Cultural threads booklet

City of Greater Dandenong Textiles Celebration 28 July – 31 August 2016

Cultural Threads is an exciting celebration of textiles and cultural diversity hosted by the City of Greater Dandenong.

From knitting to crocheting, dyeing to weaving, needlepoint to yarn art, Cultural Threads is a month-long program of exhibitions, workshops and activities. People of all ages and backgrounds are invited to connect with one another, trade skills, share stories and interweave cultures.

Events and activities will be held at multiple venues across Greater Dandenong including Walker Street Gallery and Community Arts Centre, Heritage Hill, the Drum, Dandenong and Springvale Libraries and Harmony Square.

In addition, intricate and colourful installations will adorn Greater Dandenong for the duration of the event.

Cultural Threads is a satellite event of Craft Victoria’s Craft Cubed Festival 2016.

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Tree of Life

Harmony Square 225 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

The Tree of Life represents the signifance of trees as a symbol of antiquity and enduring strength.

Led by artists Margaret Summerton and Robina Summers, the trees' elements have been created by local schools and community groups.

The Tree of Life will continue to grow throughout the month of August and eventually blossom into a magical white tree, bursting with flowers and butterflies.

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Community Peace Quilt Dandenong Library 225 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Guided by artist Emma Anna, this multi pieced quilt visually and tactilely represents the City of Greater Dandenong as a place of diversity, colour and peace.

Each element is handcrafted by community members who live in Greater Dandenong with each piece representing an individual, that together form a collective whole.

The Greater Dandenong Community Peace Quilt will evolve during Cultural Threads and will be on display at the Dandenong Library from 15 August 2016.

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Making Culture

Harmony Square Exhibition Window Boxes 225 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Making Culture draws inspiration from many sources, sometimes extraordinary and sometimes mundane.

Using a range of recycled materials, artist Anzara Clarke worked with young people in the Greater Dandenong community and invited them to consider their cultural identity in a contemporary context, using fashion and accessories as the medium.

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And the stories still remain

Harmony Square Exhibition Window Boxes 225 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Through the common thread of storytelling, And the stories still remain explores diversity of language and culture within the City of Greater Dandenong community through the reinterpretation of books.

By transforming the physical form of paper and combining it with unexpected ideas, artist Louise Seymour asks the question, 'How do we create something new while retaining the original essence of the individual authors?'

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Here and Now

Drum Theatre 226 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Looking back through the layers of time, artist Kristin McFarlane presents traces of fabric and pattern in a transparent curtain of etched glass panels.

Through a series of workshops, Kristin encouraged community members to capture their own stories of fabric and pattern and preserve their own memories in glass.

At the centre of the installation, Kristin has replicated fragments from historic fashion items from the 1940s belonging to Dorothy Hart, former owner of Benga House at Heritage Hill in Dandenong. The series of textured glass panels highlight the beauty and intricacy of both the contemporary and heritage-inspired pieces.

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Workshops Events & ACTIVITIES

Workshops Events & Activities Cultural Threads Opening Event Thursday 28 July Heritage Hill

6.30pm – 8.30pm

Join us to celebrate the official opening of Cultural Threads. View exhibitions by Tim Gresham and Chaco Kato. Also on display will be Thea Jones’ installation “All her thoughts are so tactile”. Opened officially by Mayor Heang Tak.

Book Repurposing

Macramé

Thursday 9 August

Friday 5-26 August

with Louise Seymour Dandenong Library

with Claire Sunderland

6.30pm – 8.30pm

Up-cycle old books into cool Book Art with some folding, cutting and gluing!

Learn this easy popular 70’s craft that is making a comeback.

Introductory to Sewing

RSVP arts@cgd.vic.gov.au 8571 1420

with Twich Sewing Collective Saturday 30 July - 17 September

Introduction to Weaving with Rachel Wood Thursday 4 August

Heritage Hill 6.30pm – 8.30pm Adults 16+ Adult - $20, Conc - $17 Learn the basic skills of weaving.

Heritage Hill 10.30am – 12.30pm Adults 16+ Adult, Term - $45 or $15 per session Conc, Term - $36 or $12 per session

Introduction to Crocheting

Walker Street Gallery & Community Arts Centre 1pm – 3pm Adults 16+ Adult, Term - $105 or $30 per fortnight Conc, Term - $84 or $24 per fortnight

Thursday 11 August

Learn the basic steps to use a sewing machine.

with Chilli Philly

Heritage Hill 6.30pm – 8.30pm Adults 16+ Adult - $20, Conc - $17 Learn the basic techniques of crocheting.

Introduction to Cross Stitch with Sayraphim Lothian Thursday 18 August

Heritage Hill Open Art Day Sunday 7 August Heritage Hill

12pm – 4pm

Heritage Hill 6.30pm – 8.30pm Adults 16+ Adult - $20, Conc - $17

Get Involved - Installations

Learn how to cross stitch and create your own work of art through designing a little pixel person.

