Ali George Artist

  The annual benefit auction is nearly upon us - it's SAQA's major fundraiser for the year. Member artists create a 30cm x 30cm (12" x 12") art piece and donate to the annual auction. My piece (see below) is well on its way to the US and I can't wait to see the other 380+ pieces. I've been a member, on and off, for more than a decade including some time as the Oceania rep. I learned so much from the organisation, from other artists and attended the 2012 joint conference with the Surface Design Association in Philadelphia. A life- and art-changing trip for me and the friendships made all those years ago, endure to this day. Still inspired, still loving being a textile and mixed media artist. The auction starts September 14 through October 8  at saqa.com/auction

 It's not often we get to design a room "from scratch". Aside from the necessity to have clean clothes and bed linen, there's a lot of textile and fabric design that happens across the hall in the main studio area. So the tub had to be stainless steel, and large enough to take 4-5 metres of fabric at a time. I needed hanging space immediately above the sink which also is neat for hanging wet shirts and human-worn textiles. White-ish stone benchtop - so I see what I'm doing, and long enough to do all the folding and sorting of fabrics (and clothing). Overhead cupboards to store dyes, paints, printing supplies, chemicals, and everything else required in a wet studio. Lots of light - splashback tiles that reflected as much natural light as possible into the space (same deal for the kitchen). Tall  (aka broom) cupboards to take all manner of equipment including a recharging station and power points for operating the Elna press and another iron when the dyeing is done.

  Each week, I get together with Rebecca and we do "something" related to our art. This week we walked the lake at Forest Lake, looking for texture, line, scale and just being present in the space. I love the imagery of walking, and also the smells, sounds and general traffic around the walking tracks.  We seemed to walk for ages and talked for longer. I always come away inspired and recharged after a visit. This week we discussed exhibition spaces and contemplated the merits of and differences between the more common way of exhibiting quilts at craft and quilt shows, with seeing textile art as an integral part of the fine arts and deserving of gallery space in its own right.