Bronwyn Cant, Lindsay Point, Victoria
Living in a country town provides a community and connections at a different level than those of a city. Sure, we don’t have all the amenities that our city cousins have access to, such as big entertainment venues and art galleries, teaching hospitals and universities, but we do have very close connections with our neighbors and friends, our social and educational networks.
I was reminded of this in considering how to respond to the Connections prompt for Cloth in Common.
I recently purchased an old long-arm sewing machine by way of an online market place. Not something I have done often as I usually prefer to hunt around at garage sales or trading tables. (I hope both those terms translate in the international context.) Anyway, the machine was about 35 years old but really well priced and located not far away, so I took a chance and called up. Turned out that a son was selling on behalf of his mother as his parents were moving to another state to a retirement facility. No room for a long-arm!
I knew the family through several connections – our sons had both played instruments in a local big band during their school years, our families had both been involved in the same industry, and she was also involved with local quilters groups. So, there were three connections or points of contact.
I started to think about all our connections in small communities and how I could represent them in my Cloth in Common piece. I came up with a list of some of the connections that I have in my community and I tried to represent them in abstract form in my work. The background represents the different aspects of the community, and the applique surface represents the relationship or connections that links the people involved. You can see that the connections spread across multiple areas within the background community, illustrating the web of connections.
Some of the connections are: Family and friends; Volunteers, service clubs, charities; Health, medical, aged care and lifestyle support; Interests and social activities like art, gardening, crafting; Agricultural, horticultural and business organisations; Schools, teachers and education; Music; Sport; Historical; Church, religion, belief systems; cultural and cross-cultural involvement.
The relationships and connections we have within our community are dense and deep; tenuous and fleeting; intense and involved; for a lifetime or a moment. They are like a web that binds and holds us together.
Commenced: April 2023
Completed: May 2023
Dimensions: 1020mm H X 1120mm W
40” H X 44” W
Materials: A ground of pieced commercial printed cotton fabric; surface of strips of recycled tartan wool fabric, cashmere sweater strips, salvaged woollen fabric, used Hi Viz vest, thrifted, repurposed clothing and cotton quilting fabric; Vliesofix; backing of wool fabric gifted by a friend.
Technique: Raw-edge appliqué with applied vliesofix in various sizes and shapes. Freehand machine stitched quilted pattern over the entire surface using a small long arm.
Bronwyn, this interesting work raises questions in my mind. Did you apply the black lines with wool? Or did you paint it on. Your longarm quilting is beautiful. The use of different materials and colors is beautiful. The black color makes it a unity, which really appeals to me.
Hello Elfriede
Thank you for your comments, it is always special when our work raises questions, isn’t it? The curvy black lines are strips of wool fabric cut very fine and adhered to the background fabric with vliesofix. The wool fabric is an old skirt and I cut the fabric on the bias, but the wool just seems to curve very easily and encourages me to use wool much more often in my work to see what it can do. The grey, black and white fabric was a single small piece that had arches printed on it. I thought it was reminiscent of a church building, or a municipal library so I placed my curved black wool pieces partially over the top, representing vines and wine and nourishment (for the soul and the body).
The beauty of the twists and turns in your piece speak loudly, and with support and are an overlay for all of the beautiful fabrics beneath the surface… a connection for sure, a conversation and memories all bound together. I would love to stand in front of this piece and ponder…
I feel like that as I make them – sometimes just standing in front of the piece and asking it what it wants to add next!
Such interesting materials you’re using, Bronwyn! Makes me want to see (and touch) in person! Well done.
Thank you Karol. You are right as the wool in this one is quite thick and there are parts of it that feel like flocked wallpaper. Isn’t it interesting that I wrote that and immediately thought “Do Americans know what flocked wallpaper is?”