Mark making and designing new fabric

My favourite part of the post-dyeing process is when I get to make marks. I most always use block printing inks (oil based) which are messy and take days to 'dry' but give amazing results on paper and cloth. Sometimes I leave the pieces whole, while other times I love the way slices and snippets take on a different life as part of an overall composition. I also love how the fabric picks up the 'noise' from the inked base (I use a Skvallra desk pad from Ikea, about $10 for a 60cm x 80 cm size).

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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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