Artists of Australia
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
One of the most interesting things about art is that it can take so many forms - these visits I am making allow me a 'behind the scenes' look at how these artists create the wide spectrum of their art. Deb is a freeform tapestry weaver – something I had never known about before I met Deb. I find it fascinating how someone can create landscapes in this way. Tucked away behind a wall - she lives in a beautiful Bali inspired corner of Ballina. This is where she creates stunning art pieces in this most tranquil of places. Deb and her husband Rowan created this haven from scratch and it really feels like you’re a million miles away from everything. A freeform tapestry weaver – or picture weaver – Deb works with yarns and fibres to create scenes that emerge as she weaves. She uses a wide variety of textures and types of fibres to create her pieces. The incredible colours create depth and movement in each piece. Each one can use more than 50 different yarns and wools – some of which are recycled from jumpers and blankets and some of which are new. It can take more than 2 months to complete a weaving and that is working around 30 hour week! Deb is also an Interior Designer, a Window Dresser and has also illustrated 2 children’s books. Does your garden influence your work – either in what you create or how it affects you? Totally – I sit at my dining room table night and day and weave - the wools that I choose for the weaving are in the trolley here - and I look out and it is so calming. I can sit here after a hectic day and relax, and then I can focus on weaving. I mainly create pieces focusing on the beach and waterfalls. I like to ride my bicycle to the beach, around the rivers and out to the wall as well as to Shelley beach. I take photos when I go camping and I use them too. I don’t tend to sketch my work first – I use a photo to work off and I see it in my head, and then I add details as I go. I have three looms of different sizes that I use. I don’t like to go too big as you have to really watch the tension in the middle. I have also been painting some water colour animals recently. (Pic of one in gallery below) I have a brush with only a couple of hairs to get all the detail – when I am stuck between work, I like to pick up some water colours and do a few of them for a change. I have a shed out the back where I store my wool – since I can’t mix colours like a painter I take hours to find the perfect colours I need for my works before I start. Do you have a favourite corner in your garden? I particularly like the front courtyard as it is what I look out onto all the time. Our inspiration for the house and garden was our trips to Bali. I used to design children’s clothes – my friend Sue and I decided to design together and having them made in Bali gave us a reason to go there regularly! We designed the prints for the material and they turned them into material using screen prints. Then they made up the clothes to our designs. We were in 45 shops in NSW and Queensland and a lot of markets. We did that for about 15 years until Sue moved up to Queensland. I continued alone for another 8 years and changed the label to Beach Kids. It was good fun and we do talk occasionally about starting it up again. What is your favourite plant or flower? I really like Crotons – my favourite one is the one with lots of yellow in yet. It is like a painting with all the patterns on it. I also love bromeliads – I find some are almost prehistoric. Colour in foliage means there is always this great colour - all year round. I find I enjoy colour, textures and patterns in my art and I also look to have it in my garden. I have been in this house for 11 years now. Rowan and I built it for our retirement - and it is an easy care garden for that reason. I love gardening and I now do it all myself and I find it really relaxing. Do you have a favourite garden? It would have to be this one as we designed it from scratch. My mum lived on a farm so was kept really busy with that. She always sewed and, because of the wool shop, also knitted and crocheted. My nana had a lovely garden in Lismore with roses in it – they did really well there. She was married to a schoolteacher and they would travel to all the little schools across the area where she would teach the kids sewing. I still have some of her beautiful dresses with crochet inlay all down the front. My husband Rowan's mum is the most amazing knitter and crocheter as well - and I still have lots of baby clothes she made. I have a jumper of Rowan's that I loved that I am now deconstructing and using the wool for a current weaving. How does the act of ‘making’ relate to your personality and who you are? I love the ocean and the huge variety of shades of blues you find there which I'm sure is why I am drawn to that subject matter for my weavings. My creative process is actually quite slow and you need concentration and patience - in order to make a weaving it can take well over a month of 25 hours plus a week to finish one - so there is a lot of effort put into each piece. Combining and blending different