Latest news with #AustralianTapestryWorkshop
ABC News
4 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Renowned First Nations artist Maree Clarke says designing Australia's biggest 3D tapestry is a 'huge honour'
Maree Clarke is on a clear mission: to preserve South-East Australian Aboriginal culture using the power of art. The latest, groundbreaking example of this is Welcome to Country — Now You See Me: Seeing the Invisible. It's a colossal 10-metre wide, 4.2-metre high tapestry work — Australia's largest 3D tapestry and the result of more than 10,000 hours' work. The renowned Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti and Boonwurrung artist and curator says Welcome to Country is a revival of practices that showcase "our stories and design sensibilities" and "speak to the present while honouring the past". "Aboriginal cultural practices were never lost — they simply waited to be woken," she tells ABC Arts. Clarke has played a pivotal role in creating Welcome to Country, using both traditional weaving practices and contemporary tools and techniques. The completion of the project, which took 14 months to make, is one of the most rewarding moments of her career. "Seeing our stories take form in this monumental way is a huge honour," Clarke says. This landmark work is a collaborative effort, designed by Clarke alongside her great nephew and mentee, Boonwurrung/Barkindji man Mitch Mahoney. "[He's] a thoughtful young father, a brilliant artist, and someone deeply connected to culture," she says. Their shared vision was realised through the expertise of 12 skilled weavers from the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW), a 50-year-old cultural institution dedicated to contemporary textile arts and tapestry weaving. Work was led by master weaver Chris Cochius and senior weaver Amy Cornall. The work's design references the delicate imagery of microscopic river reeds, and is inspired by the traditional river reed necklaces once bestowed upon travellers crossing Country; the necklaces carry meaningful symbols of safe passage and friendship. Welcome to Country is honouring and continuing a longstanding tradition of cultural hospitality and care; deep values of connection, protection and community can all be read into this tapestry. Clarke and Mahoney never envisioned themselves creating a tapestry, but after an initial meeting with the ATW and witnessing their sample weaves, they were "blown away by their accuracy", Clarke says. The experience inspired them to pursue a project they had never thought possible, and "to dream as big as you can dream". In April 2024, when Clarke first approached the ATW, the prospect of translating a complex cultural motif into a woven masterpiece seemed daunting. Extensive conversations and workshopping followed and, a year later, the challenging project transformed into what Cornall describes as "joyful work". "It involves continuous decision-making about shapes and colours, constantly referring back to the original image to ensure everything stays consistent," she explains. Aligning and arranging vertical threads in line with the original drawing requires relentless adjustment. "We spend pretty much all day going back and forth, physically working through the details," Cornall says. Progressing at a steady pace of approximately 10 centimetres per week, the weaving team engaged in a disciplined daily routine, demonstrating unwavering commitment to every stitch and detail. Cornall points out the physicality of the process, highlighting the human touch at every stage — from selecting and custom-dyeing some of the 368 yarns, each carefully carried from the ATW store, to the intricate stitching and weaving. This intense physical effort leaves little room for error, ensuring the artistry remains authentic and imbued with human intention. "Every day is like making a thousand decisions," Cornall says. The end result is a vibrant tapestry of human labour, where every choice — colours, textures, and techniques — contributes to a work that is as much about cultural storytelling as it is about craft. Clarke's design carries profound symbolic weight, especially within the context of its placement in the new Footscray Hospital in Melbourne's inner west. In a hospital, often the place of beginnings and farewells, the work becomes a gift, offering a visual and symbolic gesture of "safe passage to those arriving and those departing", Clarke says. Clarke wanted to infuse the hospital space with cultural warmth and welcome. "We wanted everyone walking into the hospital to feel a sense of being welcomed to Country." Under the microscope, the delicate reeds that inspired the motif reveal entire landscapes — rivers, waterways, hills, and skies — symbolising life and its many journeys. Furthermore, she says, "Embedding Indigenous stories in everyday environments — like hospitals — helps normalise and celebrate our presence, knowledge and history in the places we all share."
