sutton071

Mary Mazziotti. A Day in the Life of Mrs Death , 1 in a series of 12, embroidered panel The artist Mary Mazziotti produces a range of witty memento mori in a variety of guises, from embroidered textiles to full-sized billboards. Her work centres around the intention of producing work that will encourage the observer of her work to understand the fleeting ephemeral aspect that is the life that we live. Mary Mazziotti. Shopping for Groceries, A Day in the Life of Mrs Death , 5 in a series of 12, embroidered panel Death, the end of our brief lives, is a subject that none of us can ever be immune to, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how much you think your status on the planet gives you more than others, we all end up at the same place.  How we approach the subject of the demise of each and every one of us, is a matter that has been treated in an endless array of social niceties across the many generations that our species has walked the planet. We have embraced, grudgingly a...

 Illustration: Clare Plug. Ice Crack 2 , 2008. The New Zealand textile artist Clare Plug has spent the last few years of her career developing a fascinating body of work that entails intimately observed details along with wider conceptions and observations of the most rarely visited of all the planets continents. In 2006 Plug was lucky enough to visit the continent of Antarctica as part of a fellowship, staying with the official government Antarctica NZ at Scott Base in the vicinity of the Ross Ice Shelf. It is no small exaggeration to say that this experience fundamentally changed her views and the entire aspect of her work, so much so that much of the textile art work that she produces to this day is haunted by this most spectacular and hauntingly beautiful continent. Illustration: Clare Plug. Ice Crack 2 (detail), 2008. The three works shown here are examples of Plug's Antarctica Series which explores a number of aspects of the continent from the fragile and relatively recent...

Illustration: Sandra Woock. Backspin. The textile artwork produced by Sandra Woock is very much open-ended as far as experience and interpretation are concerned. The artist seems intent on both personal observation and understanding originating within the individual, rather than that of the artist. Although much of the creative interpretation and analysis of artwork is subjective, many artists do try to limit, or at least set some forms of parameter around the interpretation and explanation of their work. Woock however, has decided to rely instead upon the freedom of the individual to evaluate her work as a personal experience. She seems more than happy for the individual to internalise specific feelings, ideas and conclusions that have been arrived at separately by each individual viewer of her work. Illustration: Sandra Woock. Retro II. However, there are some universal elements that help to explain some of the factors that link Woock's work. One of those factors is the overpower...

Illustration: Wen Redmond. Trees Seen, Forest Remembered, 2008. Of all the images and work produced by textile artist Wen Redmond, I have chosen a sequence of work produced by her over a couple of years. An observational and emotional tie to the theme of the tree links the images together, but it is perhaps her wide ranging and varied working methods that make the link all the more apparent. Redmond is an artist that has strived to incorporate some particularly personal elements into her work. Photography seems to loom large, but it is the personal nature of observation and an emotional link with the subject that has guided the artist. An artist with a camera is a powerful combination. They tend not to randomly choose subjects that may prove useful at some point in the future, but are guided more to that of  individual elements within the environment, elements that are not always explainable individually, but become segments of a composition that may well be built up over a fairly...

 Illustration: Carol Taylor. Bountiful quilt. Carol Taylor is a quilter of international renown who has created nearly five hundred uniquely different quilts in her short career as an art quilter, which started in 1993. Taylor works in such a wide and varied theme and format, that choosing a small number of quilts in order to illustrate this article is very hard. However, I have decided to choose three quilts from her large body of work that I am both intrigued by and admire. These three quilts may well not be the first choice of many when considering the typical character of Taylor's work, but they do seem to highlight the balanced maturity that she has achieved with her departure from the traditional structure of the quilting medium. Illustration: Carol Taylor. Bountiful quilt (detail). The three quilts that I have chosen deal with the theme of nature in a semi-abstract manner. Using harmonious, balanced and sympathetic colour tones, along with the natural and effortless curve...