Ararat Gallery TAMA to Host 50-Year Celebration of Tamworth Fibre Textile Collection with Free Curat…
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Next week, Ararat Gallery TAMA will open the exhibition 50 Plus: Celebrating 50 years of Tamworth Regional Gallery’s Fibre Textile Collection.
This display brings works by women artists in the Tamworth Collection to the fore, as part of the Gallery’s commitment to gender equality and addressing the historical disparity in research, representation, and recognition of women in the arts.
In the early 1970s, a small group of visionaries in the New South Wales township of Tamworth began promoting craft, most specifically fibre- and textile-based art. These works came together in the Tamworth Fibre Textile Collection, which has – over the last 50 years – come to illuminate the many developments in non-traditional materials, techniques and technology which have occurred over fibre and textile art practice during that time.
The collection provides “unique insights into textile artists’ responses to their time and social context,” writes guest curator Dr. Roslyn Russell in her catalogue essay for the exhibition, explaining that artists’ innovative techniques “push the perceived boundaries of the artform.”
Felt making, lace design, embroidery techniques, fusing ceramics with fibre to create three-dimensional works, geometric patterning, and slow stitching are just some of the methods these women artists have utilised to make comment on connections to country, social intervention, Australia’s biodiversity, and environmental consciousness.
On Thursday 3 April, Tamworth Regional Gallery director Bridget Guthrie and Dr. Russell will meet in conversation about Tamworth Regional Gallery’s Fibre Textile Collection. The event is free to attend, though bookings are essential.
“The artworks within the 50 Plus exhibition represent an incredible historical expression of identity and diversity,” says Ararat Rural City Council Mayor, Cr Jo Armstrong. “These women have used truly inventive approaches to textile creation to make statements on the social and political issues which move them, and we’re very fortunate to have Bridget Guthrie and Dr. Russell’s commentary to give us a deeper appreciation of this collection.”
For more information, visit the event page on the TAMA site: https://araratgallerytama.com.au/event/tamworth-in-conversation/
DATE: Thursday 3 April 2025
TIME: 6pm – 7pm
LOCATION: Ararat Gallery TAMA