a clean table

Today the Strands crew gathered for an exhibition project debrief at my house. It was nice but sad to see everyone for what seemed to be the last time in terms of "Beginnings". Most were tired, some unwell, some ready to move on to the next big thing. Rather like an anticlimax.

We've met roughly once a month for 18 months... It's created a safe space for us to share where we're at both with our work and any other personal things that affect our output and energy. It's given a monthly reason to check in to see what progress I've actually made since the last time, very handy when life throws curveballs that easily get me off the track. I sure will miss our regular gatherings and the valuable feedback and inspiration from others.

18 months ago I thought I'll know what my bigger direction will be in the end of this project and it has proven to be a wonderful homecoming. I've returned to my designer/dressmaker me after some years of creating more conceptual textile art. Actually I've brought the two together with no intent to abandon either. I had my sweetest moment during the photo shoot day with Ishna. (It'll be worth a separate flashback post to write about my previous garment photo sessions from years ago.) It felt like - this is what I used to do, this is what I'm meant to do. Peace.

I've wanted to get back to making wearable items for a couple of years (other than knitting funny hats,lol) and now I'm here, beyond the wanting. I can't wait to see people wearing my frocks and skirts and tops (as those are the things I like to wear myself). I interrogated everyone for tips on how they run the business side of their textile artist career, and felt the excitement tickle in the tummy.  Back on the saddle girl! 

After everyone left I walked to the shop to get the paper, as the Wednesday Art section was rumoured to have our exhibition critiqued. You can read the review here.

Marveling at my empty work table I could not avoid the inevitable: it's been waiting for a couple of layers of proper topcoat paint for long enough. Today there was nothing waiting to be cut or sorted on the surface, the day was sunny and warm, and I had time. Zero excuses. 

So full of promise and freshness, clean and new... It's a beauty!

hung and opened

This photo is borrowed from Refinery Artspace Facebook gallery.

I named this ensemble From Finland with Love.

It's made of peat felt, jute and ecodyed silk organza.

The blurb goes like this:

Years ago I acquired an unusual piece of felt. The cotton grass that grows on top of the sphagnum moss that Finnish bogs are made of has rotted under the earth for nearly a thousand years, transforming it into a unique textile fibre. Here this material represents my country of origin quite literally. Mixed with wool it has been used to make thick felt that when worn as a wide skirt becomes grounding and protecting due to sheer weight.

I had a very down to earth upbringing on a small farm as did most of my forefathers and mothers. Even though being skilled in many crafts was part of the old rural lifestyle, my choice to study fashion design was a bit outside the accepted comfort zone. It was just a bit too frivolous and arty and not really real work… And yes, I still feel like a peasant’s daughter, feet in the mud and head full of grand ideas. No matter what finery I endeavour to create, the utilitarian sack cloth beginnings remain underneath it all.

After a Saturday meeting with the Strands crew, Sunday moving walls in the gallery and hanging, Monday doing interviews and sticking on labels and Tuesday organising greeting cards and posters to sell and then rushing to the opening... It's all done! The exhibition is there for everyone to see and today we are lying low picking ourselves up. Or maybe I should just speak for myself.

The last days were busy working together and at times challenging as I had my darling girls with me most of the time. I'm full of admiration for the resilience of my colleagues and Duncan and Roger at the gallery.

 Another photo from Refinery Artspace.

The silk dress is eco dyed georgette and called The Un-Wedding Dress.

The white peonies of the wedding bouquet

forming prints on the cloth.

Plums and pomegranate transcending.

Transformation, stepping into the single life again.

Duncan whipped up a hanger for my silk dress on the spot while we were setting everything up. As a thank you my girls wrecked his sculpture on the backyard on the opening night... Well not quite, the piece is made of welded chain so it's pretty solid, but it was hung with a wire/rope that the girls had twisted to the point of snapping. A dramatic tumble brought down the sculpture, the girl and a bench. Two of these things suffered injury, ouch.

The crowd that gathered to the opening night made it seem like a party. There were dear friends that I expected to see and some lovely surprises too. Roger and Jo took care of the official talking and the rest was the sort of mingling openings are made of.

