Exhibition dates and venue....

The Design Centre, Launceston. Tasmania.

Set-up Thursday/Friday 31 May / 1 June 2012

Opening Saturday 2 June 2pm 2012

Pack-up Monday 2 July 2012

http://designcentre.com.au/index.php

exhibition entry/ies by

no later than Friday, 18^th May, 2012
An Exhibition Fee of $10 for the first item and $2 for each additional item is to be paid when your items are delivered.

June is the time to find Comfort in Tasmania.

Tasmanians have felt the winter cold for years; this year, the cold will be felted. And knitted. And woven. And spun…

June may be one of the colder months in Tasmania but this is all the more reason to visit the “Comfort” exhibition. The Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild of Tasmania Inc. are once again celebrating the Guild’s diverse collection of technical talent and design skills with their biennial exhibition. This year The Design Centre (Cnr Tamar and Brisbane Streets, Launceston Tasmania) will host the exhibition from Saturday 2 June until Sunday 1 July 2012.

The month long exhibition will showcase amazing works that have been handwoven, spun, dyed and felted to create all manner of visual feasts. Upon entering the main gallery 4.5-metre lengths of textiles will be hung within the space, forming a maze of different levels of transparency and showcasing many different techniques and textures. The beautiful Tasmanian winter light will cast shadows amongst the comforting textiles. As you walk around these large textile works smaller pieces will reveal themselves: traditional items worn for comfort, items we have at home that we find reassuring and items that soothe our soul.

During the exhibition the Guild will also be hosting lunchtime talks during the exhibition about different techniques used in the various textile fields represented. There will also be artists in residence discussing their specific works, inspirations and techniques during the exhibition.

This biennial exhibition is one not to be missed. I am sure it will have you coming back again to admire the amazing and diverse skills that members of the Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild of Tasmania have to offer.

Spinning, weaving etc in the Gallery  

Please note we do not need to “man” the exhibition, but we have the opportunity to spin, weave etc in the gallery space and talk to people about the exhibition.

Sat 2^nd June – Design Centre Launceston

2pm – exhibition opening – all welcome.

Sunday 3^rd June

State wide meeting at Northern Branch rooms - Uniting Church Hall, Chant St. East Launceston.

During the exhibition we are encouraging people to “have a go.” To try knitting and spinning. So donations of skills, fleece, commercial knitting yarn for first time knitters, maybe even simple cardboard weaving loams would all be greatly appreciated so we have items on hand so that when we have guild members spinning/weaving/dry felting etc at the Design Centre we have materials and tools that may be used so people may have a hands on experience.

If people are using the gallery space to spin/weave/dry felt/knit their home spun or dyed yarn etc and the finished products are for charity or any event that is news worthy please let me know so that we have a chance to try and organise media coverage.

Categories of comfort

Comfort Exhibition – 2012 – Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild, Tasmania

Conditions of Entry

The Comfort Exhibition 2012 is the biennial celebration, showcasing the diverse skills of the members of the Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers Guild of Tasmania.

The skills that the guild represent are Handspinning, Dyeing, Weaving and Felting – for works to be exhibited, it must showcase one of these skills.

The 4 categories are:

Corpus - Comfort for the Body

a. Clothing

b. Accessories

Dressing for comfort is something most of us consider when choosing our clothing and accessories each day. This category is for anything you wear on the body, broken up into either clothing or accessories.

Animus - Comfort for the Mind

a. Homewares

b. Manchester

Surrounding ourselves with things that comfort us is how we build a home. This category is broken into homewares, decorative beauties that we make to brighten our homes, and manchester, for blankets and linens (including table runners, napkins and placemats etc).

Spiritus - Comfort for the Soul

a. Art Yarns

b. Experimental Textiles

c. Art Works

A place for those things that give comfort to our souls and satiate the incessant need to create for creation's sake. There is a spot for our new found love of art yarns and experimental spinning, a section for new textiles, dyeing and fusing several of our crafts, and of course, a place for those beautiful works of art that are born of the wealth of talent available in our Guild.

The Design Centre’s 1^st Gallery hanging system also opens up a new section that members may consider submitting work to.

To make sure that this body of work looks visually stunning there are some limitations….

· Size of work hung here will be 4.5 metres in length with a finished width 35cm, 50cm or 60cm.

· Colours = Natural fibre colours or natural dye colours or neutral colours.

· Transparent (dyed silks, delicate weaves etc) to Opaque (robust weaves and

felting)

· These works maybe technically challenging or a collage of techniques.

· A support “rod” will be need to be attached to the top of the work so that the

textile does not “sag” when hung from the wire

(More details about this will be made available soon as this details needs to

be finalised with the Gallery, If you are working on a textile for this section please let us know so that we have you on a contact list regarding the hanging system).

There are 5 horizontal wires (strong enough to hold a quite a few kgs) The gallery will be hanging transparent lighter works at the front of the gallery and then working towards the end of the gallery in a progression of transparencies. There will be a maximum number of works that may be hung in this section and works will be selected on quality and works that best represent the Guild.

Apart from the horizontal hanging wires across Gallery One, the Design Centre also offers us plinths of different heights and sizes plus some beautifully designed and secure plinths for displaying jewellery. The gallery has ample well- lit walls for hanging works, plus mannequins are being sourced.

Work submitted for inclusion in the 2012 Exhibition should be entered with the following details addressed on the entry form – plus a small removable tag/piece of paper with your name and contact number attached to your entry (just incase your entry and entry form are separated during transit):

1. Category under which it is being entered.

2. A (brief) note about what may have inspired your thinking/creativity.

3. Technique/s used please identify….eg. spinning, knitting, felting, dyeing, printing, weaving, spun artyarn, etc.

4. Fibres/materials used and how they have been applied.

5. Any other special notes: eg: design source; commercial pattern

source, handling instructions, etc.

