Threads of Colour

Jenny Bowling
Leone Wallace
Cathy Tobin

Exploring colour, pattern and texture

Explore colour, pattern and texture through contemporary embroidery, organic felting and weaving at this exhibition created by three fibre artists: Jenny Bowling, Leone Wallace and Cathy Tobin.

Jenny Bowling creates contemporary embroidery: these pieces are a contemplation of colour, pattern and geometry, using varying colour palettes, inspired by landscape, places and art works, each abstracted to form the basis of my embroideries.

Leone Wallace focuses on the expression of ideas and objects through felted, embroidered and beaded art panels. Felting is very organic: natural materials and how they combine is tactile and physical. When I select materials, I rarely have a predetermined ‘picture’ or idea in mind, but instead rely on colour combinations, shapes and contrasts to lead the process as I ‘wait’ for the piece to define itself as it forms.

Cathy Tobin’s theme is ‘Recycle Weave Design Create’. On show will be samples of clothing/ articles woven from the fibres of recycled yarns, sewing threads and fabric. A bespoke collection of her creations. Cathy will also be running a workshop at the Hub on Sat 14 May where you can weave your own unique cloth: Bookings via the Newstead Arts Hub website. Four places only!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jenny Bowling

I bring to my embroidery reflections on growing up in the small town of Wellington in central western NSW, moving to Canberra, living in Papua New Guinea and Brazil and later travelling to Europe and America.

Ever since my primary school sewing lessons I have been making or repairing things. Now, with the luxury of time, my focus is a purely creative form of needlework, which I find quite meditative. The genesis of the collection is an item in the exhibition: a ‘rescued’ embroidery that decorated a pin cushion in my mother’s sewing basket. What particularly appealed to me was the care taken in the creation of such a utilitarian item with its precise execution of colour and balanced pattern. This led me to explore colour, pattern and geometry in my own work. Varying colour palettes, inspired by elements such as landscapes, holiday places and art works, are abstracted and form the basis of my embroideries.

In 2021 my family and l established a family home in Green Gully where we relish the peacefulness and beauty of the location, and all the pleasures of Central Victoria.

Leone Wallace

From a young age, I have enjoyed creative outlets through fibre crafts. I set up my studio locally in 2013 after moving from the Dandenongs and started experimenting with a wide range of fibre arts/crafts, settling on felting as the most satisfying form of expression.

For me, the joy of working with wool comes in the variety of techniques for creating colours, shaping and joining (both 2D & 3D) and the possibility of moving into more practical creations such as clothing, footwear and accessories.

The felting process is very organic. The natural nature of the materials define how they combine, what techniques are best applied at each stage and the process is tactile and physical. When I select materials, I often have no predetermined ‘picture’ or idea in mind, but instead rely on colour combinations, shapes and contrasts to lead the process, trying different techniques and ‘waiting’ for the piece to define itself as it forms.

Cathy Tobin

Cathy Tobin – Gypsy Weaver – was introduced to freeform weaving (Saori weaving) in 2015 as she travelled Australia being inspired by the landscape. Cathy has now settled in central Victoria and continues to weave unique, individual garments from her small Maryborough studio. She offers workshops in weaving and clothing design.

Being environmentally aware, Cathy uses oddments of yarn in various plys and fibres to produce her works, using recycled and ‘orphaned’ balls of wool. Recently she has been weaving with strips of cut material which gives the woven cloth a unique appearance.

Saori weaving is a freeform style that encourage individual expression, not being hindered by rules and patterns and to weave a piece of cloth that is made by hand and with intention

Cathy will also be running a workshop at the Hub on Sat 14 May where you can weave your own unique cloth: Bookings via the Newstead Arts Hub website. Four places only!

Instagram: gypsyweavercathy
Facebook: Gypsyweaverstudio