Archive for the ‘Exhibition’ Category

Sydney winter sunsets are awe inspiring, warm gelato pinks, streaks of strawberry, rose lemonades, fluffy flamingo coloured clouds . The sun sets in the west and the silhouettes of people, places and things contrast against the bubblegum skies.

Intelligent animal and the Darlington Installation Project (DIP) present
Blame it on the Sunsets by Niki McDonald, Tapestry Girl. https://www.intelligentanimal.com.au/

‘I’m saying that our urban environment empowers the women who embrace
the colours, reflections, lights, and Sunsets’. Follow the link for the catalogue . https://www.intelligentanimal.com.au/_files/ugd/7c5458_5c41c7e30d85469a885e6b54dc3fd61c.pdf

Follow the link for What’s on in Sydney. https://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/events/blame-it-on-the-sunsets-niki-mcdonald-aka-tapestry-girl

The purpose of Intelligent Animal (ia) is to financially contribute to people and organisations undertaking critical action to ensure the future and ongoing protection of our bio-diversity.

Sunset City
Afternoon Tea
Pink Gelato

In these unprecedented times when an exhibition is hung and a catalogue has been created but for the health of all no one can visit it. Please check out my body of work in the Traffic Jam Galleries catalogue.  https://www.trafficjamgalleries.com/Niki-McDonald

Amending Traditions is a body of work that pays respect to the tradition of needlepoint tapestry, it honors its process and considers its subject matter. Art reflects society and in the 19th century, tapestry affirmed rigidity and modesty. The role of the amended tapestry is to break the customary stereotypes by sassing up the traditional subject matter. Stitching and mending recontextualises and allows for autonomy and sustained self-expression.

Traditional tapestries are stitched and darned with contemporary urban themes and incorporate humor to show contrast.  Niki McDonald employs sub-culture slang and lyrics from popular songs to prompt the viewer to complete the line and relive a moment in time. By inviting the audience to connect their own experience with that of the subject in the tapestry she hopes to ignite impact.

Birds represent freedom, they have a higher perspective and a big picture view. In the series, Amending Traditions, the bird gives us insight into how the subject is feeling and what their challenge is.

TJG

I hope you enjoy the exhibition catalogue as much as I enjoyed creating and stitching it x

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Stitches and Craft

I am honored to be a guest artist at the Sydney Stitches and craft Show, I’ve been stitching for months and am looking forward to hanging my new body of work. In addition to my tapestry pieces I am selling cards and printed tapestry canvases so you can reap the benefits of stitching yourself. I am also offering free workshops each day from 2pm for the first 10 to sign up. If you’re in Sydney, please come by and say, Hi.

Join me at Artisan’s on Lewis, in beautiful historic Mudgee. On show, is a year’s worth of ‘Sew as I go’, where I seek to transcend old habits that inhibit playfulness and industriousness. As I sew and as I go, I explore, refresh and cultivate curiosity. This body of work seeks to find the balance between playfulness and industriousness. 

Opening on Saturday 25th of August at 3-pm. Be inspired by over 20 contemporary needlepoint tapestries, be uplifted by the memorable, Artisan’s gallery and be refreshed by Pieter van Gent’s sumptuous quintessential Mudgee wine.

I hope to see you there xInvitation Sew as I Go

2017 was all about maximising the needlepoint tapestry medium. I played with spray painting my 5ct canvases (90x60cm) and using the luxurious KPC yarns for a double half cross stitch which revealed the background allowing depth and layering. I’m drawn to size and wanted bigger so I moved to 3ct canvas and stitched with 20ply wool (180x110cm). I was satisfied with the size, it had impact and maximised the medium.

Throughout the year I wanted to break the rules of tradition using the traditional medium. I’m saying that the colours and shapes from our streets empower our urban woman and give them sass and individuality.  The repetition of the tapestry stitches echoes the pixels in digital work and is in line with the photographic term DPI (dots per inch)

Some 2017 highlights were; The KPC yarn Pop up shop in Paddington, the exhibition with the ‘Seedstitchers’ at Gaffa Gallery where we employed textile mediums to express our theme, Wonderment. An exhibition to celebrate The Manly Warringah Arts Festival at, Gallery Diverasity and an exhibition at TAP gallery for Sydney Craft Week.

5 big exhibitions meant a year of painting, stitching, purchasing, evaluating, creating, framing, talking, connecting, organising and feeling. I also had the honor of 4 interviews, 3 workshops and a design published in MR Xstitchs’ Modern Xstitch magazine. It was a great year and I’m feeling maximised out,  now I’m in anticipation for 2018 with 2 new body of works in process and so many notes in my art diary……. I’m giving myself permission to use the tools of domesticity to start a conversation on permission.

 

‘Where the Vertical meets the Horizontal’ my 20ply merino wool latch hook cross on exhibition with the Seed Stitch Collective, at the Gaffa Gallery, Sydney. The audience is asked to start a new conversation by pulling handfuls of fluffy wool from the piece, balling them up and discarding the wispy creations on the wooden floor. The orginal gives rise to a new conversation and where the story will go, I’m looking forward to seeing x

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The collective is comprised of seven Sydney based artists: Soraya Abidin, Sky Carter, Alana Clifton, Suzanne Davey, Gillian Lavery, Niki McDonald and Emma Peters. While their backgrounds, education and approach to art practice are diverse, they each have a deep understanding of material qualities and textile processes. The Seed Stitch Collective are passionate about exploring and promoting contemporary textiles.

Wonderment can be described as a surprise encounter that arrests our senses for a fleeting moment. It is an instant of absolute presence where we are transfixed by an awe-inspiring sight, or engaged in child-like discovery, or merely struck and shaken by the extraordinary that exists in the familiar and everyday. In every instance of experiencing wonderment, we are left with a feeling of revitalisation, renewal and awe.

In our current state of political and social tension and the accompanying cacophony of media noise, wonderment stimulates a momentary pause in time, acts as a surge of clarity, and sees the worry and overwhelming tensions in the world fall away.

In this exhibition, the Seed Stitch Collective celebrates wonderment as an antidote to contemporary anxieties. As artists, we are able to delve into the depths of our creative world and seek remedy in the surprise encounters of creative acts. The moments found within art-making is where this respite is found. It slows us down, it occupies our mind and hands, and we are joyfully enthralled by the possibility of creation.

We hope that the audience finds the spirit of this theme, the collective and the creative output to be a powerful reminder that hope, generosity and connection is alive and well.

You are Invited to, ‘Wonderment’ @Gaffa Gallery, level 2, 281 Clarence St, Sydney.

Wonderment opening – Thursday 31st August 6-8pm through until 11th Sept 

Artist Talks – Saturday 2nd of September 12-2pm

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At the BarometerGallery, Paddington, Opening on Thursday 10th of November 6-8pm