Here and Now Glass Etching Workshop

Make, see and do at Heritage Hill Open Art Day! Bring along your family and friends to explore Heritage Hill and take part in some crafty activities.

Tuesday 12 July

Basket Weaving

Dandenong Library 6.30pm – 8.30pm Bring along a piece of fabric or pattern of personal significance and replicate through etching onto glass panels.

Monday 8 & 15 August

Greater Dandenong Community Peace Quilt

with Adrienne Kneebone Heritage Hill Adults 16+

10.30am – 12.30pm

Learn the basic skills of basket weaving.

Join artist Emma Anna in the fun and contribute your own ‘patch’ to the Greater Dandenong Community Peace Quilt. Visit greaterdandenong.com/culturalthreads for a list of times and locations.

Cactus Plant Making with Emma Grace

Thursday 25 August Heritage Hill 6.30pm – 8.30pm Adults 16+ Adult - $20, Conc - $17 Create an un-killable cactus plant, using basic sewing skills.

Greater Dandenong Patterns

Nominate areas of architechtural significance within Greater Dandenong to be replicated in embroidery. email arts@cgd.vic.gov.au

Materials for all workshops are provided.

Bookings 8571 1666 or visit greaterdandenong.com/culturalthreads Walker Street Gallery & Community Art Centre Cnr Walker & Robinson sts, Dandenong

Heritage Hill 66 McCrae St, Dandenong

Dandenong Library 225 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

All her thoughts are so tactile Heritage Hill 66 McCrae St, Dandenong

This large scale embroidery by Thea Jones, flanked between the iconic fig trees at Laurel Lodge, takes an intimate view of a girl’s or woman’s thoughts and materialises them.

Working with themes of femininity and community - All her thoughts are so tactile is self fulfilling, nostalgic and traditional, qualities that are associated with traditional crafts like sewing, weaving and knitting.

Engaging with the history of Laurel Lodge and inspired by botanical dyes made from the heritage gardens, the embroidered artwork will speak to the idea of 'women's work' and traditional girls’ education.

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Friendship Garden

Paddy O’Donoghue Centre 18-34 Buckley St, Noble Park

Working with children and families within Greater Dandenong, the Friendship Garden uses colours inspired by the Australian environment to create a multi-faceted three dimensional artwork.

Curated by Rosslyn Lyall and Hala Chamas, the Friendship Garden celebrates diversity within the Greater Dandenong community through a variety of mixed media techniques.

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Greater Dandenong Patterns Various locations

Greater Dandenong Patterns invites people to look differently at various architectural details around the municipality by presenting these details in framed embroidery.

Inspiring the community to share architectural fragments of their suburbs, artist Sayraphim Lothian has created artworks that are placed around the streets of Dandenong for all to discover.

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Home and Community Care (HACC) Paper Garland Springvale Library 415 Springvale Rd, Springvale

Through sewn paper circles, the Home and Community Care Paper Garland celebrates the threads that connect life and community.

Responding to these themes, seniors and residents receiving home based community care were invited to share their personal messages.

More than 500 paper circles have been sewn and strung together to create a display of community connections.

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Venation

Walker Street Gallery, Gallery One 4 – 27 August

Elizabeth Banfield, Ying Chew, Danica Chappell, David Wadelton, Lyndal Walker

Venation refers to the arrangement of veins, as in a leaf or in the wing of an insect. In this exhibition five contemporary Australian artists explore the veins of histories and customs. The threads that connect and tie things together come from complex histories. The custom of dressing, the notion of family traditions, and suburban tropes among others come to the fore in a range of media including photography, tapestry and printmaking.

Havana Suite

Walker Street Gallery, Gallery Two 4 – 27 August Mia Salsjo

In 2015 during a residency in Havana, Cuba, Australian artist Mia Salsjo developed an edition of multi-layered and collaged silkscreen prints. The ‘Habana Suite’, captures the artist’s response to Cuban design, life and politics during the exact passage of time when the country, following six decades of the US imposed Trade Embargo, renewed its contact with the United States.

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Rhythm of the Weave Heritage Hill 28 July – 31 August Tim Gresham

Tim Gresham is an unusual tapestry artist. Aside from being male in a predominantly female field, his work is abstract, looking to minimalism rather than figuration and representation. By creating work in this way, this master craftsman brings to the fore the process and techniques of weaving.

Small Studies Heritage Hill 28 July – 31 August Chaco Kato

Melbourne based, Japanese born artist Chaco Kato is possibly best known for her large, playful site specific installations using string construction.

In this small, modest show Kato is exploring some new ideas with cotton thread on paper.

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Acknowledgment Burmese Womens Group Dandenong Market Keysborough Primary School Noble Park Country Women’s Association Social Knitwork South East Community Links Springvale Heights Primary School Springvale Rise Primary School St Anthony’s Primary School Tamil Women’s Group The Open Door Yarraman Oaks Primary School For more information about Cultural Threads, including installations and artists please visit greaterdandenong.com/culturalthreads Cultural Threads has been proudly sponsored by:

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