A Stitch in Time - Hamilton Art Gallery 30 November - 16 February 2020 - Hamilton Gallery

A Stitch in Time
                                   A STITCH IN TIME   1

  Hamilton Art Gallery
  30 November - 16 February 2020

A STITCH IN TIME       2

                                 Acknowledgement
     Southern Grampians Shire Council acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait
  Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung and Bunganditj
    people, the traditional custodians of the lands where we live and work. We pay our respects to
ancestors and Elders, past, present and emerging. Southern Grampians Shire Council is committed
 to honouring Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s unique cultural and spiritual
            relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society.

A STITCH IN TIME       3

A Stitch in Time

A Stitch in Time brings together the work             Craft practices were given resounding
of seven prominent, contemporary female               credibility in the domain of ‘high art’ during the
Australian artists, each working across a broad       Women’s Movement, with Feminist artists of
range of media from painting, sculpture and           the 1970s firmly claiming these craft practices
printmaking, to design and installation.              as powerful political statements in their
                                                      work, unleashing craft’s radical potential and
The artists presented in A Stitch in Time all         contributing to craft’s role in the evolution of
share an interest in working with an array of         contemporary art globally.
traditionally craft-related techniques, deploying
a breadth of processes from stitching, beadwork       In contrast to the overarching historical
and carving, to assemblage, patchwork and             characterisation of craft in the West as inferior
weaving, in their realisation of powerfully           to other ‘higher art forms’, we need not look
contemporary statements.                              far for examples of the integral, venerated
                                                      function of craft in First Nations cultures across
Historically, predominantly in the West, craft        Australia; with master weavers and possum skin
has been deemed an ‘inferior art’, due to its         cloak makers, for example, held in the highest
association with functionality and the sexist         regard. The complex interconnections between
characterisation of craft as a ‘domestic art’, or     cultural and creative expression, coupled with
of being the ‘domain of women’. The elevation         functionality, contribute to the reverence with
of craft as a ‘high art’ and the recognition of       which these artforms are treated.
women artists has been inextricably linked.
                                                      Today, craft practices sit resolutely within
The British Arts and Crafts Movement of the           contemporary art, holding an equal footing in
19th Century saw a return to pre-industrial           a field of collapsing material hierarchies, whilst
ideals of beauty, with a revival of arts and crafts   being imbued with consequential cultural
practices, however the role of women remained         and political power. A Stitch in Time presents
a paradoxical one: with a dramatic increase in        artists who are skilfully enfolding a multiplicity
female artists and designers, women’s work            of techniques and processes into works of
remained underacknowledged.                           profound potency.

The emergence of the Bauhaus movement
and Modernism during the 20th Century led                Maudie Palmer AO & Eugene Howard, 2019
to a blurring of the lines between art and craft,                      Co-curators A Stitch in Time
yet many women remained confined to craft
and decorative practices, with supposedly
more masculine fields of painting, sculpture,
design and architecture still dominated by
men. Modernism did see a dramatic increase
in women across disciplines, particularly in
architecture and design, yet many of these
women have been denied the recognition they
deserved.

A STITCH IN TIME        4

1
Fiona Abicare
Serpentine moon lounge for Roberto
(2019)

Seaspray Cavalli, timber frame, upholstery
foam/dacron 3000 x 1500 x 910 mm

Working through the expanded practice of               fashion as art within interior design histories – as
sculpture, Fiona Abicare’s work is distinguished       well as her amalgamation of domestic and artistic
by its correspondence with a range of fields, such     forms – highlights her interest in the role of women
as sculpture, fashion, interior design, and cultural   within creative enterprise. These ideas are further
history, her creative process has a historical         enhanced by presenting works aligned with
relationship to the various iterations of the ‘total   domestic display, such as cabinetry and soft
artwork’ (Gesamtkunstwerk) found in modernist          furnishings.
design. Abicare is interested in transforming the
traditional distinctions between art and               Her work often appears as both sculpture and
design through her decisions, materials and            décor, with objects presented here developed
methodologies, and pays specific attention to the      specifically from her research into the 1930s and
material qualities of objects and how an audience      40s ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ and the 1990s
might encounter their placement in space. Based        Californian ‘Shabby chic’ style.
on extensive material research and conceptual
framing, Abicare’s methodology addresses the
intersection between histories of social space and                          Vikki McInnes, October 2019
their contemporary contexts.

