ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS FIBRE 2017 - competition

NATIONAL ALPACA SHOW & EXPO – 22-24 September 2017
This competition is open to members of the Alpaca Association NZ and members of Creative Fibre NZ.  There are 2 main categories:

• Fabulous Fibre Fashion
• Fabulous Fibre Creations – anything other than fashion

Entries may be knitted, woven or felted or alpaca fibre treated any other way provided that it meets the competition guidelines.  Guidelines - Items must contain at least 70% alpaca fibre and comply with our competition standard of workmanship.  A ‘selector’ will assess all entries to ensure that a high standard is achieved so that the entries promote the beauty and diversity of alpaca fibre.  There will be a judge for each section as well as a public vote.  Potential sponsors have been invited to sponsor a prize in either category and for a sub-section that may reflect their particular interest. These will be announced at a later date.

Let your imaginations run riot, develop your ideas and show us what fantastic creations you can achieve from your beautiful alpaca fibre.  For information about the Show see mailto:http://www.alpacaexpo.co.nz  See Entry Forms for detailed conditions of entry. If anyone is interested in having a Trade stand at the Show they can find all the information on the Show/ Expo website http://www.alpacaexpo.co.nz

FESTIVAL UPDATE

Only 5 Weeks to go!  To date, there are 322 registrations. 210 at the runway show and 130 for the runway challenge.  Registrations will close on the 3rd April.  Day passes have been set at $20. Fliers are available advertising all we have to offer. We also have more bookmarks for people to take away.

There are 142 entries for the Exhibition and 70 for fashion. Not so many socks however. Selection for Fashion is on 25th March and for Exhibition on 29th and 30th March. Good luck to everyone who has entered.

Many thanks to everyone who has volunteered to work at ENTWINE. Please let Fay know if you wish to do so.

Kerry Bulmer, Festival Co-convenor

TAFAN Newsletter

Textile and Fibre Arts Network  Newsletter 15, March 2017

Greetings from TAFAN www.textileandfibreartsnetwork.org.nz

The Network Committee has been busy preparing for an update of our brochure, the AGM, and our combined Guilds exhibition in August.

From the Committee. Our next committee meeting for the year is Saturday, 1 April, 9:30 am at the meeting room McDonalds, Cnr of Gasson and Moorhouse Avenue.

Brochure update. We want your photos for this. Any item of your work. - something you are really pleased with. It doesn’t have to be an award winner. If you are pleased with it we want to see it. Work in light and bright colours that photograph well is preferred. Send a full photo and close up if appropriate. Send as an attachment to Julie Devlin, devlin.family@xtra.co.nz.  Do let us know if your group has an event coming up so we can promote it on our website and in our newsletters.

Annual De Clutter Sale. A big thank you to all donors and volunteers from the groups and Guilds towards this event. The new venue at St Christopher’s Church gave us heaps more space and parking. $3,800 was raised, and unsold items donated to schools and Creative Junk.

Annual General Meeting-Textile and Fibre Arts Network  Friday 26 May, 7.30 pm, 2017
Christchurch Bridge Club, Nova Place, (a small street off Barbadoes Street.)
Notices of motion must be received one month prior to the AGM.  Member groups may nominate delegates for the committee by writing to the Secretary ros.mccarthy@gmail.com by Sunday 21st May.  Each Guild or group can have up to two delegates on the Network Committee. It is the role of the member group or Guild to appoint their delegate(s) to the network, and for that delegate to represent their Guild or group.  Nominations for delegates are not taken at the AGM, but come through the member group or Guild.

Affiliate (supporter) membership status is available on application to the Network (by email is fine). Affiliate members may vote at the AGM but do not vote on behalf of a group or Guild. Affiliate members may attend committee meetings and can be office holders, but only have voting rights if they are on the Committee.

The AGM will be followed by guest speaker Kate Mahoney, who will talk about her fibre career and give sound tips for taking great photos of our textile works.

Kate’s bio.
“I just love colour and fibre - and I love making unique handcrafted items. I have crafted all my life, and have a particular love for wool, brought about by a long-lasting obsession with a much-loved blanky when I was a child. These days I'm a bit more sophisticated!

Although I graduated from the Dunedin School of Art with a BFA majoring in Photography, and then a Postgraduate Diploma, mostly I dye fibre for other crafters, but I also teach, spin, knit, crochet and make felt. Future plans include weaving (when I’ve got around to setting up my darkroom, which will make space in my container workshop for my loom).

My photography practice covers a wide range, from traditional wet darkroom in black and white to mysterious Victorian processes using watercolour paint, chemistry and occasionally egg white, to digital product photography, which I taught when I was a lecturer in photography at Otago Polytechnic School of Design.

As a crafter, I know how important it is to keep a good photographic record of work, and lament that before I had proper training I made a lot of really basic mistakes. If I can help others avoid that, I will be happy!”

Textile and Fibre Arts Exhibition
“Look, touch, experience”  1-12 August 2017 (Set up day 31 July), Eastside Gallery, 11 - 4.00 pm daily, excluding Sundays

We will be seeking your work to display in the Open category. Anything you are pleased with that has been made in the last two years and not exhibited elsewhere. Edgy experimental work most welcome, and yes with your permission, some works will be touchable. Textiles are so tactile and we all love to touch.

The challenge for 2017 will be ‘Transitions - from old to new’. This theme is in keeping with the philosophy of Eastside Gallery who have an annual recycling exhibition. So rescue that old jersey, blanket, table cloth, shirt, scraps, wool oddments, found items etc., and create something new and exciting. Any size, any shape, but if free standing must be able to stand unsupported.  Groups will be offered their own little space to exhibit their work. So far, Christchurch Needlework Guild and Southern Felters have expressed interest in this.

