Last days: The New Quilt closes 11 April

Last days, don't miss out! The New Quilt exhibition continues at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, until Sunday 11 April. The gallery is located at Deerubbin Centre (Top Floor) 300 George St Windsor and is OPEN after recent flooding in the area.

Gallery Hours: 

• Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10am-4pm 
• Saturday-Sunday 10am-3pm 
• CLOSED Tuesdays & Easter Friday-Easter Monday (inclusive)

Download:

• The New Quilt Family Guide
• Search and Find Activity Sheet

The gallery is walking distance from Windsor Railway Station. Free, timed undercover parking is available for 47 cars in the Deerubbin Centre car park (access via Christie St). Free on-street parking in surrounding streets. Please check parking restrictions.

Contact the gallery at: gallery@hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au or (02) 4560 4441 

 

The New Quilt: In-Gallery Artist Floor Talks now on YouTube

The New Quilt exhibition continues at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery until Sunday 11 April 2021. The gallery is open 6 days a week Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday-Sunday 10am-3pm. Closed on Tuesday and public holidays.

Here is a recording of In-gallery Artist Floor Talks where six artists share the inspiration and process for their artworks: Rachaeldaisy Dodd, Brenda Gael Smith, Barbara Gower, Carolyn Sullivan and Amie  Marilyn Andrews.

 

Meet the Artist Thursday 4 March

 

Each Thursday throughout The New Quilt exhibition, apart from 1 April, an artist (or two!) will be in attendance at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery from 1-3pm. 

This week is Lorraine Parker with her artwork Rust & Decay.

• Who: Lorraine Parker 
• When: 1-3pm Thursday 4 March
• Where: Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Deerubbin Centre (Top Floor) 300 George St Windsor
• Access: Walking distance from Windsor Railway Station. Free undercover parking is available for 47 cars in the Deerubbin Centre car park. Free on-street parking in surrounding streets. Please check parking restrictions.

This is a free event. Bookings are recommended but you are welcome to just drop in. Book via Eventbrite

Lorraine also shares some background to her artwork in this short video: Meet the Artist: Lorraine Parker

Meet the Artist Thursday 25 February: Rachaeldaisy & Judi Nikoleski

Each Thursday throughout The New Quilt exhibition, apart from 1 April, an artist (or two!) will be in attendance at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery from 1-3pm. This week the artists are Rachaeldaisy Dodd and Judi Nikoleski:

• When: 1-3pm Thursday 25 February
• Where: Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Deerubbin Centre (Top Floor) 300 George St Windsor
• Access: Walking distance from Windsor Railway Station. Free undercover parking is available for 47 cars in the Deerubbin Centre car park. Free on-street parking in surrounding streets. Please check parking restrictions.

This is a free event. Bookings are recommended but you are welcome to just drop in. Book via Eventbrite

Meet the Artist Thursday 18 February: Sophie Conolly

Each Thursday throughout The New Quilt exhibition, apart from 1 April, an artist (or two!) will be in attendance at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery from 1-3pm. 

This week is Sophie Conolly and her installation artwork Tuck Me In. The quilt is made from precious papiers d’agrumes (fruit tissue paper wrappers) and the paper maché soft toy “seal” is made from old tea bags. Learn more about her inspiration and process on Thursday.

• Who: Sophie Conolly www.sophieconolly.com
• When: 1-3pm Thursday 18 February
• Where: Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Deerubbin Centre (Top Floor) 300 George St Windsor
• Access: Walking distance from Windsor Railway Station. Free undercover parking is available for 47 cars in the Deerubbin Centre car park. Free on-street parking in surrounding streets. Please check parking restrictions.

