Winter is the season of knitting, crochet and sewing. It’s the only time of year when sitting surrounded by hundreds of grams of wool or fabric doesn’t make you a sweltering mess.
It’s also the best time of year to head indoors to enjoy textile-based artworks and Wollongong Art Gallery is currently home to three wonderful, must-see exhibitions. Even better, it’s all free (which means more money to spend on yarn!)
Diana Wood Conroy’s An Archaeology of Woven Tapestry explores 60 years of her work in breathtaking colour and scope. There’s so much to explore here, including motifs of birds and leaves intricately woven into her tapestries, and loops and knots of yarn so exquisitely coloured that I could barely resist reaching out and touching them.
Someone else must have had less success at keeping their hands to themselves as a loud announcement was made, warning visitors to ‘please not touch the artwork’.
I was lucky enough to be wandering around the exhibition as Diana was taking students from a weaving workshop she was running around each piece and listened in as she pointed out two pieces hanging from the ceiling. While the fronts showed intricately woven detail, the backs of each artwork were also viewable with the tails of the yarn still showing; a different and yet equally beautiful side to the work and a visual reminder of the hours of labour woven into them.
What is held, is here is Michele Elliot’s latest body of work. It is a beautiful exploration of "human frailty, loss and longing". Each Thursday she holds "a tablecloth and 3 chairs", a free sewing circle within the exhibition space where attendees can bring their own work to stitch while Michele discusses one of her works.
With Every Fibre of Our Being consists of textiles from the collection and examines how, "Our many histories, narratives, and ways of being are inextricably woven into the fabric of our very being." It's incredibly broad, wonderfully delightful and features everything from traditional fabric printing and embroidery to fluffy clip-on koalas and woven bras.
I left the gallery thoroughly inspired and happy for the rainy day, so I could hunker down and play amongst my yarn.
The gallery is hosting two free artist talks with Michele Elliot and Diana Wood Conroy. See here for more details
