I’m displaying my first piece of textile artwork at the 2024 Textile Palette Exhibition. My work on this, ‘The Pink Switch’ is an example of how a mentoring experience has helped me to see myself more clearly.

On Mentorship and Textile Art

People often ask me what it was like to be part of the Ballarat Arts Foundation Mentorship Program. In our first formal mentoring session, I clearly remember telling my assigned mentor Christine Lethlean that I was not a textile artist. In the next 30 minutes I showed her my scarf designs, my quilting fabric designs, the work from an eco-dying workshop I had attended, fabric panel designs as well as my paintings and prints. With a smile and firm voice, Christine informed me that actually, I was a textile artist. She waved her hand over the pile of textiles I had created on the table between us. This was a surprise to me.

Since that first meeting I have added hand printed works on fabric to the media I use regularly. Some of these prints are the beginnings of future projects. Some of them will soon be available for sale on my website. It took me some time to realise that perhaps I could produce a piece of textile artwork. However, when I saw the call for applications for the Textile Palette Exhibition, the theme called to me: Distortion, the evolution of body enhancement. Immediately, I knew what I wanted to express. The effect of cancer treatment on the female body. This is a departure from my usual subject matter of bushland and wildflowers.

See the Exhibition

Creating art about cancer inspired strong feelings about colour and texture in my mind. It also created poetry. I decided not to put the full image of my artwork on this website because it might be triggering for some people. If you wish to see it, and the accompanying poem, details are in the flyer, below.
The launch is at 2pm on Saturday 6th April.