textured and coloured fibres is a slow process and and can be very challenging but exciting too! Tell us about your career journey to date – did you always want to be an artist? I did art at high school and then I studied Interior Design. I went to Randwick Tafe which had school of design in it and after I finished, they moved the graphic art and Interior design into the Institute of Technology in town and turned it into a degree. My mum and dad owned a shop in Lismore – My Baby Shop - with children’s wear and baby stuff and lots of wool and yarn and I did their window dressing for years. I think since I was about 12 I was mixed up with wool. I started weaving when the kids were little then in 2010, I got into it more seriously when I busted my Achilles tendon and I thought what am I going to do while I can’t move around? I don’t actually consider myself an artist. The use of water colours I learnt when I was studying interior design way back - and I have kept it up a bit plus I like working with pencil. That course taught me all the fundamentals - but not weaving of course. My sister learnt it at school and brought home a loom one day and I liked what she did - so I always wanted to try that. I kept the loom when mom moved and then I self-taught myself how to do it. This way of weaving is quite unusual – it is mainly used by artists in America. With this free form picture weaving you create as you go – it is not just lines of weaving but actual pictures that are created in the process. Could you talk us through your creative process? I start with an image I really like and want to create from – it can be from anywhere as I am quite a visual person. Then I decide what size I want to make it. After that I go and decide on the yarns which is a long process. This can take from 3 hours up to 5 hours if the piece is going to have intricate foliage in them or tropical waters with lots of greens and blues. That can be exhausting as it is so important to get the right shades! I get my yarns from op shops and many other places, friends who do loom weavings and spinners have given me some – all stored in my shed out the back. There is such a variety and as I want to put texture in using all the different thicknesses. That is what gives the interest. Then I start usually from the bottom – but I can then move to other parts of the picture – with this weaving you have to end up in the middle. You have to compact the yarn, so push up the top and the bottom down, to have it looking good. I often let it sit for a couple of weeks and decide if it is finished or not. Little details I often put in right at the end as 90% of my weavings are seascapes or water scenes and they need small details. What has been your most crucial tool to grow your creative business? I would have to say getting accepted into a few galleries and shops. I have pieces at the Artisan Gallery in Ballina and at Art Aspects in Lismore as well as the Nexus Gallery in Bellingen. I do also have a website where people can contact me. I am starting on Instagram - but it is early days for me - all the social media involved can be so time consuming. What has been the most challenging lesson learnt since you started your art? Probably how to successfully learn about marketing – it is hard. You end up with a lot of pieces and you can’t stop making them, but it is important to sell them as well. I am part of a few art groups which is good I find. I am in BACCI (Ballina Arts and Crafts Centre Inc) and I am the exhibition coordinator for them. It all takes time and I know I should go and see more places outside of the area about putting my art out there – its on the to do list for next year! What’s been the best thing that has happened to you since you started? I think meeting lots of likeminded art people and it has really broadened my friendship group. Plus there is such a big sense of achievement each time you finish a piece and you are proud of it. What are your top tips for a great garden? They like a bit of seaweed fertiliser! Rowan planned the garden, but I have now put in more colour which I love. I do like to have sections of different textures and colours to give variety. We put that Balinese Sacred Bamboo in there to hide the telegraph pole and box they put in after we moved in here! Do you have any projects coming up you would like to talk about? I will be in the BACCI exhibition in the Gallery in Ballina which is coming up in January through to March 2021. Then there is the Open studios in November which is an important time of the year for me and I will have a lot of work on display this year - it is part of the Open Studio Trail on weekends of 28/29 November and 5/6 December – website info http://www.os-bbb.com/
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Kay KnightsI am an Australian artist who is crazy about her garden and I'm inspired by the colours and contrasts in my backyard. I truly believe that Gardening is Art - I believe that many Artists are similarly inspired in their gardens. This Blog is for me to go and meet some of them and share their gardens and art. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |