Alongside the West Australian Quilters’ Association’s stitched and bound exhibition, local contemporary quilt artists will work in residence, challenging the concept of the ‘quilt’ medium and producing new works. Discover new tips, interesting techniques and be inspired by these talented textile artists.
Visitors welcome during Gallery Hours Wed Fri 10am - 5pm, Sat 11am - 3pm
10 Aug - 20 Aug | Helen O’Hara and Tiiu Stojanovic
19 Aug - 3 Sep | Susan Sheath and Marilyn Clark-Murphy
Sat 27 Aug | 11am - 3pm | Open Day for Swan Open Studios
Textile artists Susan Sheath, Marilyn Clark-Murphy and Phil Thomas work with the collective of West Australian artists that form the WA Quilters Association and Contemporary Quilt Group. Marilyn and Susan have co-curated the upcoming stitched and bound contemporary quilt exhibition and are established patchwork and quilt artists. These artists have a passion for pushing the boundaries of conventional quilt making, using progressive ideas, materials and techniques to create exciting new works. Working from the Midland Junction Arts Centre veranda studio they invite the public to drop in, discuss textile processes, and have a go at using crayons on fabric, learn fabric fusing and improvisational piecing – the easiest way to start a quilt! Suitable for all ages | FREE
7 Sep - 10 Sep | Phil Thomas
14 Sep - 17 Sep | Jan Rowe
21 Sep - 1 Oct | Kerry Moore and Tiiu Stojanovic
5 Oct - 15 Oct | Julie Devereux, Louise Wells and Anne Williams
Textile artists Julie, Louise, and Anne, who gather inspiration from the natural world, metamorphose what they observe in their work, each in her own individual way. They have a long-term friendship and respect for each other’s practice and welcome the opportunity to develop new work while in the studio environment.
19 Oct - 22 Oct | Susan Mader
26 Oct - 5 Nov | Janine Judge
Meet the Artists
HELEN O’HARA
Helen O’Hara is a mixed-media, textile artist and art educator and is a past stitched and bound exhibitor. She loves combining materials and techniques and repurposing objects, materials, and tools in new ways unimagined by their manufacturers. Helen’s art often combines printing of many types with drawing, collage, and stitch. She is a real collector and hoarder of art materials and scraps and has named her blog “The Hoarders Art Room” after this trait. Helen runs art workshops in her local community and is a member of several artists’ groups around Perth.
Susan Sheath
I started creating art quilts over 10 years ago. I work mainly using an improvisational style using bold colours. But I am always game to incorporate new techniques into my work. I have recently been experimenting with dyes and dyes paints. I have found working with my hand dyed silk wedding dress scraps very exciting - the colours are so vibrant. I have also been playing with printing photographs on fabric and stitching into them by hand and machine.
KERRY MOORE
Long-time dressmaker and embroiderer, qualified schoolteacher, part time artist, interested in all things creative.
I usually make fairly traditional quilts but have always enjoyed embroidery as well. Many years ago I discovered crazy patch which has been around for centuries but is not often used. It was the perfect recipe for using up all the dressmaking, patchworking, and furnishing fabrics that I had accumulated after many years of doing all of those. Add to that comes the bling. Beads, buttons, old jewellery, ribbons and laces are the perfect accessories for crazy patch and I have accumulated just as much in those fields as I had in fabric to start.
In this AIR I will be working on two fairly large crazy patch quilts. One will be tied, (the crazy equivalent of quilted), the other will be further embroidered and embellished and then put together before quilting. In amongst this I hope to start new pieces as I demonstrate how to do this to visitors.
There will be other crazy quilts there for people to enjoy.
LOUISE WELLS
Louise Wells’ interest in textiles began in high school during a Specialist Art program at Balcatta SHS. She went on to gain an Associate Diploma in Textiles at WAIT (now Curtin University) in 1983, followed by a WA Arts Council traineeship grant with Kate Weedon-Jones at Fremantle Arts Centre. Louise regularly exhibits in group and jury selected exhibitions. She was a finalist in York Botanic Art Prize, Collie Art Prize (CAP) and Australian Textile Award. In 2019 her work was selected for Cultura Diffusa, Como Italy and Fiber Arts IX, California USA. She is a five times finalist in Wearable Art Mandurah, winning the Avant Garde category in 2017. Recent solo exhibitions include Of Our Time - Ordinary Lives 2018, Suburban Secrets 2021. Her work is held in the City of Stirling and City of Melville collections.
During her MJAC residency, Louise will work on two projects for future exhibitions, one with wire and buttons, the other using the cut away technique of layering fabrics, machine stitch, cutting away and hand stitching (the technique used on her stitched & bound artwork).
TIIU STOJANOVIC
Tiiu says she was hopeless at sewing when being taught in high school. Her mother made all her clothes and when her mother went to Europe for six months in 1976, Tiiu studied Dressmaking and Soft Furnishings at TAFE. It was here, Tiiu was first exposed to Patchwork and Quilting and in the early 1980’s, she took her first patchwork course with Pamela Tawton in Canberra.
As the Workshop Coordinator for WA Quilters Association, Tiiu has learnt a lot from many tutors from all over Australia, and USA - from slow stitch, to embellishment, felting, fabric painting and quilting. She says she is still learning and trying to seek perfection!
