Alvena Hall, ‘Funisia lace vessel’, Photo: Michel Kluvanek
A new textile exhibition Contemplating an Archean Land opens next Sunday 7 October at Prospect Gallery, and features the work of Ines Parker and Alvena Hall.
Alvena Hall, a lace expert who recently was a finalist in the Love Lace 2011 exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and also this years Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, works explore the geological record of when the great continents formed. Inspired by the Ediacara Hills in the northern Flinders Ranges, her pieces also look into the deep ices ages, erosion of the ancient sea pavements and the ongoing discovery of fossils in the area today.
Ines Parker, ‘No. 3 Karlwe Karlwe series’, woven tapestry: wool, cotton, silk, 59 x 28cm.
Ines Parker's inspiration is drawn from the Devils Marbles in Northern Territory, whilst the artist was camping in the area. According to the local Warumungu indigenous Australians, the huge rounded stones are eggs laid during the Dreamtime by the Rainbow Serpent. The works emphasize the mystical presence of land formations, which transform throughout different times of the day.
"The collection of artwork produced, including wall pieces in traditional quilt format,
complex cloth with elaborated surfaces, smaller panels, and sculptured lace, takes on the notion that time is a kind of filter and it selects only certain biota, under very special conditions to become fossils. That they are ever found at all is even more remarkable." - Prospect Gallery, 2012
