Box Gum River

Another quilt finished! this one is called Box Gum River. I only have four quilts to go before Sunday week. One is not so big and the other three tops are done though a lot of stitching still has to go in. Box Gum River is 102 cm wide and 115 cm long ( 40" x 45 " ). Broccoli Tree Horizon is 87cm wide x 101 cm long ( 34 " x 39.5") I hope I get there.

I have also decided to sell some of the Lutradur I have . If anyone is interested Lutrador is a polyester non-woven, which I have been using a lot in recent times. The lutradur I have is 33 cm wide ( 13 inches) so slightly larger than A3 paper and I will send it with instructions for use. You apply colour to it with transfer paint or dye or even crayons though I have been too busy to try this. The effect is quite different than working with cotton. Anyway i will be selling it at $4.00 per metre including postage. And I will put up details on my Seriously Textile Blog.

I also still really need to sell a quilt before I go to Egypt- they are also on the Seriously Textile Blog - unfortunately the sponsoring of the Across Australia does not run to including a curating fee for me and to be away from work and the ability to make things for seven weeks impacts heavily on family income as I am the one that earns it. The never ending gyrations of independent curators. Sorry I know I have been on this rant before but sometimes it is frustrating- especially as this exhibition will be used to culturally represent Australia- yet somehow there is no avenue for me to seek a government grant to see me compensated for my time( and the Australian Embassy in Egypt have been incredibly helpful in securing what funding we have to see it travel) .Actually i think I need my head read. I am doing some teaching at the end- thankfully, but it nowhere near compensates for the time I will spend.There are many incidental expenses when curating- for instance we had to buy suitcases for the quilts at the last minute for the quilts to be shipped to Egypt- fortunately a friend in the Netherlands, Ina Klugt was able to do this for me, and I need to repay her for the suitcases- but the cost of international money transfer is horrendous- why is that? I can just stick a card in the wall anywhere and just have to pay a small fee? Then there is the travel insurance. I have an excellent one from Travel Scene, because my travel is usually business related, and it covers any family members travelling with me, it also covers me in case I injure someone so that also covers when I teach. Fortunately I have never had to use it but I buy it for a year so that I am always covered. Then there is the visas which have to be paid for and the innoculations, like tetanus,polio, typhoid and hep A which totalled for me more than $200.Then there is the admin expenses. I have a CD of images which I send to magazines for publicity- and most magazines are excellent and will run an article- but they have to be put in postpaks and sent- it all adds up.The photographer had to be paid as I believe high quality photos are essential for the production of a catalogue. This time The Embassy in Egypt has organised the catalogue and it is available to visitors to the exhibition in the Middle East free of charge. Then there is the time taken in creating the document that becomes the word aspect of the catalogue. The sale of catalogues is partly how I have funded travelling the exhibition in the past, but unfortunately i can't do that this time. There will be a few available for sale back in Australia- but a very limited number.So contact me if you are interested. Which reminds me I still have a small number of Australian Bounty catalogues available and more of Under the Southern Cross catalogues ( at a discounted cost)- if anyone is interested just contact me via the email in my profile.

I know sometimes people don't want to know the nitty gritty of this- but it is the real expense of what i do. I wish groups would do more of this stuff but they cater for more traditional quilters- who have no interest in exposing our art- and we are on the edge of the art world without any foothold to speak of. However there is an upside- when you see an audience respond to the work of 28 artists whose work seeks to express a continent I feel a great sense of achievement- that I have collected together an exhibition that can speak to so many different people. It is quite different than having an exhibition of your own work. I sometimes wish all 28 artists could be there to experience the feeling. For me curating has been about creating a feel for our land and an avenue for the artists who seek to express it in textile- it creates an aura which is hard to define but is distinctively Australian.