Tiiu has taught in workshops at WA Quilters Association and Toodyay using scraps. A Block of the Month generated six quilts for Perth Children’s Hospital.
Tiiu has won several awards in QuiltWest and other quilt shows.
Phil Thomas
I am an award winning quilter who has taught beginner patchwork classes for over 25 years and am an accredited teacher and judge with the West Australian Quilters' Association.
My first love is for hand pieced and hand quilted traditional quilts but for the last 6 years I have been moving towards a more contemporary style using machine applique and quilting. I enjoy using technology to design my quilts and recently have been using photographs to make portrait and landscape quilts.
Julie Devereux
Textiles has been Julie’s art practice for the last 25 years. Many techniques and mediums cross boundaries into textiles which give great breadth to be able to express or tell a story. Family history often influences her artwork. This is her way of continuing to pass down history and stories for future generations, to have a sense of who people really are and share their legacy. She uses natural fibres or recycles and repurposes material where she can. Whether it be old blankets, calico core sample bags, x-ray film or recently postage stamps. Natural dyeing and botanical printing have been a strong part of her works.
Julie has always had a strong interest in art. She completed Certificate in Art and Design in 1991. She then continued into textiles including quilting, felting, natural dyeing and botanical printing and hand stitch.
Susan Mader
My mother and my maternal grandmother today remain a warm source of inspiration for my textile art making.
My mother married, with an infant and a baby, moved from the city with my father to live a life in the country. My grandmother lived in the city with my grandfather. Their lived environment was in contrast as was the difference in generation yet they had experiences of financial and social challenges which they shared when together.
As a child it was a joy to witness their creativity and humour. Their unfolding stories and experiences of making and mending was heartwarming to hear and to learn from.
My mother taught me to sew at an early age. I was wearing clothes I made from the age of ten years from fabric my mother stored in brown suitcases under our beds. Creativity in thought and deed was very much encouraged within the family household which carried me well into adulthood and through to formal studies with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts.
Mostly I hand stitch, using found and or discarded cloth, selected for textural characteristics to embody the essence of the story. Often I introduce other art techniques and materials to support the work if I sense it is needed. I make art to reminisce the historical content of the lives of every day Australian people.
Marilyn Clark-Murphy
I started my creative career in 2012 and, with everything to learn, made my first art quilt that year. I have been creating consistently since then, primarily in the quilt genre. I’ll use, or at least try, any technique and material that uses fabric and thread to create, but favour applique in all its forms plus machine or hand stitch. I prefer to work with recycled materials and what I already have. I gather materials when I come across them, usually second-hand, seldom buying for a specific project. My principal, and rather eclectic, sources of inspiration include: landscape, flora, anything feline, history in general and women’s history in particular. I am very aware that we “stand on the shoulders of giants”; everything we achieve is a continuation of, and dependent upon, the work of our ancestors. We owe a huge debt to those who went before us and this sentiment is now reflected in much of my work.
JAN ROWE
Jan has been quilting and teaching for many years. Her quilting is predominately inspired by her travels and she uses original designs in the process. She has won a number of major awards for her quilts and is a WAQA accredited teacher and a past stitched and bound exhibitor.
‘‘Quilting is more than a hobby for me. It’s a passion. I enjoy creating my own designs, because solving the associated challenges is very satisfying. Often fabrics and threads that are not considered traditional feature in my quilts. Colour, texture, and embellishment are important elements. Workshops are technique based and participants are encouraged to try something new and ask themselves, ‘what if?’”
Jan runs regular workshops for WAQA and will be holding a Quilting from the Right Side of the Brain workshop as part of the stitched and bound public program.
ANNE WILLIAMS
After a lifetime of making and teaching across a range of mainly textile arts, Anne Williams’ recent focus is on hand stitching, where the slow, contemplative rhythm of needle and thread encourages thoughts and ideas to develop. She has participated in many group and juried exhibitions, taught community workshops, and has had two solo exhibitions, at MAC in 2016 and Artist in Focus at MJAC in 2019. Her work is in private collections.
Janine Judge
I love to explore the amazing world we live in with its striking scenery and fascinating flora and fauna. Back in the studio I interpret these experiences in fabric and thread using a domestic sewing machine. My pieces generally start with the background which is eco dyed or painted with sun dyes. To this I add a collage made with fabric to outline the main design. I add the finer details with thread painting (freehand machine embroidery) which brings the picture to life.
Over the years I have tried lots of crafts and I guess you would say I was a “Jack of all trades, but master of none” type of person. I enjoyed them all for a while but I wasn’t passionate enough about any of them to stick with them long term. Eventually my searching brought me to art quilting and freehand machine embroidery. Finally I had found my calling and I was hooked
I want my art to bring you joy and take you on a journey to explore the amazing world we live in. If you have been lucky enough to visit the places depicted in my art it will bring back wonderful memories. If you haven’t been there yet it will inspire you of all the beauty in the world and enlighten you to places you should add to your bucket list. Either way it will make you feel happy, and can provide you with an escape after a stressful day.
Exhibition
Public Program
Image: Details of artworks by artists in residence Marilyn Clark-Murphy, Jan Rowe, Susan Mader, Helen O'Hara, Louise Wells, Julie Devereux, Kerry Moore, Tiiu Stojanovic, Phil Thomas, Susan Sheath, Janine Judge and Anne Williams.