Saturday, December 13, 2014

Musings of A Textile Tragic - The Artwork of Youth
December, 2014 - Issue 116
Art Essay (TFF Column)

Co-Editor: Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Introduction
The largest selling textile magazine in Australasia is Textile Fibre Forum (TFF). I am the co-editor of the magazine (its founder - Janet de Boer - being the other co-editor). Hence I have created a column within the magazine titled – Musings of a Textile Tragic. This column will appear on this blogspot together with a link and contents page of each new issue of the quarterly magazine once it is available from magazine outlets and on the ArtWear Publications website.

Front Cover of TFF (December, 2014 - Issue 116).

For your convenience, I have listed links to other Musings articles:
Musings of a Textile Tragic
Co-Editor of TFF
Of Fires and Flooding Rain
Lost in Translation
Venusian Men
Textile Tasters from My Workshop
Be Brave, The Rest Will Follow


Contents Page of TFF - December 2014 Edition(Issue Number 116)



Musings of A Textile Tragic - The Artwork of Youth
Psychologists strive to redefine the various stages of human development according to age groupings: that is, from childhood, to teenage, to emerging adults, to adults, to middle age, to seniors. It is interesting to note that once over the age of 40 years old, we see ourselves at least a decade younger than what we are. When we hit fifty we feel like forty and we are amazed to see this fifty year old looking back at us from our mirrored reflection. On the other hand, my mother-in-law used to claim that once over ninety people react to you as if your age is 100 minus your actual age. She told me this at the age of 93 when she said: “Marie-Therese watch out for this equation when you get old, since people are starting to treat me as a seven year old!” My mother-in-law was a yoga teacher - the first class she taught was at the age of 23 in Vienna and her last class was at the age of 93 in Melbourne!

Today’s musing is about the art of those who are between 17 to 25 years of age (see below). This is the age group psychologists define as that of emerging adults. One of the most important features of this group is that it is the age period which allows for exploration in love, work, and world views - more than any other age grouping. This age group is bold, take risks, have not heard of failure nor tasted the fruits of success - the latter making us more risk averse.

The emerging adult group is in the “learn or earn” category: that is, they are in the late stages of secondary school or in the early stages of tertiary education (TAFE, private College or University) or in the first few years of employment or find themselves unemployed. They are typically living at home, unmarried, but have entered into several serious relationships. They are internet savvy. They have Facebook and Twitter accounts and so can be nice and hyper critical at the same time. They know what “listicles” are, what “moting” means and they know how to “snark”! They listen to “indie” music and normally have a vitamin D deficiency due to their lack of exposure to the sun since they are mostly cocooned in front of a computer screen.

Not all in this age group reach the same advanced level in cognition because of the variety of education received during this period. However, the artists included in this musings certainly have since they have taken advanced risks in order to push the boundaries of their art. For example, Tess Tavener Hanks is utlising laser cutting and engraving with direct digital printing to create illuminated textile artworks of stunning proportions. Jessica Coetzer is using traditional techniques on a four-shaft table loom, with non-traditional fibers and traditional yarns to create garments that are “edgy”. Jessica Brettle is using laser cut plywood that is uniquely hand painted in order to create a new wave of indie jewelry. Sairi Yoshizawa is employing shibori, felting, weaving and natural dyeing of wool to create wearable art that just “dares to be worn”. Eloise Kent uses heat transfer photo print, cotton thread and paint on linen to produce conceptual artworks in which each red stitched number (and object in the still life) refers to a part of the female body that women seek to alter with plastic surgery.

It is clear that the next generation of textile and wearable artists have already taken grip of their art direction and so will inform, transform and reform our notions of art itself!



Artist Name and Title of Work: Eloise Kent, The Nature of Vanity (full view).

Artist Name and Title of Work: Eloise Kent, The Nature of Vanity (detail view).
Artist Age (when the work was completed): 17.
Name of School, TAFE or University: Ascham School, Sydney.
Year Attended: 2009 (graduated).
Size of Work: approx. 2.2 x 1 m.
Techniques and Media: Heat transfer photo print, cotton thread & paint on linen.
Date Created: 2009.
Exhibition Venue and Year: Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) Art Express 2010.
Comment: The work was originally displayed with a key to interpret the red stitched numbers. Each number (and object in the still life) referred to a part of the female body that women seek to alter with plastic surgery.
Photograph Courtesy of: Eloise Kent (detail view); AGNSW website (full view).



Artist Name and Title of Work: Tess Tavener Hanks, Vivid (full view).

Artist Name and Title of Work: Tess Tavener Hanks, Vivid (detail view).
Artist Age: 18.
Name of School, TAFE or University (and year attended): Cheltenham Girls High School, Sydney (Year 12, 2008 - 2013), currently at University of Technology Sydney (1st year, 2014 - 2017). Exhibited at the Vivid Light Festival, Sydney 2013.
Techniques: Laser cutting/engraving and direct digital printing.
Media: Fluorescent Acrylic, UV lights.
Date Created: June 2013.
Photograph Courtesy of Janet Tavener.



Artist Name and Title of Work: Jessica Coetzer, Encompassed (full view).

Artist Name and Title of Work: Jessica Coetzer, Encompassed (detail view).
Artist Age: 23, 2013.
Name of School, TAFE or University (and year attended): RMIT University, Melbourne, graduated 2013.
Size of Work: 140 cm x 55 cm.
Techniques and Media: This piece was hand woven using traditional techniques on a four shaft table loom. The materials used are nylon monofilament weft (fishing line) and polyvinyl chloride tubing filled with mixed yarns, these include wool, tulle, leather, wool fibre, cotton, paper and polyester yarn.
Photograph Courtesy of Jessica Coetzer. Model is Nic Browning.



Artist Name and Title of Work: Sairi Yoshizawa, Sunburnt Shibori Garment III photo series X (full view).

Artist Name and Title of Work: Sairi Yoshizawa, Sunburnt Shibori Garment IV photo series I (full view).
Artist Age: 20, 2011.
Name of School, TAFE or University: Textiles, School of Arts, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
Year: 2011.
Techniques: Shibori, felting, weaving and natural dyeing- wattle and eucalyptus.
Media: Wool.



Name of Artist and Title of Work: Jessica Brettle, Burnt Offerings (full view).

Name of Artist and Title of Work:Jessica Brettle, Burnt Offerings (detail view).
Artist age: 20.
Name of school, TAFE or University: RMIT University, Melbourne, graduated 2013.
Size of work: Each pendant is approximately 8 cm x 8 cm.
Techniques and Media: Jewellery was created by hand painting different colours onto plywood hoop pine. The plywood was then laser cut into circles and different patterns were engraved into each circle, again using a laser cutter. The circles were then stacked on each other to create the pendants for her jewellery.
Date created: October 2013.
Photograph Courtesy of Jessica Brettle.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog!….. I’ll be checking in on a regularly now….Keep up the good work

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