Art Quill Studio
The Education Division of Art Quill & Co. Pty. Ltd.
Art Quill Studio Director: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
This site will feature a new post each week centred on the following categories: ArtCloth, Art Glossaries, Fiber Arts, Prints on Paper, Textile Arts, Wearable Arts, and include posts from our publishing house that are pertinent to each of these categories.
Introduction In 1984 the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) allocated its first acquisition funds for the purchase of contemporary Aboriginal Art and opened an Oceanic Gallery for exhibitions of Aboriginal Art. Some 36 years later it has a vast collection ranging from aboriginal artefacts to aboriginal works on textiles, canvas and paper as well as other media.
From Bark to Neon: Indigenous Art from the NGV Collection.
Below are some Aboriginal Art on paper that featured in the NGV exhibition titled:'Colour Power.'
Aboriginal Art (On Paper) - Colour Power[1]
Artist: Nora Wompi Nungurrayi
Title: Kinjun (1995).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 75.0 x 52.9 cm (image and sheet).
Purchased by NGV in 1996.
Title: My Country (1995).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 75.0 x 52.9 cm (image and sheet).
Purchased by NGV in 1996.
Artist: Jirtin Pompey Siddon.
Title: Warnajarra (1991).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 56.0 x 76.0 (image and sheet).
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of The Marjory and Alexander Lynch Endowment, Governors (1991).
Artist: Paji Honeychild Yankaar
Title: Pulujarra (1991).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 56.2 x 76.0 cm (image and sheet).
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of The Marjory and Alexander Lynch Endowment, Governors (1991).
Title: Payarr (1994).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 76.5 x 113.0 cm (image and sheet).
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Ron and Nellie Castan, Members (1998).
Artist: Jukuja Dolly Snell
Title: Kalpartujarra (Detail View, 1993).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 100.6 x 155.1 cm (image and sheet).
Presented through the NGV Foundation by anonymous donors (2003).
Artist: Daisy Bullen
Title: Wallal (2003).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 76 x 57 cm (image and sheet).
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Catherine Allen and John Calvert-Jones, Members (2004).
Artist: Alma Webou (Kalaju)
Title: Pinkalakra (2003).
Materials: Synthetic polymer paint on paper.
Size: 76 x 57 cm (image and sheet).
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Catherine Allen and John Calvert-Jones, Members (2004).
Reference: [1] J. Ryan, Colour Power, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2004).
Introduction[1] The Ashanti were the dominate peoples of West Africa's Gold Coast. Controlling the only source of gold available to pre-Columbian Christendom, they prospered through their trade with the Portuguese, Dutch, British and other European traders. They believe they acquired the knowledge of the stripweaving technique from Kong weavers from the present-day Ivory Coast. The Ashanti weave their famous kente cloths in cotton or silk. However, since the 1920s, the majority of kente cloths have been woven in rayon.
String heddles from an Ashanti loom with calabash gourd foot grips.
Note: The term kente is not used by the Ashanti themselves, but may have derived from the Fante word lenten meaning 'basket'. It refers to the chequerboard appearance of the cloths.
An Ashanti weaver at Bonwire in Ghana using a double-heddle loom to weave narrow strips that are then sewn together to make kente cloth.
Although cotton is grown locally, there are no silk moths indigenous to Ghana. Silk yarn was obtained in two ways. Either Italian waste silk was brought down by camel caravan across the Sahara or silk cloth was bought from European traders on the coast and then unravelled for its yarn.
Chief from the old Gold Coast (modern Ghana) in ceremonial dress with the gold insignia of office.
Stripweaves(West Africa) - Part III[1] Blue, green, yellow, red and magenta are typical colors used for the main body of the voluminous toga-like wraps worn by men, with contrasting colors for the weft-faced and floating supplementary-weft details. Usually kente are woven in silk or rayon, but simple mourning cloths were made in white and indigo-blue dyed cotton. Women wear a pair of smaller cloths with a pattern that resembles the one worn by men.
Mmban n'toma: man's cotton cloth, woven on a narrow loom near Kumasi (Ghana).
The Ashanti only use geometric non-figurative motifs in their weaving. Each motif has a proverb associated with it and the cloth as a whole is given a name such as 'Liar's Cloth' or 'Waterboatman'.
Liar's cloth, in which blue warp threads are taken down the length of the strip in a stepped fashion.
Ashanti weavers sit in a carpenter-made frame loom with foot treadles (discs of a calabash or, nowadays, a rubber sandal clasp between their toes) operating two pairs of heddles, sometimes with an extra pair of heddles if any complex supplementary work is required.
One set of main heddles is rigged up so that the warp threads can be normally spaced, for the warp-faced sections of the strip. The other set gathers the warps into two groups of six, with the use of thicker weft threads, means that the weft predominates and a weft-faced block is woven.
