Categories: News and Events
      Date: Feb 28, 2017
     Title: Mrs Echidna in the Art Gallery
Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery was the venue for an Art Workshop with Mrs Echidna's Dilemma.  Held during the Easter School Holidays (6th-7th April 2017) the workshop was designed for primary-school students.  
Their parents / grandparents didn't want to miss out, so a second workshop in embroidery -  "Manipulating Threads" - was held the following day, also at the Art Gallery.

After a book reading and chat by the author, the students were offered a choice of activities - making puppets, exploring tactile textiles, or creating a quick 3D textured embroidery of their own.

 

Younger children enjoyed the puppet-making, led by gallery director Mary Findlay.  However, it was the creative embroidery which triggered the imagination of the older students.  They learned a number of new techniques, all of which had been used by the author / illustrator in the original book.... stab stitch, wrapped stitch, ribbon stitch, and felting techniques - after they had used fabric crayons to created their background.

Students needed to be Grade 3 or older to participate in the 'Creative Embroidery' workshop, and learned basic embroidery techniques from their tutor, Betty Johnston.

Ribbon stitch, wrapped stitch, and stab stitch were embroidered over the background each student had created using fabric crayons on a piece of plain calico.

The felting of a wide range of textile yarns onto their embroidery background really brought their pictures to life.

A completed creative embroidery picture.

The following day, an embroidery workshop "Manipulating Threads" was offered to adults.  Class size was limited to allow for maximum individual attention.

The emphasis was on improving technique, to give the best possible results with any thread in any context.  Stitches covered in this workshop included Colonial Knots (basic; pistil stitch; rouched roses using colonial knots), Bullion Stitch (construction; traditional roses and buds; raised bullions; very large bullions of 50-100+ wraps), and Cast On stitch (over 1, 2 and 3 needles + drizzle stitch).

The Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, which has a reputation as one of the best regional art galleries in Australia, was a brilliant venue for these creative workshops.