Anthozoa
Year: 2017
Event: Wearable Art Mandurah (WAM) Oceania Section
Award: Winner First Time Entrant
Inspiration:
Anthozoa means flowers of the sea, and is the name given to the class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals, and soft corals. (I like using the biological names for works that are inspired by the natural world - my father was a biologist, and I grew up hearing so many of them - and they are often both meaningful and so beautiful!) Many people often mistake the features of this work to be hibiscus flowers.
Materials & Techniques:
Silk satin, upholstery fabric, organza, lace, acrylic paint, metal foil, shibori-shaping
More Information:
More Information: Anthozoa began one night in the midst of creating three entries for WOW. Using a base corset and skirt I had already made, I had found some shibori tubes in my collection of pieces which suddenly I could see working very well as coral-like pieces. I interpreted the theme of Oceania by using shibori dyeing and shaping techniques to emulate anthozoa. Shibori creates patterns like tie-dyeing does, and can also be used to heat-set fabrics into shapes. Some fabric I tied up into kumo shaping, but left it at that stage - others I tied, dyed, dried, and un-tied to create stand-alone shaping and colouring. Another variety was stitched into tubes, squashed tightly onto pvc pipes to create pleats, then dyed, dried, and cut open. To create a sense of the rich, crusty, texture of coral reefs, I used scraps of guipure, sequinned and beaded lace, and other materials, applied using both free motion embroidery and hand stitching.
