and vegetation.
• The relative isolation of the Oceania region means that artists there don't necessarily follow American trends.
• Cited: Down Under Quilts and Down Under Textiles - two magazines specific to Australia and environs.
• Cited: the work of Dianne Firth - torn strips, net and felt landscape art and architecture; and the Galipoli Quilt, the inspiration for which was drawn from what the artist knows.

Lastly, Hsin-Chen Lin - who, unable to speak English well, presented a video of her work which is inspired by nature and the environment.  She is the current curator for the Taiwan International Quilt Exhibition 2016.  You can see more of her work in that of the international artist groups 15 x 15 and Viewpoints 9.

Below: the YouTube video she prepared for us.  Enjoy!

Coming up on the blog: Fiberlandia Highlights III: The Panels - Part B - the Local Artist Panel.  Stay tuned!