Public Talks and Events

Artist Juan Davila, ATW weaver Pam Joyce and Shane Carmody (formerly of the SLV) speaking about the new tapestry commission for the State Library of Victoria. A wonderful chance to learn about the working process and see the tapestry on the loom. 

$20 Friends of the ATW & SLV Foundation members / $25 non-members

Book online or call the Workshop on 9699 7885 for more information. 

Image: artwork by Juan Davila, photograph by John Brash

This event was originally scheduled for 17 June 2013. We hope you will be able to join us on the new date of 15 July!

Practicing artist and ATW Board member Kay Lawrence, in Melbourne to teach a tapestry masterclass at the ATW, will give a special talk. Details to be announced. 

As part of ATW's ongoing collaboration with Multicultural Arts Victoria, we are proud to host a morning of weaving, stories and music for children, as part of MAV's SoMo... so MAV! two-day festival. 

Weaving Stories for Kids
Friday 31 May, 10am to 1pm
Australian Tapestry Workshop, 262-266 Park Street, South Melbourne

Bring the kids down for a fun morning of musical storytelling from diverse cultures plus weaving workshops just for kids!  No need to RSVP, drop in any time between 10am and 1pm. 

For more details on other SoMo.. so MAV! events in the area, check out MAV's website - details will be announced soon. There is something for everyone and it’s all free.

Produced by Multicultural Arts Victoria with the support of the City of Port Phillip.

Image (right): Jali Buba Kuyateh performing for children at the 2012 Emerald Hill Cultural Precinct Open Day

Susan Scollay will speak on ‘Tapestries of the Persianate world: weaving stories, branding empires.’ Susan is an art historian and curator with extensive international experience. She specialises in Islamic culture and was recently co-curator of the exhibition ‘Love and devotion’ at the State Library of Victoria.

$20 Friends of the ATW / $25 non-members

Call the Workshop on 9699 7885 for more information. 

This collaboration between Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV) and the ATW brings together two groups of women artists from refugee communities: artists from the Karen people of Burma who work primarily in paper collage and textile artists from Afghanistan. For more information and photos, please click here or visit our 'News' page.

From ancient Coptic clothing to the Great Hall in Canberra
Learn how the art of tapestry has enlivened and enriched people's lives throughout histrory. This talk will be presented by Robyn Cass, a longtime voluntary guide at the Australian Tapestry Workshop and National Gallery of Victoria. 

$20 Friends of the ATW / $25 non-members

Call the Workshop on 9699 7885 for more information. 

While the Workshop is focused on the art of contemporary tapestry, weaving itself is an ancient technique and appears as a means of expression across many different cultures.  In celebration of the role of women as preservers of cultural history through weaving, the Workshop hosted a special event, ‘Weaving Stories Together’, in conjunction with International Women’s Day. Female weavers from four different weaving traditions demonstrated and talked about their work. The artist groups participating in "Intertwined", a weaving training program for refugee artists, also took part in the event. The public was invited to participate in this free event, which was organized by Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV) and supported by the City of Port Phillip as part of the Conversations at Emerald Hill series. Additional information can be found at: www.multiculturalarts.com.au/events2013/women.shtml

The Friends of the ATW have arranged a bus tour to the Art Gallery of Ballarat to see the exhibition Capturing Flora: 300 years of Australian Botanical Art.. This exhibition celebrates Australia's diverse flora and the way our plants have been recorded, interpreted and popularised by botanical artists from the early explorers to the present day.

For more information about the exhibition, visit the Art Gallery of Ballarat's website. 

Ticket price includes entry to the exhibition and a light lunch. The bus will depart from outside the NGV, St Kilda Road - please gather at 8:45am for 9am departure. Estimated return time is 4pm (drop-off outside NGV). 

The National Gallery of Victoria’s Roger Leong, Curator of International Fashion and Textiles and Laura Jocic, Assistant Curator of Australian Fashion and Textiles, will present a talk entitled Grand Houses to Great Hall: Historic and contemporary tapestries in the NGV. 

$20 Friends of the ATW / $25 non-members

ATW’s specialist wool supplier, Michael Blake, will speak about Merino husbandry: positive advancements in the wool textile industry, the fibre’s journey from farm to fabric and use in fashion, industry and art - and how on-farm influences affect all of these aspects. 

Michael Blake is an award-winning wool grower committed to safe and sustainable agriculture. He has won national awards including Australian Wool Grower of the Year (2010), Australian Biosecurity Farmer of the Year (2010) and Hamilton Wool Monarch (2009) for his “significant contribution to the many facets of the wool industry”. 

Dr Jenny Underwood, Lecturer in Fashion and Textiles at RMIT, will discuss how sustainability practices are being applied to textile design and the broader textile industry. RMIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Textile Design) program is recognised as a leader in this field, being awarded the Victorian Premier's Sustainability Award and a Green Gowns Australasia Award in 2011.   

Dr Underwood is a lecturer at RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles. She will be introduced by Guy Abrahams, ATW Board member and Co-founder of CLIMARTE.

$8 Friends of the ATW and students / $10 non-members

Professor Kay Lawrence AM will talk about her recent work that explores ideas of loss and connection through a practice centred on hand-making and grounded in the materiality and meanings of textiles. Her practice ranges across works created with the highly skilled technique of woven tapestry to installation and performance works using humble domestic materials like buttons and string to explore the material and immaterial resonances of our lives.

Prof Kay Lawrence AM is the Head of the South Australian School of Art. Her particular interest and expertise is in the area of textiles practice and theory, especially in relation to tapestry weaving.

Robyn Cass will lead a tour to view Australian Tapestry Workshop tapestries on display at the NGV, Arts Centre, Ballet School and Melbourne Recital Hall.

BOOKED OUT!

Brent Harris, one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, and senior ATW weaver Sue Batten will discuss their collaborative process in translating one of Harris’s paintings into tapestry. 

Carol Cains spoke about Asian resist dyed textiles and the art of ikat weaving, part of Asia’s rich textile heritage.

Carol Cains is curator of South East Asian art at the National Gallery of Victoria, and curated an exhibition on ikat textiles at the NGV in 2006. 

At the First of the Talks for the Friends for 2012, Rebecca Coates spoke on the art practice of Australian-born, London-based artist David Noonan.

ATW has recently completed a new tapestry designed by Noonan, Untitled (2011), and his 2009 tapestry is displayed in the gallery for a limited time, having returned from touring with the British Art Show Number 7 in the UK.

Rebecca Coates is a member of the ATW Board. She is an independent curator and writer with professional experience as a curator in art museums and galleries in Australia and internationally, and is a doctoral candidate in Art History at the University of Melbourne.

David Noonan’s work is an amalgamation of fiction, myth and fact. His works incorporate figures and imagery from the history of theatre and costume design.  His works have a haunting aura emphasised by the subdued visual effect of his printing technique.