The Advertiser
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
First weaving hung in 3D zooms in on tiny river life
A hand-woven tapestry that's as wide as a tennis court will be hung across two storeys of a major new hospital. Measuring just above four by 10 metres, the artwork woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop will be hung in the shape of an ellipse, or hollow cylinder, making it the nation's first major three-dimensional tapestry project. "We haven't done anything quite like this before, we have done large-scale tapestries woven in multiple panels and double-sided tapestries, but we have never done one that hangs in the round," said senior weaver Amy Cornall. Titled Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible, the tapestry is so big it will be installed across two levels in the foyer of Melbourne's $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, opposite the Maribyrnong River. The finished artwork weighs more than 135 kilograms and will be suspended from a specially designed frame using extra-strong Velcro fasteners. Designed by First Nations artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney, it depicts the microscopic cellular structures of river reeds, overlaid with blue lines representing the flow of a river. River reeds have been a feature of Clarke's work for about two decades, and her part in the design came from tiny slices of reed cells that she viewed under a microscope at Melbourne University. Clarke has also spent hours inside the old Footscray Hospital while her husband received medical care, and remembers there were only advertisements to stare at on the walls: "it was boring as batshit really," she said. She hopes the Welcome to Country tapestry in the new building will be not only visually interesting, but also calming for patients and their families. "I think every time you look at it you're going to see something different, I just love how the blue skims across the top like a river, and the colours are just beautiful," she said. On Tuesday the workshop is hosting a ceremony to begin the process of cutting down the tapestry from its two giant looms. More than a year of painstaking weaving will then be unrolled, enabling the artists and weavers to view the project as a whole for the first time. A dozen weavers have been hard at work since April 2024, with the tapestry taking more than 10,000 hours to complete. "On a good day we can do an area that's maybe the size of an A4 piece of paper, so it's quite slow, but you can see it progressing from week to week and that's quite satisfying," said Cornall. Artist Mitch Mahoney says working with a team of weavers has been the ultimate collaboration. "To have twelve people create one work that looks like one hand made it is amazing, yet it has a bit of all of them in it," he said. Hanging the artwork in an elliptical shape will mean people can stand directly under it and see the reverse side that is usually hidden from view, revealing hundreds of loose threads. "The front is all resolved as the artist has intended it to be, the back is the nuts and bolts of how it's made, the evidence that it was made by people," said Cornall. Using wool from Victorian farms, two dyeing specialists at the workshop made 103 colours of yarn for the project, including eight shades created specifically for the tapestry. If kept out of direct sunlight, the weaving could last centuries - fragments of Coptic tapestries, for example, have survived from before the middle ages. Construction of the hospital is slated for completion in 2025. A hand-woven tapestry that's as wide as a tennis court will be hung across two storeys of a major new hospital. Measuring just above four by 10 metres, the artwork woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop will be hung in the shape of an ellipse, or hollow cylinder, making it the nation's first major three-dimensional tapestry project. "We haven't done anything quite like this before, we have done large-scale tapestries woven in multiple panels and double-sided tapestries, but we have never done one that hangs in the round," said senior weaver Amy Cornall. Titled Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible, the tapestry is so big it will be installed across two levels in the foyer of Melbourne's $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, opposite the Maribyrnong River. The finished artwork weighs more than 135 kilograms and will be suspended from a specially designed frame using extra-strong Velcro fasteners. Designed by First Nations artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney, it depicts the microscopic cellular structures of river reeds, overlaid with blue lines representing the flow of a river. River reeds have been a feature of Clarke's work for about two decades, and her part in the design came from tiny slices of reed cells that she viewed under a microscope at Melbourne University. Clarke has also spent hours inside the old Footscray Hospital while her husband received medical care, and remembers there were only advertisements to stare at on the walls: "it was boring as batshit really," she said. She hopes the Welcome to Country tapestry in the new building will be not only visually interesting, but also calming for patients and their families. "I think every time you look at it you're going to see something different, I just love how the blue skims across the top like a river, and the colours are just beautiful," she said. On Tuesday the workshop is hosting a ceremony to begin the process of cutting down the tapestry from its two giant looms. More than a year of painstaking weaving will then be unrolled, enabling the artists and weavers to view the project as a whole for the first time. A dozen weavers have been hard at work since April 2024, with the tapestry taking more than 10,000 hours to complete. "On a good day we can do an area that's maybe the size of an A4 piece of paper, so it's quite slow, but you can see it progressing from week to week and that's quite satisfying," said Cornall. Artist Mitch Mahoney says working with a team of weavers has been the ultimate collaboration. "To have twelve people create one work that looks like one hand made it is amazing, yet it has a bit of all of them in it," he said. Hanging the artwork in an elliptical shape will mean people can stand directly under it and see the reverse side that is usually hidden from view, revealing hundreds of loose threads. "The front is all resolved as the artist has intended it to be, the back is the nuts and bolts of how it's made, the evidence that it was made by people," said Cornall. Using wool from Victorian farms, two dyeing specialists at the workshop made 103 colours of yarn for the project, including eight shades created specifically for the tapestry. If kept out of direct sunlight, the weaving could last centuries - fragments of Coptic tapestries, for example, have survived from before the middle ages. Construction of the hospital is slated for completion in 2025. A hand-woven tapestry that's as wide as a tennis court will be hung across two storeys of a major new hospital. Measuring just above four by 10 metres, the artwork woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop will be hung in the shape of an ellipse, or hollow cylinder, making it the nation's first major three-dimensional tapestry project. "We haven't done anything quite like this before, we have done large-scale tapestries woven in multiple panels and double-sided tapestries, but we have never done one that hangs in the round," said senior weaver Amy Cornall. Titled Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible, the tapestry is so big it will be installed across two levels in the foyer of Melbourne's $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, opposite the Maribyrnong River. The finished artwork weighs more than 135 kilograms and will be suspended from a specially designed frame using extra-strong Velcro fasteners. Designed by First Nations artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney, it depicts the microscopic cellular structures of river reeds, overlaid with blue lines representing the flow of a river. River reeds have been a feature of Clarke's work for about two decades, and her part in the design came from tiny slices of reed cells that she viewed under a microscope at Melbourne University. Clarke has also spent hours inside the old Footscray Hospital while her husband received medical care, and remembers there were only advertisements to stare at on the walls: "it was boring as batshit really," she said. She hopes the Welcome to Country tapestry in the new building will be not only visually interesting, but also calming for patients and their families. "I think every time you look at it you're going to see something different, I just love how the blue skims across the top like a river, and the colours are just beautiful," she said. On Tuesday the workshop is hosting a ceremony to begin the process of cutting down the tapestry from its two giant looms. More than a year of painstaking weaving will then be unrolled, enabling the artists and weavers to view the project as a whole for the first time. A dozen weavers have been hard at work since April 2024, with the tapestry taking more than 10,000 hours to complete. "On a good day we can do an area that's maybe the size of an A4 piece of paper, so it's quite slow, but you can see it progressing from week to week and that's quite satisfying," said Cornall. Artist Mitch Mahoney says working with a team of weavers has been the ultimate collaboration. "To have twelve people create one work that looks like one hand made it is amazing, yet it has a bit of all of them in it," he said. Hanging the artwork in an elliptical shape will mean people can stand directly under it and see the reverse side that is usually hidden from view, revealing hundreds of loose threads. "The front is all resolved as the artist has intended it to be, the back is the nuts and bolts of how it's made, the evidence that it was made by people," said Cornall. Using wool from Victorian farms, two dyeing specialists at the workshop made 103 colours of yarn for the project, including eight shades created specifically for the tapestry. If kept out of direct sunlight, the weaving could last centuries - fragments of Coptic tapestries, for example, have survived from before the middle ages. Construction of the hospital is slated for completion in 2025. A hand-woven tapestry that's as wide as a tennis court will be hung across two storeys of a major new hospital. Measuring just above four by 10 metres, the artwork woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop will be hung in the shape of an ellipse, or hollow cylinder, making it the nation's first major three-dimensional tapestry project. "We haven't done anything quite like this before, we have done large-scale tapestries woven in multiple panels and double-sided tapestries, but we have never done one that hangs in the round," said senior weaver Amy Cornall. Titled Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible, the tapestry is so big it will be installed across two levels in the foyer of Melbourne's $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, opposite the Maribyrnong River. The finished artwork weighs more than 135 kilograms and will be suspended from a specially designed frame using extra-strong Velcro fasteners. Designed by First Nations artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney, it depicts the microscopic cellular structures of river reeds, overlaid with blue lines representing the flow of a river. River reeds have