My aim is to present the beauty of nature and the poetry within the Australian landscape.
In my work, “Habitat Weeping”, I hope to convey my connection to and love for the Australian bushland which has suffered so much from fire, logging, and climate change. The silk textiles I have used are reclaimed offcuts from garments I have made, and these have been embedded into a stretched recycled fishing net background then stiffened in part with organic solutions. I have used traditional and contemporary dyeing techniques to extract colour and leaf prints from windfalls left by trees I have planted. My aim is to present the beauty of nature and the poetry within the Australian landscape.
The silk textiles I have used are reclaimed offcuts from garments I have made, and these have been embedded into a stretched recycled fishing net background then stiffened in part with organic solutions. I have used traditional and contemporary dyeing techniques to extract colour and leaf prints from windfalls left by trees I have planted.
Barbara says; ‘In this 90cm x 90cm work, Habitat Weeping, which was a finalist in the National Capital Art Prize 2022, Sustainability Section, I wished to convey my connection to and love for the Australian bushland, where I live, which has suffered so much from fire, logging, and climate change.
The piece is constructed from reclaimed silks that are collected offcuts from the garments I make or upcycle, these have been embedded into upcycled Japanese fishing net on a timber frame. The silks have been naturally dyed with leaves from trees I have grown, and some silk has been stiffened with organic solutions. I have used traditional and contemporary dyeing techniques to extract colour and leaf prints from collected windfalls.
The work is one in a series of Habitat pieces constructed as textile poems encompassing the ideal of sustainability in fibre arts and celebrating the wild beauty of the Australian bushland environment.
Since graduating in 2017 with an Advanced Diploma in Visual Art, I have continued to focus on natural textiles which have informed my artwork for 40 years, and at the same time introducing skills and techniques that I have accumulated over the following years, some with online study through Fibre Arts Take Two, in handmade brushes, textile construction techniques, contemporary sculpture, and contemporary dyeing and printing techniques, employing these new skills into recently exhibited works.’