Often collaborative in nature, Abicare’s practice
continues to be influenced by modernist art,
design and architecture as well as by film and
fashion. Her ongoing exploration of the role of

A STITCH IN TIME   5

1
Fiona Abicare
Serpentine moon lounge for Roberto (2019)

A STITCH IN TIME         6

2
Vicki Couzens
Koorookee meerreeng kooramookyan
(grandmothers Country cloak)
(2019)

Possum skins and twine
3000 x 1500 x 910 mm

These prints are a celebration of my experience        and carry our babies. Cloaks were an important
printmaking and a 20-year relationship with the        trade item. Cloaks were significant in ritual
Australian Print Workshop (APW). I was honoured        and ceremony. We were buried in our cloaks –
to be offered the Collie Printmaking Fellowship        ‘wrapped in our Country.’
in 2018 by APW and so this body of work is the
result of that Fellowship. I was able to explore       To make a cloak was a very labour intensive and
more printmaking mediums of photolithography           time-consuming process. The skins were gathered,
and lithography, where previously I had only           stretched and cured, incised with designs and
done etching. Alongside this 20-year printmaking       sewn together with kangaroo sinew; some cloaks
is my 20 years in language revitalisation in our       were made of 50 or more skins. The designs on
Gunditjmara Mother Tongue. I included text in          the skins depicted stories of clan and Country.
my language in one of the works (I usually title my
works with language) and this was a first also as      Weaving and/or sewing put me in a calm, chilled
previously I had only ever used images, symbols        space; another dimension where I am centred and
and motifs, or colour and shading.                     in touch with the Ancestors and creator spirits. It is
                                                       very spiritual. The other great thing about weaving
Printmaking is a great medium to work in, it is very   or sewing cloaks is that I am usually sitting down
labour intensive and hands on, as is possum cloak      with community or family, so we yarn as we sew
making and weaving, two of the other practices         or weave; we share thoughts, stories and ideas,
that I do. Both, like printmaking, are hands on        so culture is continued, alive and handed on.
and very visceral and tactile which is something
that I love when I am making and creating.
                                                                                      Vicki Couzens, 2019
Possum skin cloaks were a vital part of Aboriginal
people’s lives in pre-European times. Cloaks were
used in daily activity, to keep warm, to sleep in

A STITCH IN TIME   7

2
Vicki Couzens
Koorookee meerreeng kooramookyan (grandmothers Country cloak) (2019)

A STITCH IN TIME       8

3
Marion Manifold
Flowers of the Field – Waiting for the
Sunrise
Triptych

Linocut on BFK Rives paper, embroidery, beads
& gouache
82 x 3140 mm

My interest in identity and body imaging extends    Stitching has multi-purposes: it evolves from
to military history as many of my family members    what was traditionally seen as women’s work to
have served in the defence force. I toured the      highlighting women’s rank and insignias showing
Somme and Western Front in 2011 to get a sense      that women played vital and invaluable roles in
of my grandfather’s WW1 service. And in 2014        the war – a time of women’s independence; it is a
I researched French war centenary exhibitions       reminder of the secret stitched patterns the women
and related to a reference to genetic memory        used in coding; and each stitch is a way of coming
which could be relayed for many generations;        to terms with the tragedy of war and destruction
I understood why the past was still with me. I      of young women’s lives and shattered identities.
wondered at the women left at home who also
made their contribution and those who served in
the field – the Flowers of the Field.                                         Marion Manifold, 2019

This work remembers women’s war work and
includes details from badges including those worn
by the Red Cross, the Emergency Signal Corps, the
Mother’s and Widows Badge, and the Women’s
Auxiliary, and it remembers women of the Special
Operations Executive who acted as resistance
workers and radio transmitters in France in World
War 2 – many were executed in concentration
camps.

