Two of a Kind

Green Apples
I have been playing with some more tifaifai- instead of the square format, using an oblong format- I like the pattern long and am always amazed at how different the positive cutout looks compared to the negative cutout. If you cut the positive out carefully then you end up with the negative cutout which of course means you have two quilts ! Now I have to sew these. I must have been in tifaifai withdrawal whilst doing my masters. I have written a book called Tifaifai Renaissance ( about 3 years ago) , and at that stage I had run out of tifaifai steam, but now find myself drawn to making them again- especially after looking at the Matisse book I mentioned the other day.

One thing I discovered whilst doing my masters, is that I am not so hung up any more about whether I am an artist or not- I make, I like decorative , ornamental things and I like stitching- where they fit in does not worry me so much anymore- I feel I want to make people aware of textile by using the intrinsic qualities of textile - the stitch, its decorative qualities ( think of the wonderful rich resource we have of textile designs), its drape and tactile qualities. There is a very interesting article by Polly Ulrich entitled 'Beyond Touch- The Body as Perceptual Tool' in Fiberarts issue #44 ( Summer of 1999) which discusses the unique ability of textile to relate embodiment and to stimulate touch as a source of memory. In this respect I have really come to enjoy india muslins- they are so light and airy and stitch beautifully- so beautifully that I only want to hand stitch them, and then there is the lovely scrims that you can get in England from Whaleys.

">Jenny Bowker ( some wonderful images of Cairo on Jenny's blog- as that is where she now lives- check out her website too- linked on her blog) asked what would i now find to load onto my plate - well for a start I am curating another travelling exhibition called Across Australia ( and yes I am looking for venues) it will be in the format of Australian Bounty and Under the Southern Cross- two travelling exhibitions I curated awhile ago and which were received in Europe , Australia and New Zealand very positively- the format is one quilt by each artist interpreting the theme ( which is pretty wide ranging) with a maximum of up to 30 quilts.