Visual artist working in a contemporary textile medium.
My art textiles combine an artist’s approach to
image making with the age old tradition of stitching through layers. The
resulting textile surface is physically strong and aesthetically alluring
– mesmerizing to the eye and tempting to touch.
In twenty five
+ years of studio practice I’ve evolved an individual and unique
style of working. My use of airbrushed dye onto textile to establish an
image combines with patient, repetitive stitching over the surface to
achieve a visual statement in textile form. The work is entirely stitched
by hand, creating a surface texture that portrays subtle shifts in mood
as it responds to the ambient light of its environment.
My imagery reflects
my environment and records my responses and impressions. My subject matter
usually depicts open landscape, real or imaginary. As a digression from
this my recent work, in response to a working visit to China in 2007,
explores studies of interiors, exteriors and still life subjects, extending
my compositional awareness.
Still the landscape beckons.
UPCOMING EVENTS
July 31 – August
18
Kerrie Lowe Gallery – King Street, Newtown, Sydney NSW
Wood fired ceramics by Chester Nealie and Art Textiles by Jan Irvine-Nealie
October 5-9
Southern Textiles – Adelaide, South Australia
Teaching a class called “Running Stitch with Style” –
exploring the creative possibilities of the simple running stitch.
RECENT EVENTS:
2009
February 7-8
Bunbury Arts Centre – Bunbury, Western Australia
Gave a two-day class called “People Who Run With Stitches”
- a workshop exploring the creative possibilities of the simple running
stitch.
February 21-26
Grampians Texture – Halls Gap, Victoria, Australia
Gave a two-day class called “Thinking in Stitches” and a four-day
class called “Running Stitch with Style” –workshops
which explored the creative possibilities of the simple running stitch
April 19-26
Textile Fibre Forum – Orange, New South Wales, Australia
Gave a week long class called “Running Stitch with Style”
– more explorations of the creative possibilities of the simple
running stitch.
2008
April 13 –
19
Textile Fibre FORUM 2008 – Orange NSW (Australia)
Taught a class “INUNDER &OVERIT” during the week long
FORUM. This workshop explored ways to make textile art images using some
tried and true techniques to incorporate compositional elements.
2007
July 2007
LOCAL ARTISTS IN CHINA Exhibition, Mudgee (Australia)
Joint exhibition
with woodfire potter Chester Nealie. This exhibition related to our recent
working visit to China. Chester showed his own pots and those he’d
collected in China. I displayed the first in a series of works in response
to the China visit.
May – June,
2007
Working visit to CHINA
I traveled
with my husband, Chester Nealie, to join a number of other potters from
Australian and New Zealand working as artists-in-residence at the Fuping
Pottery Art Village near Xian in Shaanxi province for three weeks. This
project culminated in the opening exhibition of the new Australasian Ceramics
Museum there. It was a pleasure to work with John Parker (NZ) to design
and install the exhibition. Following this project several of us traveled
as a group to Sanbao International Ceramics Institute near Jingdezhen
in Jiangxi province for another week before returning home.