3
Marion Manifold
Flowers of the Field – Waiting for the Sunrise (2019)

A STITCH IN TIME         10

4
Sanné Mestrom
Black Painting IV
(2018)

Unspun undyed woollen tapestry, steel
235 x 141 x 51 cm

Courtesy the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney

I have created these tapestries over a period of       My mother came over from New Zealand to work
five years. As the title suggests, they reference      on the earlier iterations of these ‘canvases’ with me.
American artist Frank Stella’s series of paintings     Working together was a wonderful process. Whilst
by the same name. “Stella’s paintings were             her profession is nursing, she also has a lifetime of
engaged in a process of reduction and refinement       practice in almost every craft imaginable including
of the medium.” Whereas, in my case I am not           embroidery, crochet, flower arranging, drawing,
creating a ‘painting’ as such, but creating the        card-making, knitting, sewing and upholstery.
canvas upon which a painting might be made.            When we were young, she always joined local
                                                       community classes to learn new skills and she
In this work I consider the warp and the weft          shared these skills with me and my sister. Together
of the weaving itself as the ultimate minimalist       we were always working on new projects, from
gesture to which Stella aspired in the 60s. I          collaborative crochet rugs to elaborate drawing
wanted to strip the painting back to its most          exhibitions which we mounted at home in our
reductive state - a state prior to the application     rumpus room. My mother’s love of working with her
of paint, a state even prior to the bleaching of the   hands and ‘making’ was directly transferred to me
canvas upon which one might paint, a ‘pure’ state
when the canvas itself is completely unaffected
by the painterly process. What remains, when                                        Sanné Mestrom, 2019
all is stripped back, is the warp and weft of
raw fibre which ironically is vibrantly coloured
and has all shades of white, brown and black.

A STITCH IN TIME   11

4
Sanné Mestrom
Black Painting IV (2018)

A STITCH IN TIME       12

5
Sally Smart
Assembly (Performance)
2019

Digital print on satin with collage elements
(textile and hair)
275cm x300cm

Sally Smart’s practice has engaged with the female   complex collages that lay the human condition
subject for over 30 years, employing women’s         bare.
bodies, histories and legacies to consider female
subjectivity within broader cultural frameworks.     Smart’s commitment to avant-garde histories
Working across textile, film, performance,           and legacies is further reflected in assemblage
painting, collage and multi-layered installations,   embroidery works – part of a major ongoing project,
Smart’s preoccupation with cutting, stitching,       ‘The Choreography of Cutting’, that reframes and
collage and fabricating has embodied a long-         refigures the work of the Ballets Russes. Smart
held commitment to feminism and the desire to        creates these works by first digitally cutting up
take risks and transcend boundaries; a practice      images of the costumes designed for the dance
that has continually foregrounded women as both      company by key early modernist artists including
authors and subjects.                                Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Sonia Delaunay
                                                     among others. By engaging the experimental
Transgressive female agency is certainly at          choreography, costume and theatre design of the
work in the major new textile works ‘Assembly        Ballet Russes, as well as its legacies, Smart maps
(Performance)’, in which Smart orchestrates a        multiple ideas, temporalities and space to create
line-up of female subjects who, in a powerful        a dynamic materialisation of thought, gesture and
subversion of the female gaze, turn their backs      action and, in so doing, she reimagines and
to the viewer. The work references that of avant-    embodies a vigorous discourse between the
garde choreographer Pina Bausch – who, like          historical and contemporary avant-gardes.
Smart, was well known for combining text,
movement, imagery and emotional directness in
                                                                          Vikki McInnes, October 2019

A STITCH IN TIME   13

5
Sally Smart
Assembly (Performance) (2019) (detail)

A STITCH IN TIME        14

6
Kylie Stillman
Masking the Seam
(2017)

Hand cut paperback books, timber shelves,
sawhorse and ladder.
182 x 144 x 80 cm ( H x W x D)

I enjoy exploring ways of making a mark, using         act of working with cloth scraps ‘Two halves of a
alternatives to conventional drawing and               cloth would find their way back together again
sculpting materials and finding ‘pigments’ from        ‘rentrayage’ - to reweave across the cut. To make
the ‘real world’ to create an artwork. In ‘Masking     whole.’ The literal french translation of this is to
the Seam’ I explore how line can be presented in       mask the seam, which for Kylie talks a lot about
absence, in the shadow of the carved book or as        how she values the way things are made, evidence
in the series of ‘Thread Drawings’ presented as a      in their construction and means of repairing them.
stitched mark.
                                                       Additionally the content of the drawings: stitch
In each case the works are a means of bringing         samplers, mathematical constructs, mechanical
two-dimensional representations into a three           cross sections, descriptive diagrams, vapour
dimensional space. This interest is directly           shadows and fractal stems in many ways talk
connected to my background in domestic craft           about how things are made and constructed.
and having learnt to sew and construct garments        When considering how the works are made:
from a young age, laying out fabric flat and           using individual hand cuts into paper and hand-
working with a pattern to construct something to       threaded stitches this concept comes full circle,
form to the contours of the body.                      for the artist these pieces celebrate the initial
                                                       marks made on a piece of paper, a simple gesture
The title ‘Masking the Seam’ came from reading         that signifies where so many things begin.
‘Cloth Lullaby - The woven life of Louise Bourgeois’
by Amy Novesky in the book it talks about
Bourgeois family background in textiles and the                                       Kylie Stillman, 2019

