collagestry

At the end of this week I'm submitting my piece for a curated exhibition, The Tip Shop Competition, and it's proving to be the largest piece of fabric collage I've ever imagined myself capable of completing. We're at the stage of me sitting, sometimes lying, on the floor to get to the tricky bits. I have  needle-stuck fingers and a permanent pain in the neck. But it's been great fun nonetheless - it's playing with colour, pattern, shape and texture...what could be better!?

The bags and pouches that I've made for the last few years have been greater or lesser degrees of collage, as have been many of the aprons that I make, as well as the skirts and dresses I've done for children, so this is I guess a natural extension. I did a whole series of small collaged pouches a while back:

and more recently have finished a series of small shoulder bags made from Japanese vintage kimono off-cuts and stocked by Reverse Garbage in their Emporium:

I've also indulged myself with a number of soft sculpture collages previously, a number of monkeys and a few other adventures:

(These or similar can be found from time to time at The Collective Store in Wynnum and at Bleeding Heart Gift Shop in the city)

 The Tip Shop project involves reusing materials sourced from the local Tip Shops - Endeavour Foundation administered out-lets for re-usable goods dumped at the Brisbane City Council tips by residents, with all profits going to Endeavour. The aim is to publicise the shops (there are two in Brisbane, at Acacia Ridge and at Geebung), and to demonstrate one possible out-come for re-use, that is art work.

The selected artists represent a diverse range of demographic and discipline, so the results should be very interesting. Work goes on display in the Brisbane Square Library for two months, and the winner is chosen by public vote, either personally lodged or recorded on-line.

I've been blown away by some of my gem finds at The Tip Shop, including a precious haul of embroidery cottons, many of them French, many wound carefully onto card and labeled, to which it's a true honour to give new life:

Here are some sneak peeks of the work-in-progress...all will be fully revealed soon on-line via The Tip Shop Competition links.

Until next time...