This is a free event. Bookings are recommended but you are welcome to just drop in. Book via Eventbrite

 

Meet the Artist Zoom Event: Thursday 18 February 2021

QuiltNSW invites you to the Meet the Artist Zoom Event from 7-8.30pm Thursday 18 February 2021 (Sydney time). Twelve artists from The New Quilt exhibition will share the background to their artworks followed by an open Q&A session. All Welcome! Book online: Meet the Artist Zoom Event

The participating artists are:  Fiona Gavens, Neroli Henderson, Irene Koroluk, Jill Miglietti, Alison Muir, Lorraine Parker, Beth & Trevor Reid, Brenda Gael Smith, Carolyn Sullivan, Tania Tanti, Lisa Walton and Jessica Wheelahan. 

PS: The Zoom event will also be recorded with a view to publishing an edited version on the QuiltNSW YouTube channel at a later date.

Miss Grace's Quilt by Sophia Wilbow on display

In conjunction with The New Quilt, the heritage quilt, Miss Grace’s Quilt, by Sophia Wilbow of Pitt Town, Windsor (1829–1924) will be on display.

 

Sophia Wilbow was well-known for her needlework skills in the Hawkesbury district and reputedly made a quilt for each of her seven daughters who reached adulthood. Three of the quilts are still in existence. Miss Grace's Quilt was is made entirely by hand using a paper template technique with a tumbling block design.

The outer border of patches is made from the off-cuts of nurses uniforms, as two of the Sophia’s daughters were nurses. The other squares were made from material samples from department stores such as Anthony Horden & Sons, as was characteristic in the late 19th century and early 20th century trends, creating quilts with complex patterns.

The quilt was donated to the Friends of the Hawkesbury Art Community and Regional Gallery by a Wilbow descendant Joyce Hedges.

Miss Grace's Quilt (detail)

 

Another of Sophia’s quilts, held in the National Gallery of Australia collection, was created for her youngest daughter Jane. It has a hexagon pattern containing more than 7,000 pieces with a print based on a design by William Morris. It is believed Sophia worked on the quilt while she sat at the side of her dying husband who suffered a long illness prior to his death in 1896.

Quilting Basics Workshop

To complement the display of Grace's Quilt, QuiltNSW is hosting an English Paper Piecing (EPP) workshop at the Gallery, presented by Sandra Lyons, on Saturday 6 March.

A kit is included in the fee for this two-hour workshop. If you are interested in learning this basic quilt-making skill, book your place now. For full details and to book, visit here. 

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 6 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

The New Quilt exhibition dates

 IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

The New Quilt exhibition will open to the public at 10 am on SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2021 at 

Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, 

Windsor NSW. (There is no admission on Friday 5 February.)

Plan an art excursion!

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Jessica Wheelahan

 

Name of Artwork: The MMXX Quilt

Jessica Wheelahan lives and works in Sydney, Australia where she loves to create quilts utilising improv techniques. Jessica has created using textiles as her medium of choice for the past ten years and has exhibited globally. 

Prior to this time Jessica enjoyed collage and printmaking, having studied design at the University of New South Wales and was introduced to textiles while she worked in the fashion design studio of Akira Isogawa. 

Jessica takes inspiration from a diverse range of sources including, art, design, fashion and pop culture. She always has more than one quilt underway at any given time and appreciates having time and space to let each work develop as required. 

Sewing is a non-negotiable part of Jessica's day to day routine and it is in this way that her ínimitible artful improv quilts come to life. Jessica has had the opportunity to collaborate with other artists and designers which she feels grateful for as the experience tends to enrich her classroom teaching practice. Jess lives with her supportive husband and two beautiful children in a lovely home abundant with quilts.

Jessica Wheelahan online: Instagram

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 6 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Lisa Walton

Name of Artwork: If Only

Lisa Walton from Sydney, Australia has been awarded many prizes for her quilts including major International and Australian Quilt shows. Her work reflects her love of hand dyed & printed fabrics & is influenced by the environment and issues surrounding her world.

Lisa teaches Internationally and was awarded the Jewel Pearce Patterson Scholarship for Quilting Teachers by the International Quilt Association Houston USA.

Lisa’s quilts have been exhibited in solo and joint exhibitions and her work is included in collections in the USA, Australia and the UK. Her book, Beautiful Building Block Quilts, was published by C&T Publishing. She has appeared on Quilting Arts TV and The Quilt Show and was the President of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA)

She is now teaching & lecturing virtually online as well as producing a series of Quilt Stories on her YouTube Channel.