Woman's silk kente cloth (Ashanti, Ghana).
The warp, often 61 metres long (200 feet), lies out in front of the weaver with the end tied to a stone mounted on a wooden sledge. In this way the warp is made taut. As the weaving of the strip proceeds, the weaver winds the completed part of the strip around the breast beam.
Women's rayon kente cloth with fine silk details woven at Bonwire village (Ghana).
Kente cloths are made up of 16 - 24 strips, cut to size, then sewn, selvedge to selvedge. Both weaving and sewing are traditionally carried out by men. Cloths for women are smaller and worn in pairs wrapped tightly around the body. Those for men are much bigger and are draped, toga-like, around the body.
Man's kente cloth woven out of cotton with silk details. The cloth is named akyempim (One Thousand Shields), indicating that the wearer is fearless.
Man's kente cloth woven out of rayon on a narrow loom at Bonwire Village (Ghana). Long strips are woven by men and then cut to size and sewn selvedge to selvedge.
Reference [1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).
Chinese Textiles - Amy Clague’s Embroidery Collection Buddhist Ritual Diadem
Ming Dynasty, 15th Century.
Techniques and Materials: Silk of broken twill weave, embroidered with polychrome silk threads using laid and couched, split satin, and outline stitches.
Composed of five sections: height 16.5 cm; width 12.5 - 13 cm; band: width 3 cm and length 46 cm.
Leather tie: width 1.5 cm and length 27 cm.
Detail of one of the panels.
Comment[1]: This Buddhist ritual diadem (Tibetan, rig-na) of the type used in Tantric practices dates from the fifteenth century, a period when China had close religious and cultural ties with Tibet. The diadem is composed of five sections joined at the lower edge by a band with leather ties on either end. Each of the five panels displays an enthroned figure, one of the Five Tathagatas (Transcendent or Dhyani Buddhas, also known as the Five Jinas): from left to right, they are Ratnasambhava (yellow), Akshobhya (blue), Vairochana (white), Amitabha (red), and Amoghasiddhi (green). Each Buddha sits in a lotus position on a lotus throne adorned with drapery that indicates the symbol of that particular Buddha. Each throne is flanked by a pair of white elephants, a pair of dark blue lions and a pair of light blue rams. Centered above each Buddha is a garuda, a protective mythical bird, flanked by a pair of green dragons from whose mouth a flaming pearl issues forth. These images are enclosed by an overall border of dark blue ornamented by gold dots representing jewels. Outside this border are delicately shaded cloud scrolls in blue, green, gold and white. This pattern is in turn enclosed in a roundel, that identifies each Buddha. The five sections of the crown are edged with a narrow cord that also connects them together. The headband at the bottom depicts repeated gold vajras, or thunderbolts, interspersed with decorative motifs against a dark blue background bordered in gold.
Rectangular Silk Fragment with Scrolling Lotus Blossoms.
Ming Dynasty, ca 1400 - 1435.
Techniques and Materials: Silk gauze with needle loop embroidery; navy blue ribbed gauze ground with detached loop embroidery in polychrome silk yarns over backing paper with gold over a ground bole.
Height 13 cm and width 56.5 cm (max).
Detail of one section of front panel.
Back of the above detail.
Detail of the embroidery.
Comment[1]: This silk fragment is embroidered in the needle loop technique with a pattern of five lotus blossoms, each divided into nine stylized petals. The ground fabric itself is extraordinary (see following slides): a dark blue, finely ribbed gauze, a luxurious cloth regardless of its additional embellishment.
Detail: Optical microscopy revealing the weave of the textile.
Comment[1]: The embellishing embroidery displays a great variety of colored silk threads - including dark blue, light blue, dark green, light green, yellow and white - worked with precision in a variety of detached, 'needle looped' stitches over a gold surfaced paper. The gold of the backing paper is applied over a pink bole.
Detail: Optical microscopy revealing the gilded paper.
Comment[1]: Each blossom is different: there are no exact repeating patterns, but there is a continuous rhythm and proportion. The centers of each blossom are accented with embroiderer's knots. The lower border is a slightly smaller rendition of the top one. No selvages remain to indicate the size of the original woven ground; the surviving fragments differ in width but have a consistent height.
The stately pacing of the motifs suggest a link to palace designs of the early fifteenth century. This proposed dating is supported by a radiocarbon test performed on a sample removed from a nearly identical fragment.
Rectangular Silk Altarm Table or Desk Frontal with Pleated Valance, and with Decoration of Dragons and Flaming Pearls amid Clouds and Waves.
Ming to Qing Dynasty, 17 - 18th Century.
Techniques and Materials: Silk gauze with counted stitch embroidery in polychrome silk threads; minor ink details.
