A collaboration between the two artists working with chance and the everyday where they use seemingly banal, utilitarian objects as a starting point for making thought-provoking and visually engaging works.

works on paper
A celebration of the colour BLUE from the studios of Bathurst St Printmakers, Sydney; Firestation Print Studio, Melbourne;  Thumbprint, Mt. Gambier and Creative Outdoors Group, Sydney

A collaboration between textile designer Barbara Rogers and painter Helen Redmond, The Space Between looks at the complicity, dissonance and illusion that exists in the slippage between surfaces: between the viewer and the frame, between light and shadow, between real and imagined.

Through installation, sculpture and photography, FOURTH WALL explores the contemporary relevance of the traditional fairy tale as codice of ancient wisdom. Storylines shapeshift and evolve through millennia, presenting narratives of adversity, struggle, transformation and re-emergence often including the uncanny. FOURTH WALL presents a mise-en-scène to the viewer, a metafictional forest, where they break the fourth wall in reverse, joining the fairy tale characters on ‘stage’ by entering the narrative topos.

Every handmade object has a narrative, the history or ‘story’ of its making. Whether it is the source of the raw materials – the particular clay site, pigment, dye, metal, timber or threads, the nature and origin of the necessary tools, or the inspiration behind individual patterns and motifs, the story of each handmade object is unique.

Fibre Arts Australia is highlighting the contemporary practice within Art Textiles as an art form in this, the inaugural Art Textile Biennale. It has long been a dream of the founder of Fibre Arts Australia, Glenys Mann, to highlight art textiles and with the assistance of her business partner, Nonie Sutcliffe and the generosity of the director Crystal Stubbs and her team at the East Gippsland Art Gallery in Bairnsdale, the dream has materialised.

Makers Collective brings together a diverse set of materials with the singular perspective of each artist. Silks dyed using ancient Japanese methods, the rich textures of handwoven fabrics and the inlaid perfection of marquetry; the translucence of fine porcelain and ceramics, along with handcrafted jewellery and beautiful home furnishings. Extraordinary designs from six innovative artisans.

Second Look exhibition reflects on how handmade textiles are collected, valued, cherished, loved, treasured and used by makers. Some exhibitors have saved, stored, cared for and archived pieces made in the past and are presenting them for a second time.

A solo photographic exhibition in November 2021 documenting the aftermath of the recent 2019-20 Australian bushfires using the discontinued and extremely rare Kodak Aerochrome false-colour infrared film.

Three artist/makers get together.

Jan Downes, Barbara Rogers and Catherine Rogers.