8 November 2006

Opening at the Shepparton Art Gallery on Wednesday 15 November is Coathangers, an exhibition presented by the Contemporary Sculptors Association Inc. and the Goulburn Valley West Country Women’s Association.

Guest speaker Dr Kevin Murray, Director of Craft Victoria, will officially open the exhibition at 4.00pm.

A series of workshops held over the past 12 months has created a link between regional and city-based communities through the medium of textile craft. These fertile exchanges have led to a much-needed acknowledgement of traditional craft in the world of contemporary art.

The many traditionally worked pieces in this exhibition, some echoing over five generations of craft practice, evoke a strong sense of the honing of skills over time. Complementing this exquisitely perfected work are thoughtful and provocative contemporary sculptures that address the line imposed between art and craft.

This exhibition is the result of a long term community project where members of the Country Women’s Association have passed on their craft skills to urban contemporary sculptors, as an addition to their regular work within the Goulburn Valley. This region is heavily affected by the ongoing drought, and these workshops have provided a critical connection between those in the city and those living under severe conditions. Socially and creatively, the workshops have been a source of relief and refreshment to an area under extreme duress.

With the generous support of Arts Victoria, the Sidney Myer Fund and the City of Yarra, the CWA/CSA workshops have showcased beading, crazy patchwork, crochet, embroidery, woollen sculptures, felting, stumpwork, blackwork, quilling, knitting, basket making, goldwork and canvas work among other specialised textile crafts.

This exhibition questions the social and artistic exclusivity that has allowed the omission of these works from public galleries, forcing them to be hidden away at home and often destined for the opportunity shop. Coathangers attempts to draw attention to women’s craft, and to encourage women to continue passing on traditional skills to ensure the diversity and vibrancy of this work continues. This project gives long overdue accolades for CWA group crafts that have never been exhibited at a major public gallery since the CWA’s inception in 1928.

This exhibition will continue until 17 December 2006.

For further details, images or interviews please contact the project coordinator

Elaine Miles on elaine.miles@artdes.monash.edu.au, 0438 090 523 or (03) 9822 5658.