my day in the sun

this afternoon i was given my awards for the buda inaugural textile competition - mixed media and overall award. i was and am still thrilled to bits and can't quite believe it. here are some photos

and here is the artist's statement that went with the quilt:

Glimmer – such a shame she never married was inspired by reading Dorothy Leviny’s diary on the Buda website. I have always been struck by unmarried women’s uncertain place in society – the emphasis on accomplishments and talents and as the years pass and the prospect of marriage and a certain role in society recedes – what then? And of course the more accomplished the young lady the more shame it is that she never “fulfils” herself through marriage and children – or so it would have been said.

Glimmer is made of recycled wool blanketing, part of a sari pounced on at the local op shop, bits of organza, a pieced “quilt” made of ribbons and 3 doilies made by my grandmother. The doilies and the “quilt” symbolise the approved role of women with neat stitching and orderly rows – making useful and decorative things for the home. Both the quilt and the doilies start to disintegrate towards the bottom of the quilt – the prescribed role of women cannot hold if they don’t hold together, marry, do what they are expected to do.

The “role” of the doilies and quilt was further subverted by layering organza and brocade and then free motion stitching over in swirls, spirals, and big dahlia shapes that also suggest sharpness and possibly flames. The quilt was then burnt with a heat gun to further blur the edges and confound the expected.

The colours of the quilt also reflect this – purple and pink suffused with gold. The word ‘glimmer’ in the title refers to the use of gold throughout the quilt in subtle ways (the paisleys on the sari, the sheen of gold through the organza and ribbon) and to the history of gold in the Castlemaine district and at Buda. Not foregrounded but always in the background, woven through the life of the Leviny girls.

Felicity Hopkins

May 2008