A Year of Climate ExtremesAnnual ReviewMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below the annual reviews that span the life of this blogspot.
It's Been An Exciting Year (2010/2011)
Another Cheer - Another Year (2011/2012)
Where Did The Year Go? (2012/2013)
The Year of the Horse (2013/2014)
Cold and Windy - But on the Dawn of Renewal (2014/2015)
A Time To Reflect - A Time To Select (2015/2016)
A Time to Remember (2016/2017)
To Be or Not to Be (2017/2018)
The Night Too Quickly Passes (2018/2019)
The Year of Living Dangerously (2019/2020)
Attempt The Impossible Since Failure Will Still Be Your Success (2020/2021)
A Year of Climate Extremes (2021/2022)
I Love A Sunburnt Country (2022/2023)
Australian Rules (2023/2024)

Introduction
Extreme climate events such as heat waves, cold snaps, floods and dry spells have significant impacts on our society as well as on the flora and fauna, wherever we live. It costs us more in lives and dollars to ignore the factors that influence climate change, than what it would cost in order to mitigate it.

The elephant in the room is the human population, which is spiralling out of control. In 2024 the world's population is estimated to reach 8,108,605,388. Why is this the elephant in the room? Every religion (even Buddhism) has the reproduction of human beings at the centre piece of its teaching. To house, feed, clothe, and transport people increases the sources, and at the same time, decreases the sinks of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, land clearage is at record levels. Globally, some 177,000 square kilometres are cleared each year, which is equivalent to 50 football fields every minute. In 2015, World Wildlife Fund analysis concluded that more than 80% of deforestation will occur between now and 2030; that is, up to 170 million hectares in total is expected to be cleared in eleven deforestation 'fronts'. The flora and fauna will suffer because the sources of greenhouse gases will far exceed the sinks.

For over two decades, I have created prints on paper and ArtCloth expressing my concern about climate change and its effects on our planet. In one of my prints on paper series, I addressed the repercussions of sea level rises and so the eventual submerging of low lying islands in the Pacific Ocean, and the disapperance of current coastal regions such as Venice. I named the subsequent series - 'Wish You Were Where? Environmental Refugees.'

Click on the following link to view this post: Wish You Were Where? Environmental Refugees.

No matter where you are in the world, you will have been hit with extreme climate change events such as floods, fires and unsettled weather. Remember, that after clearing up the mess that the exploding human population has contributed to your nightmare, future pandemics will no longer be a once in a lifetime event due to the overcrowding and the international mobility of human beings. Therefore the extinction of flora and fauna will continue to accelerate. We need to manage our population if we want these extreme events from pandemics to fires to floods to unsettled weather (e.g., hurricanes/twisters) to become less commonplace. No matter where you were this year, this has been a year of climate extremes.

A Year of Climate Extremes
The number of categories on this blogspot keeps growing. They are as follows: (i) ArtCloth and Art Quilt Textiles; (ii) Art Essays; (iii) Art Exhibitions/Installations/Talks; (iv) Artist's Profiles; (v) Art Resources; (vi) Art Reviews; (vii) Book Reviews/Interviews; (viii) Craft and Quilt Fairs; (ix) Fabric Lengths; (x) Glossaries; (xi) Guest Artists/Authors; (xii) Guest Editors; (xiii) Opinion Pieces; (xiv) Resource Reviews; (xv) Works on Paper; (xvi) Technical Articles; (xvii) Wearable Art; (xviii) Workshops and Master Classes (i.e. my students outputs).

Not all of these categories are present in any given season. For example, Fabric Lengths, Guest Artists/Authors, Guest Editors, Craft and Quilt Fairs, Master Classes, Resource Reviews, and Technical Articles, etc., did not make an appearance in this season. After all, it been a time of limited opportunities due to weather and pandemic extremes.

Note: Judging a post by the one criterion, namely the most number of viewers, is not necessarily the smartest approach, since the length of stay of a viewer might negate the former statistic. How often have you heard yourself say - oops I really didn't mean to google this hunk of a man in his underpants when I innocently searched for "drawers!" Nevertheless, this one statistic makes it so much easier for me to make a judgement between posts, and so it will be used as the final arbitrator, except in the case when two posts differ by less than two viewers in total. Then I will decree that both are joint winners!

We are only talking about differences and not absolute numbers.

ArtCloth and Art Quilt Textiles
There were a massive number of posts in this category in 2021/2022 season - ten posts in fact! The two highest viewed posts were only a month apart and they were: 'My ArtCloth Tea Towels - A New Collection of Digitally Designed Products' and 'Art Quilters of the Netherlands', with the former winning by the smallest of margins by just two more viewers.

