The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Jessica Wheelahan

Life in The Anthropocene is a commentary of global warming by Jessica Wheelahan. It is made from reclaimed scraps of fine silk, wool and cotton from the fashion industry here and overseas.

Jessica is a Sydney-based artist and educator. She has created using textiles as her primary medium for the past ten years and has exhibited original work worldwide. Since the acquisition of her MMXX Quilt in 2021 by the Powerhouse Museum, Jessica has worked mainly on the creation of large- scale text based compositions which are laboriously constructed and stitched from found materials. Jessica is also inspired by traditional quiltmaking conventions and enjoys using scraps via improvisational piecing methods. Alongside this practice, she regularly collaborates with fashion designers ‘Romance Was Born’ to create one off couture patchwork pieces for catwalk shows and is a high school educator of visual art and design. In 2022 she authored a book of designs with French publisher Quiltmania. Follow Jessica on Instagram at: @birdie_beetle

Join Jessica for Artful Stitching with Sustainable Materials, a workshop on 1 June at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery with a focus on hand stitching techniques and processes for the sustainable use of materials. Book your workshop place!

Plan an art excursion!  

The New Quilt 2024, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 4 May to 23 June 2024. Official opening and awards ceremony from 6pm on Friday 3 May 2024. RSVP to the gallery.

Gallery hours: Open 6 days a week Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10am-4pm Saturday-Sunday 10am-3pm. Closed on Tuesday and public holidays.