Interlaced | Annabelle Collett

Head to Art Images, Norwood to experience Annabelle Collett’s latest collection of collaged fabric works. Drawing on the nostalgia of vintage fabrics, patterns and textures, these tactile works explore the connections between fashion, the body and domesticity. Like the budding artists exhibiting in ORNATE: South Australian Emerging Textiles, her work is informed by an ongoing investigation into the meaning of pattern in textiles.

Interlaced runs from 18 March to 10 April, visit Art Images for a preview of the works on display.

Image: Annabelle Collett, Lace Fragments, 2010, 
vintage lace pieces, various papers, 65 x 70 cm

Lara Torr | Feature Artist

Tell us about yourself, how would you describe your work?
I'm an artist and arts administrator. I juggle jobs in the arts and disability sector and urban renewal with my independent practice. There's a strong community focus in both these jobs and it means lots of meetings and conversations with lots of people. In contrast, my artwork is quite personal and quiet. Often small.

While I love working with other people to help them get creative projects off the ground, it's nice to have my own work to escape into.

Who or what inspires you to create?

I spend a lot of time on public transport and the combination of travel and thinking time seems to result in lots of ideas. I think it's really nice to spend a bit of time just sitting and thinking, so fellow passengers often see me smiling like a fool or making little notes and drawings on the scraps of paper in my bag.

Where was your inspiration drawn for this work?

I have been studying antique embroidered samplers for a number of years. They are primarily practical, rather than decorative, objects and I see them as a record of labour.

I’ve also been musing about the fact that portraiture often gives the impression that people in the past never moved; that life was conducted in painted freeze-frames featuring Sunday best and an indirect gaze.

What materials do you like to work with?

Paper and ink seem to be the mainstays for me with forays into fabric, plaster and sometimes metal.

What are your favourite 5 art related websites or blogs?

I mainly read cooking blogs (I think I make better art on a full stomach) but recently I've been a fairly regular visitor to these two sites:

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/electronicswatchbook a great pattern resource and http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld this site grew out of the amazing series of  podcasts 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'. Totally fascinating.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring artists, what would it be?

Arts takes time. Be patient.

Lara Torr graduated from the South Australian School of Art in 2006 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours). She has exhibited locally and nationally, including selected work for Hatched, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art and the touring exhibition Undercover (The Artist Book). She currently works at ArtsSA for the Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust and is a project coordinator for Renew Adelaide.

Craftsouth INFORM | Jason Collingwood

As part of Craftsouth's INFORM program, established UK rug weaver Jason Collingwood is presenting an artist talk on Monday 21 March at 6pm. Practicing for over 24 years, he will be sharing his expertise and experience on his creative process as well as the challenges of running a flourishing craft practice. His visit coincides with his workshop to be presented at the TAFTA Forum in Orange, NSW. The cost is free for Craftsouth members and $5 for non members, places are limited and for rsvp email niki.vouis@craftsouth.org.au 

For more information on Jason Collingwood visit his website. The Forum is also running several other workshops still open for enrolment including Artist Books, Creative Machine Embroidery and Vintage Recycling, for more information visit the website

Laura Haigh | Feature Artist

Tell us about yourself, how would you describe your work?

I work predominantly in textile, fibre based work - from paper, to soft scupture - to explore notions of the constructed identity, personal story and history and links between natural growth and personal growth.

Who or what inspires you to create?

I am inspired by words, stories, text, nature and natural form, tactile qualities of fibre, pattern and technique in textiles.

What materials do you like to work with? I enjoy working with thread, free machine embroidery, paper, translucent textiles and found/recycled textiles.

Where was your inspiration drawn for your work in ORNATE?

I was inspired to work with a lace-like form for my piece after visiting the Lace in Fashion exhibition at the NGV last year and drawing connections between the physicality and associations in lace work and the history of lace and the notions of story, memory and identity that I have been interested investigating.

What does "pattern" mean to you as a contemporary textile artist?

For me, pattern in textiles is the perfect medium for exploring patterns in our internal, emotional worlds - patterns of behaviour, thought and action become threads that form our identity and interpretations of the world. I live in a world experienced though a veil of interlocked text: laced and woven together.