Lisa Walton online: Webpage  Facebook  Instagram  

Learn more about Lisa's artwork in this video on the new QuiltNSW YouTube channel. More videos will be posted online in the coming week. Be sure to subscribe so that you are notified as more videos are available.

Special thanks also to Lisa who assisted in preparing many of the videos relating to The New Quilt.

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

      

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Tania Tanti

Name of Artwork: The Wandering Stitcher

A quilter's journey takes us far and wide, across the oceans and around the world. We are all connected through woven cloth, texture and colourful fabrics and creations of centuries of cultural tradition and technique that bring us together to share.

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Carolyn Sullivan

 

Name of Artwork: It's About Language

New expressions are invented to fit new situations. Old expressions are reinvented to fit new circumstances. It is a recognition that words reflect the events in a period of time. Three distinct time periods are portrayed in these words.

 

Knowing about places has been an important influence on Carolyn's life - where she lives, where she visits, how to get there, what it looks like, why it is the way it is. 

Carolyn travelled in Australia with her parents as she was growing up and has continued that as an adult. Although she has been overseas, seeing Australia interests her most. She always feels "at home". Leaving Sydney for a life of retirement in rural NSW has been an important influence on how she looks at the world and the textiles that she makes.

Visits to arid Australia have been particularly significant - looking, photographing, writing about and drawing what she sees. Seeing the desert in full bloom has lead to a series of works showing vast expanses of land covered in wildflowers. Looking at dry river beds in the midst of drought and knowing that they are part of a much larger river system has also been important.

At home, Carolyn loves the mists as they come up the escarpment and shroud her area for days and have led to another body of work where the mists, stitched in purple, covered the cloth. Using the plants of her local area to colour and leave imprints on cloth has been fascinating.

Carolyn's first introduction to textiles when she was in third class was hand stitching and that has continued for her whole life. She expresses how she is thinking when she stitches by hand. It is slow and repetitive and gives her time to think about the texture of the stitch as well as colour and how that changes from minute to minute and over time.

Carolyn Sullivan online: Webpage  Facebook  Instagram

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Brenda Gael Smith

 

Names of Artworks: Acuity #5: Zemblanity and Integrifolia #7: Emergence

Brenda Gael Smith's resonant textile works impart a sense of wonder of the natural world and a strong affinity to place. Abstraction is a persistent and insistent force in her creative practice as she captures the essence of her subjects. Her textile sketches and paintings are created in hand-dyed fabrics, complemented by intensive stitching demonstrating the transformative power of stitch.

Her works in The New Quilt are drawn from two different series. Integrifolia #7 Emergence is part of the Botanica series and explores the lenticular shapes of the banksia cone and themes of life and regeneration. The Acuity series focuses on the power of sight and the art of seeing. Zemblanity highlights the remarkable sensory membrane of the retina which contains millions of light sensitive photoreceptor cells that receive and organise visual information and send signals onto the brain for visual recognition. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging to process and requires constant recalibration of perceptions. Brenda embraces the serendipity factor in her creative practice, a happy counterpoint to the zemblanity of unrelenting pandemic metrics which bring unpleasant, non-surprises both socially and economically.

Brenda Gael Smith online: Webpage  Facebook  Instagram

Learn more about Brenda's two artworks in these videos on the new QuiltNSW YouTube channel. More videos will be posted online in the coming week. Be sure to subscribe so that you are notified as more videos are available.

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Jill Rumble

Name of Artwork: Landlines - Shadows II

Jill’s work has always been influenced by being raised in the country. She finds that the patterns of the shifting shadows found in our landscape help to form the designs and selection of materials.

This piece is about memories from childhood and a farming upbringing. Eco dyeing with eucalyptus leaves and onion skins as well as leaf printing help to connect it to country. Machine and hand stitching and raw edges bring texture and wonderment to the piece … bringing it to life.

