Fiberworks - A Celebration of South African
Fiber and Textile Artists

Title: Windmill

Description: Layering, delving, seeking – this piece is about reaching out and reaching in; seeking to go further and finding new directions – new depths of understanding open as you explore.

My work is about exploring new techniques, new ways of using fabric, thread, wool, and using unusual things like the fibres of hand made paper, tea bags and plastics. I love colour above all, and have been experimenting with dyeing cotton and silk and threads so I can play. I enjoy combining different techniques, for example smocking and machine embroidery, and letting them speak for themselves. They take on a life of their own if you listen and often these techniques transform into something new and exciting.

‘The excitement of Living is in Design and Creating’ – a quote used by my father and one which my husband has made possible.

Title: Okavango Swamps

Description: The quiet of the bush is so intense that it beats against your ear drums. Above, the shrill call of three fish eagles, wheeling across the vast blue skies … the quiet grunting of an irate giant eagle owl, awakened during the day, echoes across the broad dry river bed … a lone giraffe skittishly walks along a path to the thin ribbon of river …
These are the words in my diary on the morning that London was bombed.

How do we protect ourselves and what is left of this world in order to leave a rich heritage for our children?

Title: Okavango Swamps II

Description: In my work, I reflect my love for the people and places still left to us – for the bush and its biodiversity, the Okavango waters seeping mysteriously into the desert delta ….the buffalo, trying to escape the bush caravan - the lion, the hyena, the jackal, followed by the tourists!

Title: Survival

Description: Ear shattering trumpeting as the elephant bulls challenge each other in the dry Sand River bed the other elephants freeze - a split second - before the leading matriarchs hastily march their herds into opposing directions.

Twenty eight trees - that is what an average elephant destroys per day (Kim Wolhuter film maker extraordinaire).

Who is to survive as the biodiversity of the National Parks is severely challenged?

Title: Delishus

Description: A wall painted at a Craft Centre in Delhi is the inpiration for this wall hanging. India is an exciting and vibrant country.

Title: Shifting Sands

Description: While on holiday at Cape St Frances in the Eastern Cape in South Africa I photographed the sand as the waves of the Indian Ocean got washed away. Some days the sea was really wild and broke on the rocks - that inspired the embroidery.

Title: Drakensberg Dreams

Description: In the Drakensberg there are a huge variety of rock painted sites where painted figures cover the caves and rock shelters of the mountainous areas or river valleys. This rock art was created by indigenous people of southern africa called the Bushmen or San. They lived in small clans and survived as hunters and gatherers. It is widely believed that the 'Shaman', who claim supernatural powers, recorded - in a trancelike state - what they observed around them.

In this wall hanging, the colours and shapes of the art of the bushmen inspired the hand painted background.`The window onto the Drakensberg reflects what the bushmen would have seen from their cave.

Title: Living Force

Description: In South Africa, many indigenous people believe in the "Living Force" - a threesome, who in local custom, work together - two to heal and to ward of evil, the other causing the anguish. To become an " Inyanga" or herbalist takes many years and you become acquinted with working with herbs and to heal. If called, the Inyanga becomes a "Sangoma" who protects the community and roots out the evil one - the "Abathakathi" who lurks in the back ground and brings poverty and ill health. A snake often accompanies the Abathakathi."

Title: Survivors

Description: Succulents have survived and flourished over the centuries, just as we survive in this beautiful country. The Karoo and the Richterveldt in South Africa are extraordinarily rich and beautiful in survivor type fauna and flora - a beautiful window on my world.

Title: Fez - Leather dye vats in Morocco

Description: This piece is based on photographs of the leather dye vats that exist in Fez, Morocco. I dye my own fabric, so am fascinated with the way other people do it.

Title: Networking reworked

Description: People reaching out to each other – every person an island. Ten years ago Networking was created because of the buzz of the internet.
Little did we know how far reaching and all encompassing the internet would become with Facebook and Twitter. No lonely island anywhere any more.

Title: Farewell my Concubine

Description: Thirty artists from South Africa were invited to particpate in an International Quilt Exhibition featuring Famous Movie Directors films. 30 Fabric artists from Japan and 30 from France depicting the same Director were also invited.
This is called Farewell my Concubine and the director is Chen Kaige. It is the story of two friends who fall into a love triangle with a women. Their enduring friendship is put severly to the test during the Cultural Revolution.

Title: An Immensity to Dream In

Description: Photographs of my garden inspired this wall hanging.

Title: Freedom of Expression

Description: "A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy"
Nelson Mandela, Inauguration Speech 10 May 1994.
The Secrecy Bill is a dark day for South Africa.

Title: Sunset over the Taj Mahal

Description: Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj in these words
"The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes."
This was made as a tribute to Jutta Faulds and her love for India.

Title: To be Free

Description: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." - Long Walk to Freedom the biography of Nelson Rolihlala Mandela.

Title: Heritage

Description: My husband has been doing research on our family history. I was fascinated by the result, discovering that I had ancestors dating back to Jan Van Riebeck's time and the earliest South African settlers.

Title: The Jackalberry ( Diospyros mespiliformis)

Description: On the banks of the Sand River in the Sabie Sand Wild Tuin we have a game farm. The Jackalberry dominates our camp. We place chairs under it and can watch the game go by - up to 300 elephants daily, lion, leopard, buffalo and wild dog. If you sit very quietly the buck will feed right up againt the tree.

Title: The Rain Tree (Philenoptera violacea)

Description: On the banks of the Sand River in the Sabie Sand we have a game farm. We watched the Appelblaar growing from a 1 m scraggly tree to this magnificant height. The vultures have come back to rest on the banks of the Sand River after many years of not coming to this stretch of water.

Title: Life is like a candle in the wind

Description: Life is fragile, like parchment paper.

Helga Beaumont







Website:- http://www.helga-beaumont-art.com/