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.