Meet the Maker 1-3pm Thursday 9 May: Suzanne Laird

Each Thursday throughout The New Quilt exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, an artist will be sharing insights into their inspiration and process. First up, from 1-3pm on Thursday 9 May is Suzanne Laird and her quilt Truth Decay. Come along and meet Suzanne. No pre-booking required.

Upcoming Thursdays 1-3pm

• Thursday 16 May: Alan Tremain
• Thursday 23 May: Anita Brown
• Thursday 30 May: Alison Winchester and Lisa Walton
• Thursday 6 June: Judy Hooworth and Val Nadin
• Thursday 13 June: Jenny Bowker and Sheila Beer
• Thursday 20 June: Kay Murray and Brenda Gael Smith

The New Quilt Prize 2024

Join Hawkesbury Regional Gallery curator Diana Robson for a floor talk about The New Quilt on Wednesday, 8 May from 11 am to 12 noon. Book online.

The New Quilt 2024 sees the introduction of two new awards. Congratulations to the prize winners:

• The New Quilt Prize $1500: Sue Dennis Tempest
• The New Quilt Prize Runner Up $500: Anna Brown Canopy 27
  

Tempest 135 x 100 cm 

The wind howls as foliage is flung around in a tempest. How to best capture the awe-inspiring natural event of a storm, using print and stitch in a very elemental form was intriguing. 

Hand dyed, hand printed with plant matter, machine pieced, machine quilted 

Cotton, batting, thread, textile ink, fabric dye 

Photographer: Bob Dennis

  

Canopy 27 173 x 180 cm 

Little of the eucalypt canopy survives after the ferocity of the bush fires. 

Raw edge reverse appliqué, machine pieced and hand quilted. 

Commercially dyed cotton.

The New Quilt 2024 Online Gallery 

View all of the finalists in The New Quilt 2024 Online Gallery.

Plan an art excursion!  

The New Quilt 2024, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 4 May to 23 June 2024.

The public program includes the following special events:

• Meet the Maker Thursdays: 1-3pm - no pre-booking required
  
• Sunday, 19 May, 1 to 3 pm: Artists in Conversation floor talk
• Saturday, 1 June, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm: Workshop with Jessica Wheelahan, Artful Stitching with Sustainable Materials

Book online at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

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 2024 Preview: Zara Zannettino

The final preview for The New Quilt 2024 is Bedazzled by Zara Zannettino from Highbury, South Australia.

Zara is a former Microbiologist and Biochemist. Over the last 20 years, she has transitioned from creating original quilt designs for commissions, to appraising quilts and tutoring. In recent years, Zara has found great satisfaction in taking up the challenge of entering juried national and international fine art and quilt art exhibitions. Zara typically depicts natural subject matter that is derived from her own macro-photographic observations. The awe-inspiring beauty and often unappreciated details found in nature are what drives many of Zara’s choices in her art. Zara uses improvisational cut, raw edge-applique without the use of fusible webbing or templates. This spontaneous approach allows her to take advantage of the subtle colours and opportune patterns found within hand-dyed fabrics. The final product is further enhanced by the multi-layering steps of free-motion machine, thread-sketching and quilting texture across the various fabric and batting layers.

 

Plan an art excursion!  

The New Quilt 2024, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 4 May to 23 June 2024.

The public program includes the following special events:

• Friday 3 May from 6 pm: official opening and awards ceremony
• Wednesday, 8 May, 11 am to 12 noon: Curator’s talk with Diana Robson
• Sunday, 19 May, 1 to 3 pm: Artists in Conversation floor talk
• Saturday, 1 June, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm: Workshop with Jessica Wheelahan, Artful Stitching with Sustainable Materials

Book online at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

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 2024 Preview: Alison Winchester

Alison Winchester of Bulli, New South Wales created Sheep Eat Grass from merino and Corriedale wool.

Alison was interested in textile design and making traditional quilts when she was in high school. Over many years' experience making quilts for her children and friends, it led her into into textile art based on our beautiful landscape in NSW. Alison's body of work is from paddocks to wall piece using the natural Australian grown wool, produced locally, from her brother's sheep farm at Majors Creek NSW. She composes work that reflect Australian landscape by piecing together and composing disparate elements taking the viewer back to simpler times. Alison reflects the time old tradition of using what is available at hand to use in her art. See more of Alison's artwork at: 

• www.alisonwinchester.com
• IG: @alison.winchester
  

 

Plan an art excursion!  

The New Quilt 2024, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 4 May to 23 June 2024.

The public program includes the following special events:

• Friday 3 May from 6 pm: official opening and awards ceremony
• Wednesday, 8 May, 11 am to 12 noon: Curator’s talk with Diana Robson
• Sunday, 19 May, 1 to 3 pm: Artists in Conversation floor talk
• Saturday, 1 June, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm: Workshop with Jessica Wheelahan, Artful Stitching with Sustainable Materials

Book online at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

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 2024 Preview: Grace Widders

Grace Widders explored the possibilities of wedges to create a desert landscape entitled 2-3-4.

