Filament Stitchers Group
| Meetings: | Generally Sundays, approximately every two months, 10am to 3pm. Please contact the Convenor regarding the specific dates. |
| Contact: | Teresa Valenti (CONVENOR) Tel: 02 4571 3635 Email: teresa8@optusnet.com.au |
| Meets at: | Guild Headquarters, Queen Street, Concord West |
About our Group:
This self-help group was formed in July 2006 following the conclusion of a twelve-month Art Quilt course run at the Guild by tutor, Carolyn Sullivan. Several others have joined since then. We describe ourselves as a vibrant group of the Embroiderers’ Guild of NSW that pursues and explores personal expression in textile art through collaboration, inspiration and technique. Our name, Filament, refers to not only the individuals within the group, but the collective network as well. The group meets about six times a year and tries to exhibit its work about once a year.Other Information
Filament works towards a yearly exhibition at St Vincent's Hospital. A key element of our group is the development of our skills through this exhibition process. The jobs involved are divided among the group , e.g. advertising, hanging, photography, maintaining a blog etc We each put forward a suggestion for the next year's theme and vote. Our 2011 exhibition in October/November will have the theme "Journeys" and will be curated by Gail Davis. The topic is left open to encourage a variety of interpretations. For example:
- embracing movement, development or growth - spiritual or physical
- memories, predictions, dreams, aspirations or diary thoughts
- trips, travels or influences
- development, learning, understanding, progress
- a destination or an incomplete journey
- further exploration or cultural journeys undertaken recently or in the past
Our meetings have evolved over the years depending on the interests of the group members and our exhibition work. In 2011 we are each spending 10 minutes reporting on the progress of our exhibition work, organisation of the exhibition and spending the afternoon on a topic of interest, for example keeping sketchbooks. Others planned, which will be run by one of our group members, include "Slow Cloth" and "Blind Stitching" and a discussion about textiles we have gathered on our travels or from our families.
In addition to our two-monthly meetings we also have periodic workshops with a guest tutor or self-directed. Recent workshops have included:
- Fibre reactive dyes
- Natural dyeing
- 2 day workshop with Inga Hunter focusing on where each of us wanted our work to go
- 2 day workshop with Deborah Marks on "Design through Collage".