What are your favourite 5 art related websites or blogs?

Oh, thats a bit of a tricky one, I'm not really sure - I'm always looking up new things depending on where my thinking/ project research is at! I'm currently looking at a lot of exhibition catalogues - particularly lace based and reading 'extreme knitting and lace'.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring artists, what would it be?

Keep creating - in any way - and never stop learning new skills! If I'm not feeling particularly like making anything for a while I will just try cook a new recipe. Reading a new magazine, looking at pretty things or teaching myself a new skill/technique.

Laura Haigh graduated from the South Australian School of Art in 2008 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Textiles). Her work was selected for the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition in 2009 and has exhibited locally at Magazine Gallery, Carclew Youth Arts and as part of Format Festival including a live sewing performance in 2010 and this year's snow globe collaborated with Lara Torr.

ORNATE: South Australian Contemporary Textiles

For the next few months leading up to May, we will feature the artists exhibiting in ORNATE: South Australian Contemporary Textiles at Prospect Gallery. The exhibition of eight emerging contemporary textile artists aims to signify textiles as an innovative medium in contemporary visual arts culture.

Ali Carpenter, Kara Growden, Laura Haigh, Kate O'Leary, Jessica Sanguesa, Ashleigh Taylor, Lara Torr and Briony Vickery have taken a variety of approaches to the  theme of "pattern" with an underlying ambition of reinventing the ideals and importance of the "hand-made" to a culture that is strongly influenced by the mechanized.

The exhibition dates run from 1-22 May with an opening event to be held on

Sunday 1 May 4-6pm.

Image: Kara Growden, Toile Country, 2010-11, recycled wallpaper,

 dimensions variable - 100 origami roosters

Home Stories | Artroom 5 opening

Whilst the weather may be grim this weekend, head indoors to see the latest works from artists including Irmina van Niele, Sera Waters, Bridget Currie, Troy-Anthony Baylis.

Adelaide Central School of Art has collaborated with the Migration Museum of SA, to present new works from a select group of artists with migrant heritage. Curated by Vivonne Thwaites, the artists Chris Aerfeldt, Roy Ananda, Caroline Facelli, Irmina van Niele, Lee Salomone, Kylie Waters and Sera Waters draw on social history material held in the Museum's collection that refers to their heritage, as inspiration.

The exhibition runs from 11 February - 19 March and public talks are to be held on Friday 25th February 12pm by Roy Ananda, Kylie Waters and Saturday 5th at 1pm by curator Vivonne Thwaites.

Also opening this Sunday 6pm is an exhibition of new works by Sera Waters, Bridget Currie and Troy-Anthony Baylis at Artroom5, Henley Beach.

For more information on the artists visit ACSA and Artroom5 websites.

Image: Irmina van Niele, Crude Comfort (Detail), 2010-11, found worn

cotton household linen, silk and cotton thread, plant dyes 

Textiles Workshops | Adelaide Central School of Art

For those looking to hone or extend their skills, check out Adelaide Central School of Art's semester one short course program here. 

Sera Waters will be presenting Embroidering Contemporary Art from May 2 - June 27. This course marries the learning of embroidery techniques with lectures which delve into the traditional histories and contemporary contexts of embroidery in art and the wider community. Students will learn a range of basic traditional embroidery skills, including those used in gold work, black work, crewel work and silk-shading, as well as beginning and finishing techniques. With the focus of embroidery in contemporary art, students will be encouraged to expand upon the skills learned  with alternative materials and in non-conventional ways. Cost $560

Sculptural Forms: an exploration of natural fibres by Sandy Elverd May 14 - June 4, will explore the potential of natural plant materials to create a series of small sculptural forms using a variety of techniques and materials. Basketry, string making, netting and random stitch are some of the areas to be explored. A range of resources will introduce participants  to fibre sculpture within Australian and a global context.  Cost: $390

For more information on short courses contact the school on 8364 5075 or visit their website. 

Sera Waters

Things Happened, 2010

card, teatowel, cotton, wooden beads, trim, stuffing

Photograph: Grant Hancock