Grace is an intuitive, award winning quilter with a long practiced background in design and technique. Her love of the Australian wagga style of quilt is reflected in much of her work. As a teacher by trade, she is well versed in ensuring her students have a solid foundation of skills.

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.

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.

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Lisa Walton

Tidal Flow by Lisa Walton is composed of layered felt, enriched by free-motion quilting.

Lisa has been awarded many prizes for her quilts including major international and Australian quilt shows. She 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. Lisa was a Board Member and then President of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). She is now teaching and lecturing virtually online as well as producing a series of Quilt Stories on her YouTube Channel. See more of Lisa's artwork at: 

• www.lisawaltonartist.com
• Facebook: lisawaltonart
• Instagram: @lisawaltonartist 
   

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Alan R Tremain

Alan R Tremain made Every Dog Has Its Day from dog food plastic sacks and a blue tarpaulin as a commentary on the plight of rescued dogs, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Alan is a professional textile artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales with over 40 years’ experience. He co-ordinates the design of exhibitions, projects, workshops and classes using textiles as a common medium. In past years he has been a frequent tutor at popular local, national and international residential craft schools. Alan’s is passionate about sharng his knowledge and techniques including quilting, dyeing, and creative heirloom work.   Hisinspiration is driven by a natural eye for colour and frequently involves using daring bright nonconventional combinations and placement of colours within his dynamic design. See more of Alan's artwork at:

• www.ozquiltdesign.com
• @alanrtremain70
  

  

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Jeanne Treleaven

Symmetry is created by Jeanne Treleaven of Adelaide, South Australia.

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Tania Tanti

Today we highlight Get Down In Green by Tania Tanti that incoporates painting, free motion embroidery and quilting.

As a contemporary artist specializing in textile art, Tania utilizes a diverse range of mediums such as dyeing, painting, thread painting, and stitching to construct my pieces. She is particularly drawn to bold and contrasting colors, allowing shapes, characters, and imaginary landscapes to organically emerge and intertwine within my artworks. Occasionally, a glimpse into her thoughts on life can be found, often conveyed with a touch of humor. 

Tania's objective is to challenge the conventional perception of quilting and to encourage others to appreciate the uniqueness, excitement, and intricacy inherent in textile works. The countless hours, honed skills, and challenges faced while working with textiles as a medium are not widely recognized, and she believes it is crucial to emphasize in our modern era, the part that the textile medium plays in our contemporary art space and the distinctiveness of such unique artful creations. See more of Tania's artwork at:

• www.taniatanti.com.au
• Facebook: colorcodeddreams
• Instagram: @tania_tanti_artist 
  

 

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Tamara Stunnell

Tamara Stunnell of Moonee Ponds, Victoria created Still Life in response to the Modern Quilt Guild's (MQG) 2024 Super Scrappy Challenge. Many fabrics have been used to make the quilt including recycled cotton work shirts, modern prints, and solids.

Tamara’s quilting journey started when she saw a magazine cover featuring a quilt of rectangles in red and yellow fabrics. In the last couple of years Tamara has started to branch out into creating her own quilt designs, usually in response to MQG design challenges. Tamara has been a member of Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild since 2016 and the President for several years. She has had quilts at Quiltcon 2023 and 2024, Victorian Quilters Showcase 2023, the ‘To There and Back’ quilt show in Deniliquin 2023 and MPavilion 2023-2024. See more of Tamara's artwork on Instagram at: @tstunnell

 

 

 

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.

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Brenda Gael Smith

 Forza Vitale: Breathe by Brenda Gael Smith is inspired by the ocean view at Copacabana and the news of a life-changing diagnosis.

Brenda creates textile paintings and sketches made from a rich palette of hand-dyed fabrics complemented by extensive, textural stitching demonstrating the transformative power of stitch. Abstraction is a persistent and insistent force. Working improvisationally, she captures the essence of her subjects to impart a sense of wonder of the natural world and a strong affinity to place. See more of Brenda's artwork at:

• www.brendagaelsmith.com
• Facebook: Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting
• Instagram: @brendagaelsmith 
  

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.

 

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Jane Rundle

 Nurturing the Pod is an improvisationally pieced quilt by Jane Rundle of Wakerley, Queensland.

Jane has been quilting since 1980, originally making traditional quilts, she now concentrates on constructing original art and modern improvisational quilts, some often with a twist on traditional design. Early traditional patchwork classes gave her a solid base to be able to construct anything she sets her mind to. Often, new quilts start with a piece of fabric on the design wall, and grow from there, mostly the quilt tells her what comes next! She is inspired by colour, shape and of course the texture of machine quilting. Machine quilting is her passion, she can often be found just doodling machine quilting designs. See more of Jane's artwork on Instagram at: @janemadlyquilting

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. 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Jill Rumble

Jill Rumble of Erina created Petrichor from wool blend fabric, machine and embroidery threads. Growing up in the country has always influenced Jill's creativity having fibre, colour, line and stitch as a means of expression.

