SECOND NATURE

Working with natural dyes and fabrics Julie Ryder explores the boundaries and tensions between nature and culture, and the space between.

Canberra-based textile artist Julie Ryder combines the arts practice of printmaking with the impact of chemical reaction and transformation. Ryder’s early science training and study working in a veterinary research lab, have translated into her science-based arts practice; her early scientific research and investigation led her to an ongoing fascination with the micro and the macro in nature. She uses bacteria, moulds, the chemical reaction that occurs between vegetable matter, natural fibres and various minerals used for mordants to create her naturally-dyed textiles and embroideries.