Title: ‘Leaves Transformed.’ My ArtCloth Tea Towel Collection.
Comment: The tea towel design is one of six complementary colorways.
Click on the following link to view this post - Leaves Transformed. My ArtCloth Tea Towel Collection.

Art Essays
There were six posts in this category in the 2021/2022 season with the two most viewed being separated by only one viewer, and so under my rules both are declared equal winners. The winners are as follows.
'Arte Latino Sculptures - Part I.'

Artist and Title of Work: Luis Jimenez, Man on Fire (1969).
Click on the following link to view this post - Arte Latino Sculptures - Part I

Artist and Title of Work: Marie-Therese Wisniowski, 'Not in My Name - The Australian Pilot.'
Click on the following link to view the post about the making of this printmakers' artist book - A Letter to a Friend.

Art Exhibitions/Installations/Talks
There was only one post in this category in the 2021/2022 season, namely, 'The Effects of Global Warming', an ArtCloth Exhibition @ Rathmines Heritage Centre’s Boiler Room.

Marie-Therese standing in front of her ArtCloth work, 'Summer Bolt.'
Click on the following link to view this post - The Effects of Global Warming

Artist's Profiles
There were four posts in this category in the 2021/2022 season. The two most viewed posts in this category were only one viewer apart and so both are declared joint winners and they are as follows.

Artist: Linus Onus.
Title: Fish and Lillies (1987).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on canvas.
Size: 90 x 122 cm.
Click on the following link to view this post - Linus Onus

Artist: Ngarra.
Title: Mandewa dancing place for Andinyin, Kija and Gooniandi (2005).
Materials and Technique: Acrylic on magnani paper.
Size: 35 cm (high) x 50 cm (wide).
Click on the following link to view this post - The Art of Ngarra

Art Resources
There were twelve posts in this category in the 2021/2022 season with 'Painting Art - Part I' and 'Painting Art - Part IV', having the most viewers, with the latter having five more viewers than the former and so is the winner in this category.

Click on the following link to view this post - Painting Art - Part IV.

Art Reviews
There were two posts in this category in the 2021/2022 season with both having excactly the same number of viewers and so they are the joint winners in this category.

The first published was "Needlework from the USA."

Fancy Court Gown of Alexandra Feodrovna, reproducing the dress of the Tsarina Marfa Ilyinichna, wife of Tsar Alexei Michaelovitch, 1903.
Click on the following link to view this post - Needlework from the USA.

The other joint winner was "Representational Designs of Kristi O'Meara."

Tentacle Mosaic (2012).
Click on the following link to view this post - Representational Designs of Kristi O'Meara.

Glossaries
There are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and finally, the Glossary of Scientific Terms.

Of these eight glossaries the two most viewed were: A Fashion Data Base, and the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, with the former being the most viewed in the 2021/2022 season.

Callot Soeurs (ca. 1911). Silk, cotton, metallic thread, and metal beads.
Click on the following link to view this glossary - A Fashion Data Base.

Prints on Paper
There were five posts in this category in the 2021/2022 season, with the topmost two being 'Intaglio Prints Created Using Solarplates[1] - Part III' and "The Creation of ‘Whose Place? My Place, Your Space’", with the latter romping it in with almost four times more views.

Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique and Media: Silkscreened, stencilled, stamped and mono printed employing glazes, transparent and opaque pigments on Stonehenge stock.
Click on the following link to view this post - The Creation of ‘Whose Place? My Place, Your Space.

Wearable Art
There were five posts in this section, with posts, 'My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Urban Codes - Series 1 Collection' and 'Through the Land it Roared . . . ArtCloth Shawl' only being within one view of each other and so are too close to call and declared as joint winners in this section for the 2021/2022 season.

Full front view of the ArtCloth shawl, 'Through the Land it Roared . . .'
Click on the following link to view this post - 'Through the Land it Roared...'

'My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed: Urban Codes - Series 1', collection.
Pashmina Wraps Collection.
Click on the following link to view this post - ‘Urban Codes - Series 1’

Workshop
Covid made the delivery of workshops difficult due to lockdowns etc. As restrictions eased and we experienced a 'new' normality, I was invited to give a workshop that was organized by the Australian Textile Arts & Surface Design Association Inc., Sydney, NSW Branch. It was held at the Epping Creative Centre, Dence Park on 21st - 22nd May 2022. The outputs of my students were stunning!

Group photograph of participants: 'In Pursuit of ArtCloth: Disperse Dye and Transfer Printing Workshop.'
Two Day Workshop at ATASDA, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Back: From left to right - Suzanne Walcott, Cathy Griffith, Kathy Hawkins and Vicky Lowery.
Front: From left to right - Sarah Lazarus, Rhonda, Ha, and Tearza Stark.
Click on the following link to view their outputs - In Pursuit of ArtCloth: Disperse Dye and Transfer Printing Workshop.

Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part II [1]Art QuiltsMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
Art Quilts have featured on this blogspot and so for your convenience I have listed below previous posts in this series:
Art Quilts - Part I
Art Quilts - Part II
Art Quilts - Part III
Art Quilts - Part IV
Art Quilts - Part V
Art Quilts - Part VI
Art Quilts - Part VII
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part I
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part II
Art Quilters of the Netherlands - Part III
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part I
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part II
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part III
Art Quilts of Jane Sassaman
Art Quilts of Michael A. Cummings
Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part IV

Introduction by Antonius Nijssen Breda - The Netherlands [1]
It is a pleasure to be part of the jury for European Art Quilts. A great variety of works were shown to me during the show. As a juror, I saw some very interesting and intriguing artworks.

I was surprised by this great variety of work, ranging from pictorial to the very abstract. It was interesting to me that not only standard textile materials and techniques were used, but also very different materials such as plastics and recycled items. I looked for works with a strong visual impact, but which also showed a great deal of serenity, and found these among the subimssions.

It's great to see that the quilt is breaking free from applied art forms to free textile creations.

Four Selected European Art Quilters - Part II [1]
Quilter: Anco Brouwers-Branderhorst (Apleldoorn, the Netherlands) [1].

Full View
Title: Elements VI, "All in one II" (2013).
Materials: Marimekko cotton fabric, cotton threads, cotton batting, template plastic sheet, perspex, and nylon thread.
Technique: Hand and machine sewn, machine quilted, machine embroidered.
Size: 70 cm (wide) x 130 cm (length).
Comment [1]: Achieving the largest effect with as few materials as possible was the goal of this three-dimensional object.

Detailed View 1

Detailed View 2

Quilter: Hanne Capel (Den Haag, The Netherlands) [1].

Full View
Title: Messages from Prague 1 (2014).
Materials: Textile printing on polyester.
Technique: Printing on fabric, machine stitched.
Size: 180 cm (wide) x 80 cm (length).
Comment [1]: A wall in Prague with torn posters; beauty comes into being where the different layers make connection with each other yielding a nostalgic chaos.

Detailed View 1

Detailed View 2

Quilter: Maya Chaiimovich (Ramat Gan - Israel) [1].

Full View
Title: Forgotten Games (2014).
Materials: A range of different recycled fabrics; cotton, silk, velvet, laces etc.
Technique: Small pieces on fusible interfacing. Free motion machine quilted.
Size: 180 cm (wide) x 80 cm (length).
Comment [1]: When I was a child, we didn't have many toys. Instead, we played with simple objects like pen and paper, sticks and stones, chalk and fruit seeds. As with life, which used to be so simple and has become more complex, so have these games been long forgotten and replaced by modern toys.

Detailed View 1

Detailed View 2

Quilter: Christine Chestor (Eastbourne - United Kingdom) [1].

Full View
Title: Layer of Silence (2014).
Materials: Cottons, sheers, rust, acrylic media, paper, and newspaper.
Technique: A collage of gesso laminations, and rust prints, laminated, painted and stitched by machine and by hand.
Size: 96 cm (wide) x 95 cm (length).
Comment [1]: With dementia, memories fragment with time, but are also confused with previous and subsequent events - appearing and disappearing - creating a palimpsest of a person. This leaves loved ones small traces of the person that they knew, revealed less and less often. Shared memories become one sided, and memories of memories, told on long winter evenings, become simply stories. Like Chinese whispers, they change and are meaningless without the validation of the narrator - eventually becoming silent.

Detailed View 1

Detailed View 2

Reference:
[1] European Art Quilt Foundation, Molenschat, Netherlands (2014).

The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and AkweteArtClothMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist
Yoruba: Machine-Stitched Resist Indigo-Dyed Cloth
Yoruba and Baulé Warp Ikat

The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete [1]
Though Ijebu-Ode in Yorubaland and Igbo tow of Akwete are over 400 km (250 miles) apart, there is a strong connection between textiles in these two places. Women weave on a continuous warped, vertical loom and decorate their textiles with very similar patterns worked in the weft-float technique. Ijebu-Ode was historically an important town, both for the internal and external market. The Ijebu Yoruba specialize in weaving a cloth that is known in the Niger Delta as ikaki - meaning the 'cloth of the tortoise.' Consisting of three or four strips, sewn selvedge to selvedge, it was often traded eastwards to people of the Niger Delta. It was traded in the town of Ndoki and in the mid-19th century, copies started to be made by Igbo women weavers in the nearby village of Akwete. Traditionally woven in darker colors, nowadays red, blue, green, purple and black have become popular.

