New Tarndie award encourages artists to explore wool fibre
Published on 16 May 2018
A new and exciting award in this year’s CrossXpollinatioN textile and fibre art exhibition will encourage people to explore sheep wool as an artistic medium.
The new $1500 Tarndie Fibre Art Award asks artists to submit a work that comprises a component of sheep wool within their work.
Tarndie’s Tom Dennis said the award celebrated the many and varied purposes of wool from different breeds.
Tarndie is a yarn company based at Tarndwarncoort, an historic sheep farming property near Birregurra. During the late 1800s Tarndwarncoort provided the backdrop for the development of Australia’s first breed of sheep – the Polwarth.
“Wool is a magical fibre. It grows all around us and requires very little industrial processing to make it into something useful and beautiful. It’s strong, malleable, feels great and plays well with other materials,” Mr Dennis said.
“Artists have an arsenal of techniques they can use to manipulate wool including spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, felting. This gives it boundless scope to be worked into unique fibre art pieces that might be hung on a wall, or added to the wardrobe.”
Mr Dennis said that Western Victoria had a global reputation for excellent wool in its raw form.
“We see the creative process at work at Tarndie as artists and crafters turn different types of raw wool into items of clever design, specific function and endless beauty – we want to support those people who take all forms of wool to new places.
“We want to support the designers and crafters who push the use of wool into new places, and part of that is understanding the various types of wool out there. Polwarth wool behaves differently to Merino, Gotland, Suffolk and the Crossbreeds. We want to be a part of the exciting evolution of wool.”
To qualify for the $1500 Tarndie award, artists should include in their statement information about the breed and sheep and the source of the fibre.
The artist’s statement should also include an outline of how the artist intends to spend the prize money, should they win.
“We’d love to hear about fibre artists spending time and money developing their skills and understanding the characteristics of wool so they can create their wildest dreams.”
Acting COPACC Manager Tamzin McLennan said Tarndie’s involvement in CrossXpollinatioN added a wonderful local dimension to the exhibition.
“The award shines a light on our district’s rich agricultural heritage and encourages CrossXpollinatioN entrants to explore provenance of the materials they are using in a deeper way,” Ms McLennan said.
“We welcome Tarndie to the CrossXpollinatioN family and we look forward to seeing how our local, regional and interstate artists incorporate wool fibre into their work.”
Throughout CrossXpollinatioN the historic Tarndie Woolshop, at 37 Roseneath Road Warncoort, will be open Friday to Monday, 10am to 4pm. Visitors can walk through paddocks to meet Polwarth sheep, have a coffee, sit by the fire in the studio with their woolcraft, wander the garden and purchase local yarns.
CrossXpollinatioN is open from July 7-29. The exhibition is proudly presented by COPACC and the Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery, and is sponsored by Tarndie, Irrewarra Sourdough and Star Printing.
Entry forms can be downloaded from http://www.copacc.com.au/Exhibitions/CrossXpollinatioN