In 2017, 59 artists from 14 countries were selected as finalists for the Kate Derum Award and 22 artists from 7 countries were selected for the Irene Davies Award.
Ema Shin’s (Australia) tapestry Soft Alchemy (Lily) was awarded the Kate Derum Award and the Irene Davies Award was awarded to UK weaver Hannah Waldron (United Kingdom) for her tapestry To Houshi Onsen.
Cresside Collette was awarded a High Commendation for her tapestry Garden in the Kate Derum Award. Two High Commendations were awarded for the Irene Davies Award, Munaw Poe (Australia) for her tapestry Freedom and Ingrida Ivane (Latvia) for her tapestry Impatience.
Kate Derum Award Finalists
Patricia Armour, Ewa Bartosz Mazus, John Brennan, Anet Brusgaard, Raewyn Bucklow, Stephnie Cantoni, Chris Cochius, Cresside Collette, Deborah Corsini, Clare Coyle, Heather Dunn, Jilly Edwards, Ilze Erba-Brengolma, Vladimira Fillion-Wackenreuther, Suzanne Fitzgerald, Alex Friedman, Carolyn Furnish, Pauline Gibson, Kirsten Glasbrook, Brenda Goggs, Melissa Green, Beryl Hammill, Alice Hannigan, Rachel Hine, Elke Hülse, Fiona Hutchison, Anne Jackson, William Jefferies, Dimity Kidston, Joan Korn, Velga Lukaza, Louise Martin, David Mooney, Ann Nauistdal, Judit Pazmany, Liv Pedersen, Caron Penney, Elizabeth Radcliffe, DeAnna Rigter, Deann Rubin, Christine Sawyer, Tommye Scanlin, Pat Scholz, Jennifer Sharpe, Ema Shin, Beth Smith, Joy Smith, Katharine Swailes, Julie Taylor, Marie-Thumette Brichard, Kathe Todd-Hooker, Friede Voet, Renate von Loewis of Menar, Mike Wallace, Sue Weil, Sue Weir, Rosemary Whitehead, Greg Wood, Naomi Zouwer
Irene Davies Award Finalists
Eva Heiky Olga Abbinga, Daniela Contreras Flores, Michelle Driver, Jessie Fitzpatrick, Karlie Hawking, Ingrīda Ivane, Caroline Johnston, Suzanne Knight, Maruta Konceviča, Michelle Kurth, Santa Leimane, Kayla Mattes, Sophie Morris, Mariana Ortega, Lynne Peebles, Ana Petidis, Mariana Pinar, Munaw Poe, Shuklay Tahpo, Hannah Waldron, Krysten Watson, Dorota Wronska
Judges
Professor Kay Lawrence AM, Former Head School, School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia, member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Tapestry Workshop and tapestry weaver.
Dr Kevin Murray, Adjunct Professor, RMIT University, Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Craft writer and curator.
Dr Rebecca Coates, Director SAM (Shepparton Art Museum), Honorary Fellow, School of Culture and Communications, University of Melbourne, Curator and writer.
2017 Kate Derum Award Winner
Ema Shin (Australia), Soft Alchemy (Lily), 2017, woven tapestry, wool, cotton, 26 x 22 cm
Over many years I have been formulating shapes of female anatomy and body organs filled with designs of plants and flowers. Through tapestry weaving I have discovered a truly tactile and expressive medium to produce woven artworks inspired by my human and botanical investigation. My creations search for threads that connect inner emotions with our day-to-day experiences. I combine invisible emotional and physical experiences with visually recognizable shapes of plant life and human anatomy. In my art practice I aim to create a composition that displays sensitivity for materials used, historical techniques, and physical awareness as well as express femininity, sexuality and domesticity.