I had booked a massage for this morning, and the timing was impeccable. My lower back has been sore on and off for a couple of months and my masseuse friend did some seriously deep work to release the tension that was held in the area. As a result my body feels light and new and wonderfully recovered.

 Credit for even this photo goes to Refinery Artspace.

You can see what Nelson Mail wrote here.

Strands

Introducing...

"Beginnings"

by

STRANDS

Maria Julkunen

Jo Kinross

Ronnie Martin

Meg Nakagawa

Pat Spitz

We are a group of Nelson-based textile artists.  We come from different geographic locations – Finland, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.  Our textile art techniques are equally diverse but we share a passion for exploring the possibilities of fibre arts.

About 18 months ago, we decided to have a joint exhibition.  Since then we have met at least monthly to have fun as we supported and encouraged each member's creativity and challenged each other to extend artistic expression in innovative ways.

Each of us has interpreted the concept of “Beginnings” differently, representing our different creative urges.   Our works express:  the beginning of working as a conceptual artist with a focus on social and environmental concerns; conveying belonging and origin, transformation and transcending; the silk road; ancient maps and marks as memory; and water and earth as the classic elements of all life.

distilled writing

Working with our Strands group towards our Beginnings exhibition has taught me in detail what goes into making an exhibition happen. I've had the opportunity to tap into the experience of colleagues that have more history in organising and putting their work on show.

I've written artist bios a couple times before, but now I've crafted an artist statement and an artist profile and the blurbs to go with the work are yet to be polished. As a group we spent a lot of time discussing our "mission statement" when we lauched (in the end we abandoned writing it down) and now we have a group statement (that the "mission" debate clarified a great deal).

All this writing has been interesting and challenging, even though we're not talking about great lengths of text. The compressed impact of it takes me ages to distill from my rambling thoughts and deeply felt but flighty feelings. 

This is my "statement" that is found in our catalogue together with the image below. On the image you can also see the words Ecopunk Couture that I'm tasting and feeling as a potential label to carry on working with. What do you think?

Maria Julkunen

My life has always included some form of creativity. I started sewing at a young age, enjoyed drawing and painting and started filling folders with collages of ideas years before I was taught to do the very same things at a design school.

I love the craft that is needed to create beautiful garments and have always been fascinated by what we communicate of ourselves through the clothes we wear.

I love natural materials for their earthy integrity. Natural fibres are in tune with our bodies and connect us with the wider world when used with respect for the environment from which they come. Dyeing cloth with plants and metals holds an element of surprise that keeps the mind humble and open.

My style has been influenced by the rather minimalist Finnish design tradition that subscribed to the idea that form follows function. I combine artisan techniques and environmental awareness which results in a type of eco couture.

Beginnings exhibition invite

coming together, falling in place

Oh so sweet when things just move ahead with ease and loose ends start coming together. It's about time, as there's only a month until showtime...

Here's a little test layout.

I'm covering the hessian bodice with silk organza that I dyed with Black Doris plums and iron. Another greener shade of the same plums on the same organza will become a little bustle skirt. A length of burnt silk velvet already runs on the seams on the bodice, but will also tie the bustle... The skirt needs a hessian petticoat, but I've run out of hessian and so has Spotlight. Still have some smaller shops to visit that should carry it.

And now it's time to leave my computer and carry on with the assembly...

making progress with Beginnings

It's been quiet on the blog for a bit as I've gone all shy about showing process photos... The silk dress still needs hemming and I'm dreaming of some embroidery to go on it too. It might get another dress to layer with, unless I decide it displays better when it remains a bit translucent.

The hessian top was abandoned for a while but has been picked up again... I'd like to complete it and pair it with a big skirt. 

The peat felt skirt needs a top half.

I'm still thinking about making another dress, especially as I have some nice pink dye waiting to be used. Meg gave me some pineapple sage cuttings and Jo shared her results for inspiration. I admire the delicious colour on my kitchen windowsill.

