Cultural Strands/Woven Visions public program participants

Articles - 26 January 2006

Cultural Strands/Woven Visions

Public Program Participants

The Cultural Strands/Woven Visions forum was held in February, 2006 and was presented by FORM Contemporary Craft and Design to celebrate the opening of Woven Forms: Contemporary basket making in Australia touring exhibition. The forum explored current paradigms of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous fibre art sectors and discussed past, present and future directions with a particular focus on innovation, sustainability and excellence within Australian basket making.

Kantjupayi Benson (Blackstone, Western Australia)
Exhibiting artist
Mrs Benson is a Ngaanyatjarra elder with an extensive weaving career. She recently won 1st place in the Telstra Art Awards (2005) for the collective Tjanpi Toyota.
Lydia and Josephine Burak (Pularumpi, Northern Territory)
Exhibiting artists
This Tiwi mother-and-daughter team is experienced in public presentations and have many works in national and international collections. Both are active artists in all mediums of Munupi Arts and Crafts, Melville Island.
Dr. Dawn Casey (Perth, Western Australia)
CEO, Western Australian Museum and former Director, National Museum of Australia
Professor Tony Cunningham (Perth, Western Australia)
Professor and Director, Ethnoecology Services Research Fellow,
School for Environmental Research – Charles Darwin University, NT
Emma Davies (Melbourne, Victoria)
Exhibiting artist
Davies has a contemporary, urban perspective in her craft, using polypropylene in a progressive, futuristic approach. She is a leader and innovator in her field.
Wendy Golden (Melbourne, Victoria)
Exhibiting artist
Golden is a basket maker who explores plant fibres as well as plastic cables and monofilament in her work. She regularly writes for the Textile Fibre Forum Magazine. Golden was the Artistic Director for the exhibition Weaving Lands – The Making of the Galgi-ngarrak Yirranboi Tree (2004).
Lola Greeno (Launceston, Tasmania)
Co-curator and contributing author
Program Officer of Aboriginal Arts, Arts Tasmania. Greeno’s leadership has helped develop many Indigenous artist’s careers.
Dr. Louise Hamby (Canberra, ACT)
Co-curator and contributing author
ARC Fellow for the Centre of Cross Cultural Research Australian National University. Hamby is editor and curator for the acclaimed exhibition and publication Twined Together (2005).
Virginia Kaiser (Mittagong, New South Wales)
Exhibiting artist and co-curator
Kaiser is a leading basket making practitioner. She has exhibited in both national and international institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia and SOFA Chicago (2001, 2005). She is a workshop facilitator and lecturer at the University of Wollongong.
Janine McAullay Bott (Perth, Western Australia)
Artist
McAullay Bott is a Noongar artist. She has an extensive career in fibre weaving whilst living in Hawaii and Canada. In Australia, her work has been featured in the Berndt Museum (WA), and the Oceanic Art Fair (2004).
Jill Nganjmirra (Oenpelli, Northern Territory)
Exhibiting artist
Nganjmirra is a Kunwinjku cultural custodian and artist. She a facilitator of contemporary and traditional fibre art at Injalak Arts and Crafts, western Arnem Land.
Andrew Nicholls (Perth, Western Australia)
Co-curator and contributing author
Former Artistic Program Manager of FORM including the exhibition Seven Sisters – Fibre Works Arising from the West (2003–4). He is also a freelance writer, curator and artist.
Thisbe Purich (Darwin, Northern Territory)
Artist and educator.
Purich is a weaver and workshop facilitator. She was is a key instigator for the Tjanpi Desert Weavers movement across the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands.
Nalda Searles (Perth, Western Australia)
Exhibiting artist and educator
Searles has worked extensively to generate the skills development of fibre artists across central, western, northwestern and south-western Australia. She was co-curator and exhibitor in Seven Sisters Fibre Works Arising from the West (2004) exhibition.
Joyce Tasma (Perth, Western Australia)
Artist
Tasma is a basket maker and workshop facilitator. Inspired by the Exmouth Gulf and Western Australia’s unique landscape, Tasma utilises recycled and found objects in the environment.
Vicki West (Launceston, Tasmania)
Exhibiting artist
West has facilitated interactive workshops at the National Museum. She utilises traditional techniques, yet her forms possess a highly contemporary sculptural edge.
Dr. Diana Wood Conroy (Wollongong, New South Wales)
Contributing author
Acting Head, School of Art and Design and Associate Professor in Visual Arts, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, NSW.