Judges’ comments: ‘Ema Shin’s tapestry Soft Alchemy (Lily) brings together two familiar tropes of the feminine, flowers and the female body, but in such a way that they seem fresh and surprising; the overblown flower form with its profusion of stamens is a powerful expression of the fecundity of the female body. The weaving is technically adept and the shaped forms skilfully controlled so they heighten the vibrancy and expressiveness of the image. Soft Alchemy (Lily) is a beautifully resolved artwork.’
2017 Irene Davies Award Winner
Hannah Waldron (United Kingdom), To Houshi Onsen, 2015, wool, cotton, silk, linen 30 x 15 cm
In contrast to today’s possibility to travel great distance at speed, view the world remotely through satellite images and record every moment photographically, I use my weaving practice to carefully examine human interaction with landscape. I map the places I have visited in past years including Houshi Onsen, a remote hot spring spa in Japan. In this work the various sensory experiences, modes and paces of travel are translated
into the woven idiom, a medium I find so suited, so perfect, for the mapping of time and space. Weaving is a departure from the mainstream modes and pace of language, and opens a door to an alternate world of making meaning. Storytelling is a mnemonic device practiced by humans for thousands of years. I am interested in working in the woven tradition of storytelling but seek to update this language to reflect the contemporary landscape and our interaction with it.
Judges’ comments: ‘Hannah Waldron in her tapestry To Houshi Onsen exploits the process of weaving used to construct an image from bottom to top, to visually map her memories of a particular place. In doing so she has created a graphically resolved and precise woven narrative composed of fragments, associations and memories. She has skilfully used the clear vibrant colour and sheen of cotton and silk yarns to suggest a journey through both time and space.’
2017 Kate Derum Highly Commended
Cresside Collette (Australia), Garden, 2017, cotton warp, wool, cotton, synthetic weft, 30 x 30 cm
This is an image that was sourced in Sri Lanka but depicts what I imagine to be a universal garden. The light falls through trees penetrating dark undergrowth and illuminating leaf structures. The elements are ambiguous – grass, water, reflected forms - the Eden that belongs to all of us through the observation of nature.
Judges’ comments: ‘Cresside Collette uses the tapestry medium with consummate skill to recreate the experience of being
in a tropical garden. By building up the image through weaving small patches of muted colour with sudden flashes of intense hue, she is able to evoke the sensuality of dappled shade and play of light on foliage and water while maintaining the integrity of the woven image.’
2017 Irene Davies Highly Commended
Munaw Poe (Australia), Freedom, 2017, cotton and acrylic, 21.5 x 28.5 cm
I learnt how to weave from my mother when I was a young girl in Burma. For 20 years I lived in a refugee camp in Thailand where I wove cloth, using traditional patterns. I love the freedom I have found in both collage making and tapestry weaving, and in my new life in Australia. This tapestry has developed on the loom, using a selection of space dyed yarn.
Judges’ comments: ‘In her tapestry Freedom Munaw Poe has transformed traditional linear patterns from Burmese handloom weaving into the idiom of woven tapestry. The vibrant colour and dynamic structure of her tapestry is a powerful expression of the freedom she feels in Australia while maintaining a strong link to her heritage.’
2017 Irene Davies Highly Commended
Ingrīda Ivane (Latvia), Impatience, 2017, wool, cotton, polyester, 22 x 25.5 cm
I was visiting an abandoned house when some scratches on the wall caught my eye. Someone had counted something there; maybe tallying up the days spent waiting for something important. I couldn’t find out if that somebody had gotten what they longed for. But it made me think of parallels with how I create tapestry, how I deal with both impatience and anticipation. I decided to capture the passage of time I have spent on a work in the work itself, so it becomes my calendar, my diary, the embodiment of my time spent.
Judges’ comments: ‘The title of this tapestry Impatience is refuted by the
care and attention with which it was woven, evident in
the precise weaving of the white tally marks standing out against the subtle warm tones of the ground. The weaving process and the image itself cleverly embody different modalities of time; weaving as an active engagement in the present that makes time pass quickly, and a process of marking the passage of time that ironically seems to make time pass more slowly. Concept and process very successfully integrated.’
