Privacy | Newsletters | Sitemap
| Fiberworks | Individual Artists | Ethos & History | Membership | Galleries | Contact Us |
Dear ALL
Minutes of the Fibreworks Meeting held at Margaret Ruxton's house on 25 May 2013 have been incorporated into the main body of this letter. Present: Odette Tolksdorf, Jeanette Gilks, Leonie Malherbe, Helga Beaumont, Annette McMaster, Jean Powell, Sue Akerman, Margaret Ruxton Apologies: M. Letts, S.Scott, C.Robinson, L. Douglas, G.Gerhard, K.Arbeter, S. Walwyn and K. Tedder Updates on Forthcoming Exhibitions: A. International Quilt Convention Africa. IQCA exhibition. Emperors Palace exhibition September 2013 I have repeated some of the information about this show for your convenience, but please note that there are further developments:
Dana@colourspun.com or biddles@telkomsa.net Tel 016 349 2949, cell 083 268 5868 Address: 17 Pepperboomstreet, Heidelberg 1438 B. Fibreworks VIII National Arts Festival (NAF) 'Energy' exhibition. July 2014 Please look at the March 2013 newsletter to refresh your memories on the information about this show. The application for the NAF Grahamstown Festival by Cathy Knox is still in process. I want to thank Cathy again for all her work and effort. As soon as we have solid information that's absolutely clear, we will pass it on to you right away, even if this entails sending you important information in between newsletters. Remember that there are three specific sizes for this exhibition: 25cm square, 90cm square or Outsize (no side shorter than 120cm). NB If Fibreworks is accepted as a major exhibitor at the National Arts Festival in July next year - 2014 - and you have also committed to Dana and the IQCA Fibreworks show in JHB later this year, will need to Get Cracking as there will then be at least two major works that need to be made: 31st August IQCA deadline and mid November NAF deadline! C Major Minors IV Here's a letter sent to us by Gill Rebelo, reporting from Kenya. Major Minors IV appears to be traveling to Canada as we hoped, whereupon it will do a final stint in Harare before returning home. These works have done us proud. Dearest Jeanette and Helga I am sorry it has taken me so long to report back to you about the Major Minors IV exhibit, but it has been a very busy time for the quilting community in Nairobi these last few weeks with our exhibition last month and now preparations for sending quilts to Canada - most of them going later this week. Firstly I took the quilts with me when I was giving a talk to the Senior Art students at Hillcrest Secondary School, one of the biggest international schools in Kenya. This was a very mixed nationality group including about one third boys. They were fascinated as the art works were totally outside their preconceived notions of what quilts were, and they opened up their minds to the possibilities of working with textiles. The young men were particularly drawn to them and the mixed media aspect appealed to them. The two Art teachers who were also present were similarly inspired with new ideas. They have just purchased 2 sewing machines for the department so my talk was timely. A couple of weeks later I was invited to give a talk on quilts to the American Women's Association, a group of about 35 women from all the Americas, many of them diplomats or diplomats' wives. Many of them were familiar with quilts although only one or two had ever done any quilting. They were similarly amazes as many of them only had a concept of traditional quilts and they had no idea how far quilters has progressed from the base. Our exhibition was held jointly with the Kenya Embroiderers' Guild and we had over 3000 visitors in three days. You can see a little about it on our blog at kenyaquiltguild.wordpress.com. Again members of the public were fascinated by your exhibition and it was a great opportunity to educate them on what is possible to achieve with fabric, thread and embellishments! We are sending the bulk of our quilts, together with Major Minors, to Canada later this week with a missionary family who are returning home and are willing to take the responsibility of taking extra bags. Garnet Smalley, the organizer in Canada, Ontario, is footing the bill for four suitcases from the Kenya Quilt Guild so yours are included in this. Four of our members will be at the Out of Africa exhibition in June. You can check the exhibition website on http://londoninternationalquiltfestival.com/ and also on the facebook page. Now I have a proposal for you - my sister-in-law Bev Rebelo, who is chairman of the Harare Patchwork and Quilting group, is organizing their exhibition in September. She would love to include Major Minors in that show and would be willing to carry the quilts back from Ontario to Harare. She also says that it would not be difficult to get them back to you from there as many of their members travel to S Africa. Would this be acceptable to you? Please let me know what you think. Warm wishes from Kenya Gill Rebelo. PS We have liaised with Gill's sister Bev and she will bring our art works back from Canada, exhibiting them in Harare and then return them to us later in the year. D Jutta Fauls Threads exhibition (TAG) Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. If you intend taking part in this show, it's important that you contact Bryony at the Tatham Art Gallery. Her contact details: bryony.clark@msunduzi.gov.za Her tel no is 033 392 2825 E World Quilt competition Odette received 24 entries which is the largest number of South African entries ever for the World Quilt Competition. The entries included the following Fibreworks members: Kathryn Harmer Fox, Roy Starke, Jenny Hearn, Sally Scott, Sheila Walwyn. Members' achievements: Here's Margaret's news: 'In November last year I took Trent Read and Carl Roberts on a walk about round the Ammazulu Palace (www.ammazulupalace.com) and there Trent saw my 4 large panels of pokies and samoosas. He asked if I would make a similar panel but much bigger (1 metre square) for his Knysna Fine Art Gallery (www.finearts.co.za) Just before I sent the work off to Knysna an architect who is doing the revamp of the Elangeni Hotel on the beachfront, saw the work and thought it might be suitable for the hotel but that was not to be. I called it "An Arrangement" and it is now in Knysna waiting for a new owner to arrive. Keep your fingers crossed for me' Thanks Margaret! General: Jean Powell suggested a further exhibition at the NSA gallery sometime in 2014. She will put her thoughts in writing and will email Jeanette Please pay your subs if you have not paid them, as they are now overdue. The cost is R150 and the bank details are at the head of this and every newsletter. Lastly, here's a book that was highly recommended: The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression by Eric Maisel. Now go and Google 'TED Talks' and click on Creativity. Apparently very good! TED is a nonprofit group devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Best Jeanette |