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. 

 

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Lisa Reid

 Far Meadow by Lisa Reid is made from linen. silk. cotton and recycled fabrics.

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. 

 

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Val Nadin

A Fractured Landscape - After the Flood by Val Nadin considers the destructive power of nature and, in particular, when the Nepean River burst its banks in 2022 and inundated the Yarramundi bridge.

Val’s interest in quilts began in 1980, while she was living in Singapore. She developed her skills and technique in both traditional and art quilt-making over 40 years. She has taught many classes, judged exhibitions, and worked on Valuation Committee for 25 years. Many of her works are in Australian-themed series, for example, ‘Convicts & Soldiers’, ‘Bushfires’, ‘Drought’, and more recently, ‘Floods’. Val’s quilts have been exhibited across Australia and internationally. Her favourite techniques include strip piecing, and the inclusion of her own hand-dyed fabrics and found objects such as teabags, plastics, and beads. She is currently working on a series of small quilts, using fabrics identified with specific cultures, such as Australia’s First Nations, Indonesia, France, England, and Africa.

 

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Kay Murray

What’s going on with this weather? is by Kay Murray of Eastwood, New South Wales and features Botanical gel plate printing.

Kay Murray is a textile practitioner, artist and educator. She has worked with both young people and adults for over 40 years. Her inspiration takes an experiential form, often based on places or events that she has encountered, particularly related to her early life on a working Merino property. Nature and the environment has provided layers of inspiration and lead to a concern with climate change and its effects on all aspects but especially food security and the decline of bees. Having experience with a range of textiles under the guidance of female family generations, and through tertiary studies in textiles, Kay is proficient in, and enjoys, many techniques including embroidery and quilting as means to express her ideas. Cloth colouration through dyeing, gel plate printing and deconstructed screen printing are amongst her preferred methods, often using the actual materials such as foliage to create her designs for printing. These techniques allow her to capture an idea and then enhance it with more traditional techniques with hand and machine embroidery, and quilting being familiar methods of embellishment. Kay is fully immersed her daily textile practice, creating a wide variety of functional and decorative textiles in her well equipped sewing room. She is a member of QuiltNSW, Eastwood Patchwork Quilters and ATASDA (Australian Textile Arts & Surface Design Association Inc). 

Follow Kay on Instagram: @stitchaday

 

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.

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Alison Muir

Alison Muir of Cremorne, New South Wales created 'disillusion' a protest as a commentary on capitalism and corporate greed. She writes:

The devastating images of Antarctic glaciers collapsing into the sea around the frozen landmass are the inspiration for the work. The pale indigo blue of an expiring vat and the density of cotton sheeting allowed these two materials to further develop the concept into a larger than human scale wall image.

View more of Alison's artwork at: www.muirandmuir.com.au

Follow Alison on Instagram at: @textile_expressions

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.

 

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Jill Miglietti

Do you really need this? by Jill Miglietti  of Frankston South, Victoria is made from torn, glued, stitched and stitched privacy envelopes. 

Using an array of fibre and textile techniques, Jill constructs two- and three-dimensional artworks that portray her responses to the physical, external world and her inner, emotional being. Her work expands ideas about memory, identity and the passing of time by manipulating materials and forms into embodied narratives that feel instinctive and familiar. The processes of reduction, abstraction and repetition build surfaces and structures that evoke the essence of place, of lived experience and of memory. Physical and metaphorical layers are assembled from cloth along with found objects, text and other media to expand the dynamic space between two and three dimensions. With work in public and private collections, Miglietti has been exhibiting since completing a Diploma of Textile Art in 2012. Her work has also appeared in Australian and international publications. 

View more of Jill's artwork at: 

• www.jillmiglietti.com
• Facebook artist page
• Instagram: @jillmigliettitextileart 
   

 

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.

The New Quilt 2024 Preview: Barbara Mellor

Today we highlight Winter Weeping with Moon by Barbara Mellor of St Helens, Tasmania.

Barbara was educated in Scotland and grew up in the country with a love for people and open spaces. She moved to Australia as a home economics teacher and after a successful career in Secondary education as a school principal, she retired to Tasmania and indulged her love for beautiful textiles.  Tasmania's wonderful landscapes and natural beauty drew her to the Island. Barbara loves the Japanese style and often discovers elements coming through in her quilts. She often uses Japanese silk in her traditional quilts. Barbara’s main work is in art quilting and is often pictorial.  She likes to research how to achieve different effects in textiles using different media. She usually applies paint on fabrics when she works and has recently experimented with the use of paper and loose threads.

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.