Man's cloth from Ijebu-Ode decorated with the ikaki tortoise pattern.

A woman's wrap from Akwete, decorated with the ikaki tortoise pattern. The motif was copied from Ijebu-Ode cloths traded into that area.

The Akwete cloths are mainly used as women's wraps in pairs. Akwete women weave a wide variety of fancy, decorated rayon cloth, mostly for ceremonial and ritual use in the Niger Delta. However, the largest centre for this type of weaving today is Okene, where Ebira women weave narrower rayon cloth for non-ritual use in such cities as Lagos.

Akwete: Igbo traditional textile, made In Nigeria.

The women of Akwete weave on an upright wall loom, forming a cloth about 100 to 127 cm (or 40 to 50 inches) wide. The Akwete loom is the widest in Nigeria. Usually the warp is continuous, which gives an evenly colored background for the weave. Blended, or shot effects, can occasonally be gained by mixing the colors of the warps, or using a contrasting color for the ground weft.

Akwete fabric.

On single-faced fabrics (on which the motif only shows on one side), weft floaters are woven in using the swivel inlay technique. The ground is a low twist yarn, basket weave, usually of cotton. The decorative weft floaters are of low twist cotton, silk or rayon. The thread is bought already dyed. The decorative weft not used on one line of the base weft is carried up to the next row, often on a diagonal, hence outlining the motive. As the warp is continuous, the finished length of the cloth is twice the height of the loom. Owing to the uneven tension, the cloths tend to be longer on one side than the other, and one end is wider than the other.

Igbo Weaving & Akwete Fabric.

Akwete cloths held in the British Museum.

Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).

Historical Notes on Art - Part II [1]Art ResourceMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
Today I have reached a milestone that I could not have envisaged when I wrote my very first post on 26 August of 2010. This is my 600th post that I have published since that time. On average, I publish approximately 50 posts annually on a weekly basis, with the precise number of posts in a given year depending on the duration of my Christmas - New Year break. Without the support of my family and the sources of information that I have used and referenced, which underwrote many of these posts, none of this could have been possible. I want to thank my followers and my readers for their feedback and messages of support.
Marie-Therese.

This is the thirteenth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III

There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Nainkage, durable press and wash-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.

To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.

If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.

The new 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 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 be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!

Historical Notes on Art - Part II [1]
Modern investigators have exhaustively studied all known sources and references to painting materials of the past - not only the more complete accounts, but also isolated references and clues in poetry, the Scriptures, and other non-technical writings.

Leon Battista Alberti (14 February 1406 – 25 April 1472).
He was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer.

The development of art in general proceeded along distinctly separate channels in various countries, but was always governed by the culture, type of civilization and the availablity of raw materials, the choice of selection was strongly influenced by climatic conditions and the uses to which the works of art were put.

Australian Aboriginal Ochre Color Palette.

Egypt
The preservation of Egyptian relics because of the perfectly dry atmosphere of the country and the precautions taken to ensure the safety of mortuary deposits is well known, and students of Egyptian civilization have given us a very thorough understanding of painting methods employed. The history of these methods constitutes a remarkable record of the survival of the techniques, which remain essentially unchanged for a period of about 3000 years.

Ancient Egyptian Color Palette.
Although the art and culture of the Egyptian civilization underwent changes during this period, these changes occurred within fairly limited bounds, and the following two processes served from the date of the earliest existing specimens (about 4700 B.C.) down to the time of Ptolemies ( from 305 to 30 BC.)

The Book of the Dead from ancient Egypt wall murals.

The typical processes that these images were generated consisted of:
1. Mud-plaster walls decorated with a simple water-color paint.
2. Designs were engraved or cut in stone walls and gone over with water-color washes.

Minor, isolated examples of other variations have also been found.

Hieroglyphic carvings in ancient Egyptian Temple stock from ancient Egypt wall murals.

These murals make a cold, dull place seem attractive and interesting.

The precise nature of the binder in the Egyptian water-color is uncertain; gum, size, or some similar material was used, or perhaps all of them, and the colors were applied with crude fiber brushes. It is generally assumed that gum arabic was in greatest use. These water-color paintings on mud-plaster walls which have survived so well in the dry climate and sealed tombs of Egypt may be destroyed by passing a damp sponge across the surface. The work of the later periods was technically more refined, better and finer brushes and pigments were used, but the process remained the same. Lime-plaster was not used prior to the Roman influence.

Archaeologists soon discovered an amazing collection of mummy portraits in 1899. All these portraits looked extremely similar to each other. And these artworks are allegedly linked to their mummified remains. These paintings were done during the time the Romans held sway in Egypt about 2,000 years ago.

Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer, (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).