During the long 2020 lock-down ATW weavers Sue Batten, Pamela Joyce, Tim Gresham and Chris Cochius continued to weave from their homes, gradually creating a suite of twelve small tapestries based on pastel works on paper by Arts Projects Australia artist Julian Martin.

This suite of twelve small tapestries are unique, as the weavers created jewel-like miniatures significantly smaller in scale than Martin's original artworks. This process was an inversion of the standard process of design interpretation, and required a very fine warp sett (threads per cm) to render the subtle shifts in colour and chalky surface of the original pastel artworks. These small but impactful tapestries are bold visual statements, each characterised by their unique interpretation of the rich pastel colour and surface qualities of the originals.

Martin, a studio artist at Arts Project Australia (APA), works from photographs and still-life to create abstract compositions as a continuous reinterpretation and response to form. Martin has worked at APA since 1988 and and has held multiple solo shows - most recently in 'Nicolas Party: Pastel' at The FLAG Art Foundation, New York. He has shown in group exhibitions nationally and internationally andhas work in significant collections including Museum of Everything in London, City of Melbourne, Monash University Museum of Art and National Gallery of Victoria (gifted by Stuart Purves), as well as private collections worldwide. He is represented by Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphia and Arts Project Australia, Melbourne.

These tapestries were created as part of the 'Weaving Futures' project and represent a significant expansion of the longstanding partnership between ATW and APA to provide meaningful creative and professional development opportunities for artists living with disability.

These tapestries are for sale through the ATW. For sale enquiries: contact@austapestry.com.au +61 3 9699 7885