One of the strategies I often use in the initial stages of a project is to create a clear set of starting points to work from. This is one of the many gifts I have been given from years of working with Australian artist, educator and mentor Ruth Hadlow. It has also become a very important teaching tool in my own practice as an art educator.
For this project, I was looking for starting points that were relevant to all participants, as well as elements that could reflect the exhibition rationale and fit within the (broad) parameters of drawing and diaspora.
We had three points for today's discussion;
1. A piece of cloth from home
2. A tool that is used to make/engage in their 'skills and interests'
3. A story relevant to themselves
All of the women had such wonderful stories and connections with textiles, stitching and cloth.
Ayesha talked to us about her dress-making skills and how they began when she was 6 or 7 years old making doll's clothes with her friend. I share similar origins with my interest in cloth and textiles as I played with dolls as a child, but that involved making clothes, furniture and other elaborate items of luxury for them. I have also noticed over the last six weeks that many of the women have brought their alterations and ideas for new garments to Ayesha at the start of some sessions.
Supreet also talked about cutting up one of her mother's scarves as a 4 or 5 year old to make a dress for her doll. Sunita taught herself to knit when her first child was born, she shared the exquisitely crafted dress, hat, booties and cardigan with us. She talked about following an Australian book where the knitting standards were very different to Indian standards.
It reminded me of a piece Paula Abood wrote for an exhibition I had in 2010 called Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do
"My grandmother created a lexicon of imagery and utilitarian objects: rugs, spreads, throws, cardigans and dresses. A thousand and one doilies represent the idiom of her work. Her creative legacy adorns the homes of those who came into her cultural milieu. Her capacity to produce is the stuff of the female urban migrant legend that family members often like to tell, relating her extraordinary ability to look at a visual image and turn it into the architecture of crochet. She was never taught to read or write is how storytellers preface their conversation. But she could so easily turn the mathematics of abstraction into hyperbolic space."
From The Poetics of Crochet Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do exhibition catalogue 2010
Kausar shared a wonderful collage she made from waste paper during a teachers' assistant course in Western Australia when she first arrived in Australia. The collaged image was of Busselton Jetty on the Margaret River. The collage was reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, such beautiful detail and texture built with paper that was cut, torn and pieced together very carefully.
Simi told us that she made a quick decision to bring in her mother-in-law's shirt she had left behind the last time she visited. She explained that this had sentimental value as she missed her mother-in-law. This sparked laughter among the women, I couldn't tell at first if Simi was serious or being sarcastic. After getting to know her, I realise that she was indeed sincere. Simi has a very beautiful, happy nature and I don't think she was trying to make us laugh!
Simi also brought in a small collection of objects - some found, others broken. She keeps things like an odd earring, a broken brooch head, small toys for embroidery and attaching them to cloth. She expressed her interest in making artwork from waste. She selects and keeps interesting images from magazines for collage artworks with her son.
Simi, like many of the women were introduced to textiles at a young age through their schooling. I wish it was put into our curriculum in all primary schools! As an eight year old, Simi learnt how to cross-stitch from her four sisters. She didn't like it. As a teenager, she had to make garments as part of home science. She made 3 garments and worked on fixing them until 3am the night before they were due. This turned her off sewing and textiles. Until this workshop. She was reluctant to stitch a piece, but did and it is indeed the happiest piece in the collection!
Simi's embroidered piece for the exhibition. This piece really manages to capture Simi!
Kamel brought in a bag of scraps of cloth that came from clothes and pants that she altered. She keeps these off-cuts to make other things. Her sewing mainly involves the 'necessary things' - like mending and alterations for the family. Kamel's interest is in drawing. She told us that she's very good at it too. Kamel's drawing extends to mehndi as well.
The women discussed their common experience with textiles, embroidery and sewing in general. One participant commented that they were taught to sew as a practical life skill, "if your husband looses a button."
I wanted to move sewing out of the framework of a chore and a lesson. I wanted them to have a positive and enjoyable experience around stitching, some freedom to create, to draw with thread.
Following the discussions, we pulled out a few common themes that emerged;
collage
embroidery
henna/mehndi
working with found materials
These were going to be our starting points for the project.
The task for week three;
Bring examples of patterns (from either embroidery or henna/mehndi) in the form of photos, drawings or actual examples.
