Flying geese revisited

Priority #1: Be creative. For me, fabric selection, cutting and reassembling the pieces all contribute to the backstory of an art quilt. Precision piecing harks back to traditional skills - perfect points can also be used to tell part of the story. I'm trying a few different arrangements using my hand dyed indigo blue paired with white, commercially produced fabric. On their own they do make a gorgeous quilt top - but hardly art. I've been researching the impact of climate change on migration patterns and particularly migratory birds. Exploring things like how temperature changes impact the environment, the winds, storms and the signals that trigger annual migration. I've changed direction with the traditional flying geese block - not quite confused and not quite lost, but certainly no clear direction. I've added some visual pop with the things that don't quite belong - the russet / warm flying geese sections joining the flock.

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Making progress Trees #2

The mess before the beauty

The excavator's words have stuck in my head, rent free. ' I have to make one hell of a mess before it can become beautiful. There is no beautiful end without the mess '. Or words to that effect. The retaining walls at the back of the house have to be finished before anything else can happen in the yard - and in between downpours, a few expletives and more rain, it has beena testing time for all involved in the construction. I thought about his words - and the effort of making a quilt from scratch. The planning, drawing, testing, dyeing, playing, creating, starting again, creating and the final 'ah ha'. There is so much 'mess' before a quilt is resolved becomes a thing of meaning and beautiful in its own way. Blessed are the excavators.

Mapping it out - initial thoughts

I find the process that resolves itself as a textile work challenging. In the beginning I am clueless. This is as much a strength as a source of mild anxiety. I have learnt persistence and turning up are as important as creative thinking. I'm mindful my first response is not going to be the best so I'm starting with a mind-dump. My focus is the Neville Bonner Pedestrian bridge connecting Queens Wharf to South Bank. Thoughts are scratched deep into journal pages. I'll find more connections over coming months. Right now I'm challenged and torn. What started as perfunctory research about Meanjin's (Brisbane's) newest bridge has developed into a sense of disappointment and WTFWTWPT (WTF-were-the-white-people-thinking)? I'm unpacking those thoughts in my journal - the architects and their inspiration, the consortium , what the bridge connects, where it leads, Yuggera and Turrbul people's connections to this part of the river, Mr Neville Bonner's own ...

Ali George Artist

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