From My Wondow

In 2020 Banyule Arts and Culture coordinated ‘From My Window’, where six local shopping strips were activated with art installations in over 30 shopfronts of local businesses across Banyule.  The timing was perfect as the installations occurred just after Melbourne came out of Lockdown and were emerging from their homes to reconnect in the community.  It was a great opportunity to support artists and local business affected by the impact of the Covd-19 pandemic.

I was one of the artists selected for this opportunity. I love creating site specific installations that respond to people, place and time. I loved the idea of art being used as a medium to reconnect and engage once we were able to get out and about in our communities again. 

 

The first piece I created was for Watsonia Optical.  Using threads that I had in my collection I set about designing profiles of faces that would sit within custom made wire armatures in the shape of a face.  It was a great opportunity to experiment with design and play with various grounds and textures.  I loved the freedom of being able to play with stitches and tweak the design as I was working it.

 

 

I wear glasses and find they help express my personality.  We are all individuals within our community.  I hope this piece brings warmth and cheer to the individuals who pass by.  I hope they also wonder – what is bobbin lace?.... and then look it up and realise it is more than just doilies.

 

 

 

The second artwork was made for Kids 1^st Op Shop in Rosanna.  For this piece I set myself the challenge of using items purchased from the Op Shop and transforming them into a piece that showcases the art of lace making.  This piece shows what is possible when imagination and creativity mix with pre-loved objects.  The original objects, 5 t-shirts - each filled with its own memory, are transformed into new possibilities.

 Lace is an old craft filled with tradition.  This tradition can also be practiced in new imaginative ways, especially when using alternative materials.  I hope this piece sparks curiosity and imagination and shows that art is accessible and possible in many forms.

 

 

The event is held from Nov 16 – Dec 14 2020.  For more information and the artists and the windows go to -

 www.banyule.vic.gov.au/frommywindow

 

Many thanks to -

Banyule City Council

Watsonia Optical

Kids 1st Op Shop Rosanna

Brendan Hackett - metal-smith support 

Eli Dance Ali Photography - who captured all the images of works in the shopfronts

TesseLace

I am always inspired by contemporary patterns in bobbin lace.  Veronika Irvine is a design guru in this respect.  Having a Master of Applied Mathematics and a Ph.D in Computer Science and currently completing her post-doctorate, she uses her science and math brains when designing algorithmic lace patterns, bringing lace design into the 21st century.

On her site https://tesselace.com/ Veronica explains that -

For over 500 years, the art of bobbin lace has been developing and evolving. During this time, lacemakers have relied on extensive hands-on experience combined with trial and error to discover new lace tessellations. This can be a slow, time consuming process. In the modern age, we have the benefit of computers and mathematical discoveries. Computers are extremely good at performing tedious, repetitive tasks with great precision – they just need to be given explicit instructions.  Based on this idea, I have developed a mathematical model for bobbin lace and have been using this model to teach the computer to identify lace tessellation patterns.

Veronica has some great links if you are wanting to explore ways she has developed lace tessellations and bent or even broken the traditions of lace making.

Just go to the link below for over 200 downloadable patterns suitable for a free editing tool called InkScape

https://tesselace.com/tools/inkscape-extension/

Veronica is so generous to share her learning and also those of software designer Jo Pol who designed a free source program Ground Forge.  The math side of things may go over my head but the beauty and complexity of these patterns does not and are a joy to explore.  

There is a great tutorial site for Ground Forge  where you can learn and play to your hearts content.  It  opens up a world of opportunities for developing new grounds and studying the form of existing grounds.  This may result in a future post I feel.

 

In the meantime, thanks Veronica and Jo for your incredible talents in this area of lace.

 Images care of Veronica's site https://tesselace.com/gallery/