New Weave – Contemporary approaches to the traditions of weaving.
Whilst this was a fairly small exhibition it was well worth the visit to Object: Australian Design Centre as the content was very diverse.
The work encompassed knitting, 3D digital technology, glass cane weaving and wire work as well as toilet paper and basket weaving fused with digital surface modelling. Each of the artists interpreted the brief very differently but their choices sat well together as a whole.
The space was light and airy with a very high ceiling. The arrangement was uncluttered, with plinths of various sizes and shapes in use. The items were displayed well, with plenty of space, allowing the viewer to enjoy each individual art work without influence from other pieces within the gallery. The staff was extremely pro-active, giving information about the different artists, upcoming events featuring them and even further details regarding some of the exhibits which wasn’t in the official write-up. They were knowledgeable and friendly without being intrusive.
Below are a few pieces I found of particular note:
Bin Dixon Ward, Cubes Tower and Pyramid Tower, 2013. SLS Nylon and ink.
These 3D digitally printed sculptures are inspired by the urban environment, particularly the city grid as an abstracted form. They are fully interlocked and coloured after printing. As each section is independent from the others (although interlocked) the sculptures are able to be moved and arranged in a variety of positions.
Lorraine Connelly Northey, Narrbong Installation, 2013. Burnt ring-lock fencing wire, burnt steel rods and rusted steel plating.
As a native Waradgeri artist Lorraine makes oversized vessels from recycled found materials, mostly various wires. These are her representations of the string bags and vessels used and made within her culture by her Elders.
Jenni Kemarre Martiniella, Square Multistrand Loop Weave Dilibag #2, 2013. Hot blown glass and canes.
Close-up of patterning on Dilibag #2
Jenni is an Aboriginal (Arrernte) glass artist. Her weaving pays tribute to traditional weavers and their ancient cultural practices.
Alana Clifton Cunningham, Topographical Complexities 1, 2012. Wool.
As a designer and academic at the University of Technology in Sydney Alana experiments with machine and hand-knitting techniques to create sculptural body adornments.
Also featured were art works by Edward Linacre, Rachel Park and Pennie Jagiello.
Sources:
Text adapted from catalogue. Photographs by Claire Brach and published with permission from the gallery.
Tactual Textiles by Claire 
Some interesting work that is not your usual form of weaving.
The difference expectations make! I was so excited going to this exhibition of “new weave” – “weave” involving two or more sets of elements interworking. There are so many possible directions to go in weave – in structure, materials, scale, use of space… Knitting is not weaving. Lengths of anything hanging side by side and not interacting are not weaving. Laminations of glass are not weaving. Grids that slide against each other are not weaving.
There are lots of ways this exhibition could have been named which would have attracted me. For example I’ve seen Alana Clifton Cunningham’s work in a number of exhibitions and found it of great interest. However I was hoping to see _weave_ taken in new directions. There was one artist basket weaving, and on the gallery website is a video of Jenni Kemarre Martiniella which explains the link of her work to weaving (and includes her statement that you can’t weave with glass). I didn’t see a claim of any other connections to weave in the exhibition handout.
To call this exhibition “new weave” is sloppy or ignorant or complacent or lazy… I was bitterly disappointed.
Love your comment, Judy.
I enjoyed the exhibition and found the works interesting and diverse but what I didn’t see was much that realistically related to weaving. This didn’t bother me that much as it’s not my field of interest in particular. I enjoyed looking at the exhibits for what they were – ignoring the publicised ‘theme’ they were supposed to represent.
Having said that, if I were to go along to an exhibition promoting an art form that was a major focus of my art practice (which weaving is, in your case) and I saw a majority of works that bore no resemblance to what was indicated by the title / write-up I’d be pretty scathing too.
Some of these gallery event titles are stretching the mark in interpretation sometimes I think.
What on earth were the hanging sheets of toilet paper all about? Someone is having a good laugh at the expense of the viewers there.