A month and a bit to go to exhibition start... I need to work pretty smartly if I fancy to achieve all this on top of regular life with work and kids. Big breath...

Kultaturve

I had quite a grand moment cutting a big piece of peat felt I've had for over a decade. The Finnish company that made it, Kultaturve, is sadly no more. They developed a way to use the rotted fibres of the cotton grass (Eriophorum vaginatum) that grows on top of the sphagnum moss. After nearly a thousand years buried under the earth, in the peaty bog, the plant becomes a fibre with exceptional properties for textiles and clothing. It is warmer than wool, exceptionally light, breathable and antistatic.

Mind you my felt is so thick that lightweight is not one of it's attributes. Or perhaps the sheep's wool blend makes it heavy.

The thick earthy felt belongs perfectly in my current project, where I work under the theme "beginnings". The material itself is very primal and connects me quite literally to my home country. I'll construct at least a couple of garments out of it, a skirt to start with.

PSst! Now you can view the outfit here.

Changing Threads 2012

Published a tad backdated but better late than never...

Changing Threads, the National Contemporary Fibre Arts Awards was on show at the Refinery Artspace in Nelson from 24th March until 21st April 2012 for the fourth year running. Thanks to Ronnie Martin`s initiative and the support from Arts Council Nelson we get to enjoy this classy feast of imagination and the unexpected in my home town.

These are my favorites from the exhibition, for any unfathomable reason. There was other lovely work too, but these are the ones my camera gravitated towards.

Sandra Mead: Immigrant

Matt Siwerski: Buck Fever

Melliors Simms: Blizzard

Sally Reynolds: Yin and Yang (on the left)

Karyn Henson: 365 Days

Colleen Plank: Skin Deep

Jo Kinross: Colins Bed (An Artist`s Life Isn`t Always a Bed of Roses)

Marilyn Andrews: 2731 Genetic Experiment RCG07022012a:

Marilyn Andrews: 2731 Genetic Experiment RCG07022012b:

Jo Kinross: 5 Little Prayer Flags

 Maria Julkunen Dalton: Blip (on the Love Radar)

Sharon Patterson: Close/Closed

 

Jean Carbon: Together/Alone

 

 Sandra Mead: Pippi

Sue Heydon: Entitlement Series

Love, Shelter, Warmth, Food, Stimulation, Companionship

Jenny Judge: Field

Chris Tait: This is the Story of a Girl...

Claire Hey: Vintage Beach Culture

Looking forward to next year already!

beginnings

My artwork from the recent years has been very universal, deliberately so. I knew the time had come to get more personal, reveal my soul a bit more. When 'Beginnings' got chosen as the exhibition title by group R, my initial feeling was that it would point to exploring my roots, as I'm far away from my native country and never explored it in my art. But I didn't even get home from the meeting, before I realised I was in the middle of living a significant 'beginning'. I was six months down the track from a separation - hence the silence here on the blog! - getting used to just being me, taking turns looking after our children, being back in paid work. I had no need to look any further for inspiration did I...

I had an instant vision of expressing the various emotions I've been going through as well as the different roles I juggle between through a collection of garments. I saw some of them them being quite unwearable as the inside and outside would be just as expressive. Private vs public. Feelings inside vs the image you see on the surface. Putting on social masks? Sometimes the inside would be way too prickly or painful to actually wear ON your body!

group "R"

There are five of us (6 to start with) textile/fibre related creatives, who have been getting together once a month since May, plotting a group exhibition to be held next year. When we get together 3-4 hours just fly by. Coffee group it isn't, even though we fit in some drinks and treats as well. The discussions are intense and hugely inspirational. There is a sense of openness, sharing a journey and supporting each other in our creative growth and discovery.

We have the whole Refinery Artspace in our use for October 2012. I'm quite familiar with the gallery as I've had my work hanging there twice at the Changing Threads National Fibre Arts Awards.The main space is big with lots of natural light, high in the ceiling; front is intimate and lit by spotlights.