Marks in our landscape are left by humans, animals and nature ……. sometimes conflicting, but more often beautiful.

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Sue Reid

Name of Artwork: Abandonment#2

Sue Reid can remember sewing from a very early age, hand sewing dolls clothes and then progressing to making her own clothes as a teenager on her mother’s sewing machine. Sue also liked to draw and painted abstracts.

Sue was a mathematics teacher and on retiring took a course to make a traditional sampler quilt so that she could learn the many facets of quilt making. She also took workshops with Gabriella Verstraeten on free form machine embroidery, so that she could master her machine and make it talk for her. Sue discovered that she preferred to create quilts with hand painting and appliquéing before adding machine embroidery and machine quilting.

Colour, shape and stitch are the inspiration for Sue in creating her contemporary art quilts. The love of the colour orange is very evident as well as her penchant for pattern. Free motion quilting is another love as it changes a good piece into an amazing quilt in her eyes..

Sue finds the most difficult part in her creative process is the initial idea, and often spends hours mulling over ideas. She rarely produces samples, but is more spontaneous and just goes for it, not always successfully, but many great ideas have come from mistakes. It is not unusual for her to create four or five of the same quilt in order “to get it right “.

There is always a meaning behind each quilt that Sue makes, and she feels that the title is very important, so she jots down her thoughts in a journal. Sue loves making her contemporary art quilts.

Sue Reid online: Instagram  

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artists: Beth and Trevor Reid

Name of artwork: Corundum

Beth and Trevor have lived in Canberra for the past thirty eight years, but both grew up in Melbourne and surrounds. They have always had an interest in textiles, both having sewn and collected fabrics when young.

They made their first quilt together in 1972, but it was not until 1988 that patchwork and quilting came back into their frame of reference.

Beth and Trevor joined Canberra Quilters, made a sampler quilt and then began to experiment with different techniques, from there they went on to make quilts that were a little bit different, sometimes together, sometimes individually. Beth and Trevor began to collaborate seriously in 1998 for a Canberra exhibition ‘Classy Clobber’, where a number of diverse textile artists including felters and weavers were asked to produce a version of an Australian stockman’s coat in their particular medium. They still enjoy the process. They design together workshopping ideas, with Trevor taking the lead on painting, drawing and cutting and Beth with assembly, stitch embellishment and quilting.

They have exhibited nationally and internationally and are represented in international and Australian private collections. Work in public collections includes the ACT Hospice, Parliament House Art Collection, the ACT Government Library Service and the ACT Heritage Library. Beth and Trevor won Best of Show at the Canberra Quilters Exhibition in 2009 and again in 2018. 

Their interest in recycled denim came about because of their son. He had a love of wearing baggy fashionable jeans as a teenager and was reluctant to dispose of his favourite pairs as he outgrew them, thinking perhaps there would be a quilt in his future. With their wide fashionable legs, there was so much useful material and the colour was so varied, their feel so soft and velvety, that they were stored in a basket tucked away awaiting the right opportunity.

Beth and Trevor continue to enjoy working collaboratively gathering inspiration from many different areas, including the natural environment. It is a collaboration of 30 plus years and still counting.

Beth and Trevor Reid online: Instagram  

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Hilary Peterson

Name of Artwork: Standing Tree

Born in Singapore, Hilary grew up in Sydney, Australia. She travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, USA and Mexico and more recently in Japan, moving to the Bega Valley in NSW 33 years ago.

Her love of nature was evident as a child, spending endless hours at the local creek, in the bush and in and on the water of the northern beaches area of Sydney. Initially trained as a commercial textile designer, working in Sydney and London, designing carpets, commercially printed fashion fabrics, furnishings and wallpapers. She completed a Master of Visual Arts degree in 2002. Research areas of interest involved landscape, the natural world, inter-connectivity/interdependence and place. This research continues to underpin her work.