been a feature of Clarke's work for about two decades, and her part in the design came from tiny slices of reed cells that she viewed under a microscope at Melbourne University. Clarke has also spent hours inside the old Footscray Hospital while her husband received medical care, and remembers there were only advertisements to stare at on the walls: "it was boring as batshit really," she said. She hopes the Welcome to Country tapestry in the new building will be not only visually interesting, but also calming for patients and their families. "I think every time you look at it you're going to see something different, I just love how the blue skims across the top like a river, and the colours are just beautiful," she said. On Tuesday the workshop is hosting a ceremony to begin the process of cutting down the tapestry from its two giant looms. More than a year of painstaking weaving will then be unrolled, enabling the artists and weavers to view the project as a whole for the first time. A dozen weavers have been hard at work since April 2024, with the tapestry taking more than 10,000 hours to complete. "On a good day we can do an area that's maybe the size of an A4 piece of paper, so it's quite slow, but you can see it progressing from week to week and that's quite satisfying," said Cornall. Artist Mitch Mahoney says working with a team of weavers has been the ultimate collaboration. "To have twelve people create one work that looks like one hand made it is amazing, yet it has a bit of all of them in it," he said. Hanging the artwork in an elliptical shape will mean people can stand directly under it and see the reverse side that is usually hidden from view, revealing hundreds of loose threads. "The front is all resolved as the artist has intended it to be, the back is the nuts and bolts of how it's made, the evidence that it was made by people," said Cornall. Using wool from Victorian farms, two dyeing specialists at the workshop made 103 colours of yarn for the project, including eight shades created specifically for the tapestry. If kept out of direct sunlight, the weaving could last centuries - fragments of Coptic tapestries, for example, have survived from before the middle ages. Construction of the hospital is slated for completion in 2025.
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
First weaving hung in 3D zooms in on tiny river life
A hand-woven tapestry that's as wide as a tennis court will be hung across two storeys of a major new hospital. Measuring just above four by 10 metres, the artwork woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop will be hung in the shape of an ellipse, or hollow cylinder, making it the nation's first major three-dimensional tapestry project. "We haven't done anything quite like this before, we have done large-scale tapestries woven in multiple panels and double-sided tapestries, but we have never done one that hangs in the round," said senior weaver Amy Cornall. Titled Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible, the tapestry is so big it will be installed across two levels in the foyer of Melbourne's $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, opposite the Maribyrnong River. The finished artwork weighs more than 135 kilograms and will be suspended from a specially designed frame using extra-strong Velcro fasteners. Designed by First Nations artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney, it depicts the microscopic cellular structures of river reeds, overlaid with blue lines representing the flow of a river. River reeds have been a feature of Clarke's work for about two decades, and her part in the design came from tiny slices of reed cells that she viewed under a microscope at Melbourne University. Clarke has also spent hours inside the old Footscray Hospital while her husband received medical care, and remembers there were only advertisements to stare at on the walls: "it was boring as batshit really," she said. She hopes the Welcome to Country tapestry in the new building will be not only visually interesting, but also calming for patients and their families. "I think every time you look at it you're going to see something different, I just love how the blue skims across the top like a river, and the colours are just beautiful," she said. On Tuesday the workshop is hosting a ceremony to begin the process of cutting down the tapestry from its two giant looms. More than a year of painstaking weaving will then be unrolled, enabling the artists and weavers to view the project as a whole for the first time. A dozen weavers have been hard at work since April 2024, with the tapestry taking more than 10,000 hours to complete. "On a good day we can do an area that's maybe the size of an A4 piece of paper, so it's quite slow, but you can see it progressing from week to week and that's quite satisfying," said Cornall. Artist Mitch Mahoney says working with a team of weavers has been the ultimate collaboration. "To have twelve people create one work that looks like one hand made it is amazing, yet it has a bit of all of them in it," he said. Hanging the artwork in an elliptical shape will mean people can stand directly under it and see the reverse side that is usually hidden from view, revealing hundreds of loose threads. "The front is all resolved as the artist has intended it to be, the back is the nuts and bolts of how it's made, the evidence that it was made by people," said Cornall. Using wool from Victorian farms, two dyeing specialists at the workshop made 103 colours of yarn for the project, including eight shades created specifically for the tapestry. If kept out of direct sunlight, the weaving could last centuries - fragments of Coptic tapestries, for example, have survived from before the middle ages. Construction of the hospital is slated for completion in 2025.
