Colac District: Fibre Arts Winter Hotspot
July 11, 2018 · by Tarndie · in Uncategorized. ·
Over the past few years, Colac has built up a reputation for textile arts.
It’s the product of a great mix of artists, teachers, students, fibre producers, administrators and an appreciative audience.
It makes sense. The region is plentiful in fibre. Timbers, alpaca, native grasses & reeds, wool and cropping have long been supplying the materials for functional and artistic pieces.
A festival of textile and fibre art, CrossXpollenatioN, has been the vehicle for Colac’s journey into the arts limelight. The initial concept involved bringing together artists from different backgrounds to create new artworks. What has also happened is businesses and galleries around the region are drawn together in creating a fibre focused month of artistic celebration.
So below is a guide map to the Colac District for fibre enthusiasts and art lovers for the month of July, and read on for a description of each.
Stay overnight! We’ve got great accommodation in our Farm Cottage and the new Stables Studio (call for info).
CrossXpollenatioN 2018: Journeys
Colac Otway Performing Arts and Cultural Centre (COPACC), Colac.
A trove of new 3D textile works to come from around Australia. There is a blend of feature artists, as well as pieces entered in 2 prizes worth over $4,000.
This exhibition is a surprise to many. Not only is the quality of art very high, but the production and setting lends a sense of theatre about the works.
Tarndie was delighted to support an award this year for artworks that comprised an amount of sheep’s wool of a known provenance. We hope that this will lead new ideas in finding different uses for different fibres.
And congratulations to all who entered – we will be sponsoring the $1,500 prize again in 2019, so get thinking how you can work in the theme “Connections”.
Open: daily 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.
Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery
520 Corangamite Lake Rd, Cororooke
RRRTAG’s beautiful gallery in a former church has on display 2D artworks that use or reference textiles and fibre.
Open: weekends 11am – 4pm. Monday and Friday 1-4pm. Entry by donation.
Tarndie – exhibition and woolshop
“Tarndwarncoort”, 37 Roseneath Road, Warncoort
Our farmgate woolshop is stocked with yarns grown on the farm, ready for crafters and artists to work their magic – and why not do it by the fire in the studio with a coffee!
Tarndie is also hosting an exhibition by Andrew Delaney – Geelong based textile artist. The 1856 ciderhouse is the perfect venue to reflect on Andrew’s work on the American Civil War – a sometimes dark walk through the devastation of war on families and individuals.
Open: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10am – 4pm. Entry to the Lincoln exhibition $5. (Parental Guidance recommended)
WINDOWSPACE-BEEAC
79 Main Street, Beeac
In the rural hamlet of Beeac to Colac’s north are beautiful, yet largely vacant, shop windows reminding us of a busier time. But one window now houses a tiny exhibition space that attracts some serious artists.
Fibre artists and crafters would be familiar with India Flint – who describes herself as “a botanical alchemist & string twiner, storyteller, forest wanderer & tumbleweed, stargazer & stitcher, working traveller, dreamer, writer and the original discoverer of the eucalyptus ecoprint…dyeing for a living in the deep south”.
One of India’s works will grace the Beeac Main Street during July.
Open: viewing from the street – so 24 hours a day!