6. If the work is a collaboration between several artists then all makers must

be named and their areas of expertise.

7. All entries must be accompanied by an invoice, entry form,

Exhibition fee and insurance fee. (Cheques need to be made out to

HWS&D Guild of Tas. Inc.)

Entries should be consistent with the theme of the exhibition & will subject to quality control.

Conditions of entry:

I. Entry is open to financial members of the Guild with the exception of a piece that is a Collaboration. For the purposes of this exhibition A Collaboration may involve several financial members of the Guild together, or else it must involve at least one financial member of the Guild, together with one or two other artists/craftspeople from outside the Guild. This is for the purpose of encouraging work that involves our [Guild] textile processes together with other art or craft techniques in order to develop new possibilities and associations, as well as learning.

The work produced through such an association/collaboration needs to be of a standard comparable to that expected of Guild members entering the exhibition. It also needs to make a feature of the woven felted, spun etc. textile related component. [Collaborations you might consider could involve basketry, embroidery, printing, leatherwork papermaking, furniture making, jewellery making, pottery, etc.]

2. All entries must be accompanied by an entry form/invoice which numbers, lists and describes each individual item separately. It is not always easy to identify items correctly, especially when multiple items that are similar are submitted so descriptions need to include details that distinguish items clearly from one another. eg: ‘A green felt hat' is not necessarily a full enough description. You may submit a photo of your work that also has your name and contact details instead of a written description [Note: Please keep a copy of your invoice for your own information]

If you wish to make your item ‘for sale’, you must mark the price that you want to receive yourself for each individual item on the entry form if that item is for sale. The Design Centre will add their commission & GST to this price

3. An Exhibition Fee of $10 for the first item and $2 for each additional item is to be paid when your items are delivered. Should any item not be exhibited for any reason then the fee for that item will be refunded to you. This fee assists us in covering the costs of staging the exhibition on your behalf.

4. As in past years an Entry Fee to cover insurance is also to be paid when your entries are delivered calculated from the following table:
Total value of goods: $100 or less - fee $1.50

$101 - $200 - fee $3.00
$202 - $300 - fee $4.50 . . . and so on.

Note: For any large size entries it would be wise to contact the Exhibition Officer prior to the entry deadline.

5. Labelling or ticketing will be according to the Design Centre practices. All items must be labelled with removable tags for easy identification. (Your name, invoice item numbers and details would be helpful here. Packaging containing items must also be labelled to facilitate return of same.

6. Please note that” The sale price for all works should be listed, together with your GST status. If the Exhibitor does not have an Australian Business Number (ABN), or hasn’t completed a ‘Statement by a supplier’ form provided by the ATO, the Design Centre is obliged to retain 48.5% of the sale price exclusive of the commission charged.”

· The Design Centre will retain 30% + 10% GST commission on the sale price of; any sales or commissions that result directly from the exhibition within three (3) months of the close of the exhibition.

7. Exhibition items must have been completed since the last exhibition. Items for sale may have been exhibited only once and must not have been worn or used apart from the purposes of exhibiting.

8. It is expected that all items submitted for entry in the exhibition will include one or other of the hand processes that our guild is noted for – ie: spinning, dyeing, felting or weaving. Apart from this, decisions about fibre content are left to the individual maker and should be based on whatever is required to make the design successful.

For example: Experimental fabric lengths might include unusual

fibres/materials such as plastic, paper, metal, soy silk, etc.

Objects or articles might incorporate materials such as hand made paper, wood, leather, metal, beads, etc. as part of the overall design.

Note: If possible a small sample should accompany garments or other articles, where appropriate, to allow visitors to the exhibition to feel or touch as this is an important aspect with textiles.

9. Where a design is original this should be noted on your entry form.

Note: If a commercial pattern has been used (eg: to make up a garment using original handwoven fabric, then wherever possible the pattern source must be identified and acknowledged even when you have made variations to it.

10. The law requires that garments (not accessories) for sale be labelled with washing instructions and fibre content. (The Yarn Store has suitable labels for sale.)

11. The goal of the exhibition is to display an exciting variety of items of the highest quality.

12. Items selected for display will be chosen with these criteria in mind and will be influenced by factors such as the amount and nature of the available space. The co-ordinating committee will make the decisions about what is displayed and it is a condition of entry that those entering accept that the committee’s decision will be final.

Apart from the horizontal hanging wires across Gallery One, the Design Centre also offers us plinths of different heights and sizes plus some beautifully designed and secure plinths for displaying jewellery. The gallery has ample well- lit walls for hanging works, plus mannequins are being sourced.

The decision to have the opening on a Saturday afternoon at 2pm means that people may travel comfortably on Saturday from around the state to attend. Guild members will then have the opportunity to catch up with family and friends after the opening plus we will be able to billet out guild members from around the state on Saturday night if the need arises.

During the month long exhibition lunchtime talks will be offered. The idea is that during a “Lunch Hour” talks/mini workshops are given in the gallery over a cup of soup and a bread roll. This is a fantastic way of connecting with other guild members and also non-guild members. More details about this will be available closer to the exhibition.

If you have any questions about the categories, please ask your friendly Exhibition Team. They are:

Sonja Hindrum, Meegan Hughes and Sandra Hughes, Cheryl Hogarth, Di Kearney

But in the mean time, please have a look at the next page it is slowly being filled with ideas and inspiration.