Hilary works in many media including painting, drawing, printing, dyeing, stitching and felting, combining them in many works. Natural dyeing, used in most of her textile work, attaches it to place and fixes it in time. Journeying through a place Hilary’s work investigates fragility and ephemeral beauty, an unconscious memorising of particular aspects of the landscape that later resurface into consciousness. Her love of colour and texture are reflected in the rich surfaces of my work.

Teaching skills to others has been an enjoyable part of Hilary’s life since 1994. She has taught children and adults privately and through TAFE NSW, at Textile Fibre Forum in Geelong, Orange and in the Blue Mountains, Fibres Ballarat and Quilt Encounter in Adelaide.

Hilary Peterson online: Webpage  

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Lorraine Parker

Name of Artwork: Rust and Decay

Lorraine’s background and training is in education. She also has a degree in Behavioural Science. She started her professional career as a high school teacher in what is now called Technology and Applied Studies. Textiles and Design was part of this and an area that she loved with a passion. A goal in her teaching was to facilitate creativity and innovation in others, to inspire confidence and a willingness to experiment with colour, texture, materials and techniques.

Her path led to lecturing and tutoring in Textile Innovation at the Australian Catholic University. This was followed by contracts to write the Textile Design and Textiles Science and Innovation units for Southern Cross University teacher training.

This included tutoring many workshops with SCU students. She has also tutored for ATASDA, NCEATA, regional quilting groups and The ASG National Convention.

Her creative yen has been fed by her love of nature, travel and photography. Her work has been published in Down Under Textiles and American Patchwork and Quilting.

Exhibitions of her work include Timeless Textiles Newcastle, The Rainforest Centre Dorrigo, Coffs Harbour’s Bunker Gallery, Woolgoolga’s Art Gallery and Macleay Valley Arts Council at Gladstone (NSW). Whenever a piece of her work sold she has a sense of joy as well as loss.

She is a qualified Quilt Judging Course for the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles.

Lorraine Parker online: Webpage  Facebook  

 

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Judi Nikoleski

Names of Artworks: Habitat Drift 1,2&3 (triptych) and Restless Fiery Night

Judi immersed herself in the making of creative textiles after a career change from an extensive period working in publication and internet design. She had always loved working with fabric and sewing as a creative interest and the change was a natural progression. She built upon a solid foundation in graphic design and illustration by attending multiple courses in creative textiles. This was the impetus for her many series of unique art textiles which incorporate felting, dye painting, printing, silk screening, quilting and many other textile techniques.

Since 2007 Judi's creative art quilts have been exhibited in twenty five group shows in NSW, Victoria and the USA, including two juried shows at the Manly Art Gallery NSW and two solo shows at Timeless Textiles Newcastle. Her work has received multiple awards for surface design, creative use of pigments and dyes and textile portraiture. Two of Judi's art quilts have won the Best of Show Acquisitive award at the Australian Cotton Fibre Expo. Many of her wall hangings have been purchased by private individuals. She works from her studio in Charlestown NSW.

Judi Nikoleski online: Webpage        

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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

Meet The New Quilt Artist: Alison Muir

Names of Artworks: Comfort and Feeding the aquifer 

Water is the driving force in Muir’s world. She had developed an individual style using layered 'vliesofixed' strips of cloth in the early 2000’s. 

The thesis and accompanying exhibition 'Fathoming the depths: informative textiles' presented social & environmental issues: the politics of water and an MDes (Hons) was awarded in 2010, using experimental works, questioning the audience about the messages in the textile and remaking new works for the 4 out of 12 messages which were not clear.

For the last 10 years, Muir has experimented with natural dyes and mordants, using indigo and Australian flora as the source material. Exhibitions include Quilt National 2011 and 2019 in USA, Australia Wide travelling exhibitions, Art Quilt Australia since inception and various International textile exhibitions in Europe, USA and Australia.

Muir starts with a 'water message' and the design is generated using appropriate research, techniques, colours and stitching with unconnected traditions such as dyed textiles and political comment, scientific details and text in natural dyed textile landscapes/seascapes.

All deliver messages, sometimes political and always passionate about our water environment

Alison Muir online: Website  Instagram  

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

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