Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below posts on this blogspot that featured the artistic output of Helen Lancaster (my dear friend who passed away on the 11th February 2020).
Cane Toad Narrative (Exhibition - ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions)
Transformation. An Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles Curator: Helen Lancaster
Floating: Art Exhibition @ Purple Noon Art And Sculpture Gallery
Celebration
The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall [1]: Art Cloth Panels
Helen Lancaster's - The Great Barrier Reef
Introduction [1]
Helen Lancaster has often alternated exhibiting her painted artworks with textile exhibitions. Working with fabric and thread she intuitively created without a sketch or in fact a plan of action. Rather she found that in her case a detailed sketch would destroy the spontaneity and freshness of her work in textiles. A few quick sketches may suggest a possible direction, but once the work was underway these sketches were never evident in the final work.
Textural form dominated Helen Lancaster's work and her time. As she reflected - "Textures bubble, collide and explode as I manipulate the fabrics into more sculpted forms."
Helen Lancaster, textile artist and Curator of the Transformation exhibition at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Sydney, with her soft sculpture - “The Wedding Cake”.
The free machine embroidery work she produced on a 830 Bernina domestic sewing machine.
Most of Helen Lancaster's techniques were accomplished with just three stitches - the straight, zigzag and satin stitches. Click on link - Satin Weave - for more information.
She enjoyed changing the surface of her artwork with pin tucks adjacent to each other using twin needles, shirring with elastic hand wound onto the bobbin, sewing with straight lines and shapes like O's and C's and creating dots using the satin stitch and manipulating the created fabric further with padding.
One of her favorite special effects was obtained by satin stitching over and over on the same line until it made a high ridge.
"I started to do this as a result of seeing a Rouault painting. It was astonishing for me to see the thickness of the dark outline. I persisted, even though it was fairly dangerous and an expensive technique, given the number of needles I broke.
Georges Rouault, The Three Judges (ca.1936).
The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall [1]: Art Cloth Panels by Helen Lancaster
This work is like the multiple windows in an aquarium, with kaleidoscope glimpses of fish flashing by. "The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall' was first exhibited in 1990 with 25 tiles and it is still growing: it will ultimately consist of 150 tiles.
This is a memory wall, reminding me of the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the magical glimpses when peering underwater with that first pair of goggles. I want people to love and cherish this enchanting heritage.
Note: I have used transparent acetate to achieve the illusion of water and my color palette is vibrant in order to create exciting color combinations.
Title: The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall, 1990 (detail).
Title The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall, 1990 (detail).
Title: The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall, 1990 (detail).
Title: The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall, 1990.
Technique: Machine embroidery on acetate.
Size: 25 squares with each square 25 x 25 cm.
Reference:
[1] H. Lancaster, Portfolio Collection, Telos Art Publishing, Winchester, England (2002).
For your convenience I have listed below posts on this blogspot that featured the artistic output of Helen Lancaster (my dear friend who passed away on the 11th February 2020).
Cane Toad Narrative (Exhibition - ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions)
Transformation. An Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles Curator: Helen Lancaster
Floating: Art Exhibition @ Purple Noon Art And Sculpture Gallery
Celebration
The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall [1]: Art Cloth Panels
Helen Lancaster's - The Great Barrier Reef
Introduction [1]
Helen Lancaster has often alternated exhibiting her painted artworks with textile exhibitions. Working with fabric and thread she intuitively created without a sketch or in fact a plan of action. Rather she found that in her case a detailed sketch would destroy the spontaneity and freshness of her work in textiles. A few quick sketches may suggest a possible direction, but once the work was underway these sketches were never evident in the final work.
Textural form dominated Helen Lancaster's work and her time. As she reflected - "Textures bubble, collide and explode as I manipulate the fabrics into more sculpted forms."
The free machine embroidery work she produced on a 830 Bernina domestic sewing machine.
Most of Helen Lancaster's techniques were accomplished with just three stitches - the straight, zigzag and satin stitches. Click on link - Satin Weave - for more information.
She enjoyed changing the surface of her artwork with pin tucks adjacent to each other using twin needles, shirring with elastic hand wound onto the bobbin, sewing with straight lines and shapes like O's and C's and creating dots using the satin stitch and manipulating the created fabric further with padding.
One of her favorite special effects was obtained by satin stitching over and over on the same line until it made a high ridge.
"I started to do this as a result of seeing a Rouault painting. It was astonishing for me to see the thickness of the dark outline. I persisted, even though it was fairly dangerous and an expensive technique, given the number of needles I broke.
The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall [1]: Art Cloth Panels by Helen Lancaster
This work is like the multiple windows in an aquarium, with kaleidoscope glimpses of fish flashing by. "The Barrier Reef Corporate Wall' was first exhibited in 1990 with 25 tiles and it is still growing: it will ultimately consist of 150 tiles.
This is a memory wall, reminding me of the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the magical glimpses when peering underwater with that first pair of goggles. I want people to love and cherish this enchanting heritage.
Note: I have used transparent acetate to achieve the illusion of water and my color palette is vibrant in order to create exciting color combinations.
Technique: Machine embroidery on acetate.
Size: 25 squares with each square 25 x 25 cm.
Reference:
[1] H. Lancaster, Portfolio Collection, Telos Art Publishing, Winchester, England (2002).
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