Height 79 cm and width 256.5 cm.
Comment[1]: This densely embroidered cloth is designed with three large five-clawed dragons. Its width is generous enough to wrap around three sides of a large table or desk. The dragons are positioned so that the main one would show on the front of the table, while the two smaller ones would be displayed on the sides. The pleats of the valance were probably intended to be distributed with three on each side and five on the front, and displayed in that manner would have a symmetrical alternation of blue and white dragons.
A close look at the stitches reveals a painstaking technique in which a loosely woven gauze is embroidered with the stitch approximately 2 millimetres in length, each covering two woven units. Called counted stitch (nazhen), this technique produces a thick and heavy fabric. In this textile the embroiderer has covered the entire gauze ground; thus it may be considered najin (full count embroidery). The surface of the gauze is entirely stitched in silk yarns of various colors, including shades of red, blue, green, brown, grey and black.
Reference: [1] C. Brown et al., Weaving China’s Past, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix (2002).
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The Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip over those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will hopefully be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Introduction Premetallized dyes are so called because the metal, chromium (Cr) is already incorporated during its manufacture. These dyes are also referred to as metal complex dyes. The incorporation of the metal into the dye molecule allows for the dye to be more readily applied to the fiber, thus eliminating part of a lengthy dyeing process. These dyes were first produced in 1915, and further refined since then.
Selection of milling and premetallized hot water dyes.
There are two types of premetallized dyes, namely: 1:1 premetallized dyes, which have one dye molecule for every dye atom; and 2:1 premetallized dyes, which have two dye molecules for every metal atom.
Difference between a 1:1 premetallized and 2:1 premetallized metalled dye.
The fibers most readily colored with premetallized dyes are man-made synthetic nylon and natural protein fibers.
Dyeing With Premetallized Dyes 1:1 Premetallized Dyes
The 1:1 premetallized dyes have to be applied under very acidic conditions in order to achieve adequate exhaustion, and so they have been largely replaced by the 2:1 premetallized metalled dyes.
Very acidic conditions detrimentally affect the properties of textile materials that need to be dyed and so these dyes are now used only in exceptional circumstances.
2:1 Premetallized Metalled Dyes
The 2:1 premetallized metalled dyes need to be applied under an acidic or neutral dye liquor and so because of this, they are preferred to the 1:1 premetallized dyes. These dyes are soluble in an aqueous liquor, because of the presence of anionic solublizing groups in the dye molecule. For example, the presence of a methyl sulfone group (-SO2-CH3) makes certain premetallized dyes soluble in water.
Metal Complex Dye Molecule C.I. Acid Violet 78 12205.
Courtesy of reference [2].
The colored component of the 2:1 premetallized metalled dyes is anionic and so like the acid dyes are attracted to the positively charged amino groups of the protein and polyamide fibers.
The positive amino group in the wool polymer system bonds to the 2:1 premetallized metalled dye molecule.
Hence in addition to the ionic link, there are also van der Waals forces of attraction operating and these combined with the size of the metal complex imparts to the colored fabric very good washfastness (see below).
Printing With Premetallized Dyes Like mordants, premetallized dyes are rarely used for printing, since other classes of dyes can be applied more easily and conveniently to textile materials.
Properties Of Premetallized Dyes Lightfastness
The lightfastness of premetallized dyes is rated about 5 and the reason for this very good lightfastness rating is the same as those given for mordant dyes (see last Art Resource blog).
Washfastness
The rating for washfastness of premetallized dyes is about 4-5. This very good washfastness is attributed to three factors, namely:
(i) There is a strong ionic link between the dye and the fiber polymer system.
(ii) van der Waals forces of attraction also occurs between the dye and the fiber polymer system which further makes it difficult for the dye to be removed during laundering.
(iii) The exit voids in the amorphous region of the fiber polymer system are generally smaller in size than the size of the metal dye complex, making it difficult for the dye to be washed out from the fabric.
Dull and Limited Range of Hues
There is a limited range of rather dull colors in premetallized dyes. As with mordant dyes, this is thought to be because of the presence of chromium. Premetallized dyes generally do not have the disadvantages listed for mordant dyes.
Advantages of Prematallized Dyes over Mordant Dyes
The 2:1 premetallized metalled dyes are water-soluble, have very good washfastness and can be more easily color matched compared to mordant dyes.
References: [1] A. Fritz and J. Cant, Consumer Textiles, Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1986).
From Bark to Neon: Indigenous Art from the NGV Collection.
Title: Kinjun (1995).
Title: My Country (1995).
Title: Warnajarra (1991).
Title: Pulujarra (1991).
Title: Payarr (1994).
Title: Kalpartujarra (Detail View, 1993).
Title: Wallal (2003).
Title: Pinkalakra (2003).