A STITCH IN TIME   15

6
Kylie Stillman
Masking the Seam (2017)

A STITCH IN TIME        16

7
Louise Weaver
Empty cage
(2009)

Hand crocheted lambs wool over hand turned
persimmon wood, and Japanese rice wine gourd,
23 x 21 x 15 cm

Making for me is innate – it is my way of interacting     I also love to listen to music, read and walk – in
with and understanding the world. I love trialing         the city, the Botanic Gardens especially, also by
ideas and testing materials – seeing how their            the sea and in the bush. I have realised that I solve
properties may be extended and implemented                problems and have my greatest breakthroughs in
in new, often-unexpected ways. I think through            thinking when I walk – these are different to the
making. I attempt to discover something new               ideas and breakthroughs that occur when making
in everything I do – this constant search is very         – (thinking through making). Often my best ideas
active, addictive and intellectually stimulating. It’s    occur when I least expect it – when I let things just
what makes all art (and life) worthwhile.                 wash over me – a state that is almost a form of
                                                          meditation – being open to the question “what if?”.
Inspiration for my work comes from a vast and
eclectic range of personal, art-historical, scientific,
popular and material sources. I have very specific                                      Louise Weaver, 2019
taste ranging from pre-historic artifacts to
contemporary works. The quality that unifies my
preference for these seemingly disparate works is
a current of deep personal intensity. I spend a lot
of time looking at art first hand, both in Australia
and around the world. I see this as active research,
but it is fundamentally an abiding passion.

A STITCH IN TIME   17

7
Louise Weaver
Empty cage (2009)

A STITCH IN TIME       18

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank the      We also wish to thank John and Catherine
artists whose works are featured in A Stitch in    Thomson of Crawford River Wines who are
Time: Fiona Abicare, Vicki Couzens, Marion         kindly providing us with a range of fine wines
Manifold, Sanné Mestrom, Sally Smart, Kylie        for the Gallery’s seasonal openings.
Stillman and Louise Weaver.
                                                   All Hamilton Gallery exhibitions are a team effort
This extraordinary exhibition would not have       and I would like to thank our dedicated staff:
been possible without the professional curation    Ian Brilley, Simon Sharrock, Lee Jones, Mengda
of Maudie Palmer AO and Eugene Howard. For         Liu and Angus Christie for their ongoing
their support, guidance and generosity, I thank    commitment to the gallery.
them.
                                                   Furthermore, we deeply appreciate the Hamilton
We are indebted to the lenders to the exhibition   Gallery Friends Committee, who graciously
McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery and the        volunteer their time and significant expertise.
artists.
                                                 As always, we are grateful for the ongoing
We gratefully acknowledge Vicki McInnes, commitment to the gallery’s collection from the
Darren Knight, Christopher Hodges, Bryan Hamilton Gallery Trust Fund; all of our generous
Hooper, Ursula Sullivan, Lisa Byrne, Simon Hamilton Gallery Friends, our donors and
Lawrie and Christopher Palmer for their support. benefactors.

We thank the artists’ dealers: Sarah Scout         Finally, the Hamilton Gallery and our visitors
Presents, Sullivan+Strumpf and Darren Knight       are indebted to the Southern Grampians Shire
Gallery for their generous support.                Council and Creative Victoria who together
                                                   enable the Gallery to continue to bring
To International Art Services (IAS), we extend     exceptional exhibitions to Hamilton and the
our appreciation for their contribution to the     region.
transport of the exhibition from Melbourne.

A very special thanks to Jacqui de Kievit, Susie                                        Amy Knight
McKinnon, Anthony Rees, Jane MacDonald and
Careena McDonald for helping us welcome our                         Executive Officer, Cultural Arts
guests from Melbourne.                                          Southern Grampians Shire Council

A STITCH IN TIME   19

© 2019 Hamilton Gallery, artists and authors.