To start with we discussed a name for our group in great length, as well as a vision statement and a theme for the exhibition. Each of our input has truly revealed who we are as individuals. We have come up with all of the above, but nothing is written in stone and I suspect that the name "R" and vision are of less importance for the time being, as the process itself has pulled us together. Now we are even getting very open about our common theme or exhibition title "Beginnings". There is an underlying trust that we are under way and various techniques and styles will somehow gel as we keep working together.

There are two other bloggers in the group. Check out Jo and Meg!

Changing Threads 2011 - Song from a Distant Earth

National Contemporary Fibre Arts Awards

At the Refinery Artspace in Nelson, New Zealand

26 March - 21 April 2011

2011 Nelson City Council Award

for the 'work which best reflects the theme of 'Water and/or Light'.

Song from a Distant Earth
Maria Julkunen Dalton

Shamballa is a legend of a Pure Land. It is a place of peace, tranquility and happiness - love and light. The idea of Shamballa has an outer and inner meaning. The qualities it represents are eternal. Just like a circle it has no beginning or end. If we can access the inner meaning of Shamballa deep within us, if each of us can find that place, thing, person or idea that has the power to inspire us to take the inner journey to greater freedom and awareness, we begin to transform both ourselves and the world around us. Perhaps the outer meaning, the distant utopia of Shamballa as an actual physical place can be revealed through this journey. If we turn to the deeper mind for inspiration, the world itself will become an extension of Shamballa. The distant Earth is right around and within us already. 

Changing Threads

I was overjoyed to have two fibre art pieces accepted to the Changing Threads 2010 exhibition. One of them is a recent piece that features eco-dyeing on silk. It is a three dimensional sculpture suspended in space. I named it 

Incantations of Unity

My other featured piece was created three years ago, when I had just learned felting after my first girl was born. The name refers to one of my regular times of night to be up with Maya, contemplating my new life as a mum.

This entry was a runner up to the new entrant prize at the Creative Fibre National Exhibition 2007 and now got a special mention in the category "Excellence in contemporary interpretation of work featuring traditional techniques".

Wheeling 4am

This photo is from the exhibition.

The handmade felt is 98% Romney and 2% Corriedale, cut and folded to create a two sided effect.

The reverse.  

I am very proud to be included in this fine company. What a beautiful exhibition!

Eco Colour Odyssey

Life has thrown new challenges and responsibilities my way to a very enjoyable effect. I haven't forgotten fibrefingering in the meantime, but the blog has hibernated for a few months.

So finally I will mention that I had two pieces in our "Eco Color Odyssey" exhibition at Fibre Spectrum. Neither of them was specifically made with an exhibition in mind, but suited the context. I was delighted just to be able to say that I had something in an exhibition!

It's been so long since the last time I've shown my work in public, well actually just a year and a half, but it feels like a beginning of a new era. My visual language is only now starting to develop into a direction that accommodates the thoughts and feelings I want to express. Learning to put my favourite techniques together is a work in progress, greatly aided by some very inspiring people I've had the honour to work with recently. I must also celebrate a few meetings in cyberspace with like minded beings. Blessings to all of you sisters in stitch!















"Heart Tracks"

Merino felt, fragments of silk cloth, silk fibre, wool yarn, human hair.

Dyed in Helichrysum petiolare (Licorice Plant) with scrap iron.

"Heart Tracks" is a meditation on the marks left in our hearts by the people we meet and places we go to. A lot of emotion is stored in our hearts, affecting us even when we are not aware of it.

This heart got boiled with a medicinal plant, used for healing nervous disorders, high blood pressure, headache and weak heart among other things. We can marinate ourselves in acceptance and compassion to the same healing effect!

"Juicy Junk Jumper"

Silk smock, dyed in Dodonaea viscosa (Green Akeake) with scrap metals.

The dye bath was left over from another project and left to mature for several weeks.

This resulted in a change in colour, with found objects, junk metal, paper clips, clamping and tying producing patterns.








































I adore process photos, since the whole act of wrapping and unwrapping is so magical. It's harder to get good shots of the finished products though. (I hope to update with better ones soon, sigh)