Demonstrators/Tutors sought to do demos and short 2 hour workshops. Week one. Demonstrations of skills and techniques of any of our arts and crafts. Think short demos, up to one hour, that can be repeated. This can be chatting informally to interested visitors and explaining what you are doing. Ideas so far are knitting socks on circular or four needles, felting, spinning silk, embroidery stitches, weaving demo, easy machine piecing etc. Half to one hour maximum. One for morning and one for afternoon.  Week 2. Tutors sought for short classes of up to 2 hours. These will be extensively advertised to increase participation.

Upcoming Events/Exhibitions

• Jenny Gillies exhibition of her floral works continues in the Botanic Gardens until the end of June 
• NZ Spinning, Weaving and Woolcraft Festival 21-23 April 2017, Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, (formerly Chateau on the Park,) Christchurch.
• Fibre Arts N.Z. Five day residential workshops in Whanganui 23 - 28 April, 2017 www.fibreartsnz.com 
• Textile and Fibre Arts AGM, Friday 26 May, 7.30 pm, Christchurch Bridge Club (details below) 
• Canterbury Embroiderers’ Guild, Canterbury Museum July 21st – July 30th “Let’s Celebrate”. 
• National Quilting Symposium 5-10 October 2017 at St Andrews College. CHCH. Check the website if you haven’t registered.

Southern Felters Felting day Sat 1 April

Hi All,
Don't for get our next felting day on Saturday 1 April, 9am to 3pm.  We are expecting a good turnout as regrettably we had to cancel last months meeting.  So its been 2 months now..... and we will be looking forward to a catch-up.  Also everyone will have got their entries into Festival by then (due today) and we can start thinking about new projects.  See you all there.
Lynette

Woolfun day Saturday 8 April

Woolfun Day
April 8, Saturday Anytime between 10:15 am and 4 pm
Other days this year; May 13, June 10, July 8,

Come and sit by the fire (if we need the extra heat!!) and enjoy a relaxing day working with wool with like-minded people in a small group. Coffee and tea provided. Bring your lunch and your "crafty" project. April, May, June, and July sessions. For information ring Philippa on 3294 677 or 027 224 2421.

Please note the slightly later start time. It is solely so that I can get the 9 a.m. ferry to Lyttelton - get the week's meat and salad stuff and catch the 10 a.m. ferry back. I will have the sign outside. If you arrive early please feel free to wander around the garden - there are several tracks and feel free to pull any weeds out too!! There are compost piles at regular intervals. See you on Saturday!   AND wonder of wonders!!! I have finished the two felted and embroidered camels!!

Philippa

Obituary for Isla Clark

Isla Clark 1929 - 2016

The Mother of Felt in New Zealand

Isla Clark died peacefully on the 27th October 2016. She was a dedicated and most generous person who was respected and honoured by so many friends in New Zealand and around the world. She was a mentor and tutor to many people, passing on her knowledge of felting so generously and willingly. Isla started felting in the early 1980s when she was one of the “pioneers’ exploring the technique.

Isla had a passion for felting, she would felt a scarf, jacket, mitts or other beautiful and unique article at least every other day. She constantly kept herself up-to-date by attending workshops and reading the latest felting magazines and newly published books and then would experiment on these ideas and produce a new creation from her inspirations.

Isla was one of the foundation members of the Christchurch Southern Felters Group. This developed into a large and dedicated group of felters meeting for felting days six or more times a year. The last felting meeting Isla attended in August last year, she was still helping and advising fellow felters on tips of making better felt. We all knew we could go to Isla for generous and sound advice. It was her generosity and support of new people that allowed Southern Felters to grow into the enthusiastic felting group it is today.

My own experience with Isla was, after introducing me and teaching me the art of felting, she continued mentoring and inspiring me right up to her final illness. I was always able to bounce off ideas with her and she always encouraged me to aim for the best. She was not only a mentor but became a very close friend for whom I had great respect.

We remember Isla for being an inspiration to so many, for dedication and passion to felting and for her generosity and willingness to share all she knew in this art form. She will be sorely missed.

Anna Harris (with contribution from Lynette Hartley)

One of Isla's beautiful nuno scarves, that Pauline Whitmore now treasures.

Isla with the flower wall hanging Southern Felters made for her in 2014.
Felters at the Glenroy Retreat in 2014 made a flower each and a background as a gift for Isla.

The following photos were provided by Bettina Jacoby for an article she wrote for a 

felting magazine in Europe about Isla and her work.

Woolfun group meeting

Woolfun Day
March, Saturday Anytime between 10.15 am and 4 pm
(I have pushed the time back to 10.15 so that I can zip over to the Lyttelton market and come back on the 10.00 ferry).  Come and sit by the fire (we may need it) and enjoy a relaxing day working with wool with like-minded people in a small group. Coffee and tea provided. Bring your lunch and your "crafty" project: For information ring Philippa on 3294 677 or 027 224 2421.

Saturday's felting day cancelled

Hi All,

Unfortunately we have had to cancel our felting day on Saturday 4th March.  This is because, by co-incidence, all four organizers are unable to attend that day.  

Don't forget entry forms are due for Entwine 2017 on 8 March.  This is Creative Fiber's annual national festival, to be held in Christchruch this year.

http://www.creativefibre.org.nz/festival2017/