My next solo exhibition will be held at the 'Stables' in Wattle Park, Burwood, Victoria and will run from 8th to the 22nd of November 1998. Papermaking demonstrations will be held on Sundays 15 &22 Nov from 12-4pm.
Primary school children will have the chance to learn papermaking whilst participating in the production of an artwork at visual artist Gail Stiffe’s second solo paper exhibition. The Stables in Wattle Park will house the exhibition that will run from 11 to 22 November 1998.
The special event for Primary aged children is planned for Saturdays 14 and 21 November. Children will come on Saturday 14 November at a time between 10am and 4pm to make a sheet of plant fibre paper. They will return to the stables on the next Saturday to decorate their sheet as a plea for the environment. Their ‘prayer flag’ will then become part of an installation in the gardens around the Stables, where it will remain for two months.
Gail has been making paper for 15 years and teaching and exhibiting for the last nine years. Last year she held her first solo exhibition at ‘Maenad Art’ in Bellair street, Kensington. For this her second exhibition, Gail has decided to move closer to home. ‘The Stables’ in Wattle Park is an ideal location for this exhibition inspired as it is by the natural environment. The exhibition features framed pulp paintings sparked by visits to several National Parks in both Victoria and South Australia. Lightshades, screens and wallhangings have been made from delicate but strong plant fibre papers.
Demonstrations of bookbinding and papermaking will be ongoing throughout the exhibition.
Please contact Gail Stiffe on 98897302 for more information.
PAPER IN THE PARK, Gail's second solo exhibition took place at the Stables in Wattle Park during early November (11-22). Pulp painted works, lights, lino prints, books, albums, writing sets and a screen were on show at this exhibition.
Amongst the books, one stood out as almost a summary of Gail's work and interests, ‘Baskets, Paper and Books’. It describes the process of each in separate sections with samples of paper, a patch of woven fibre on the cover and a basket slipcase. It is an elegant statement of the possible interaction of the three crafts. Two other books I found of particular interest were 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' and 'Dusk to Dusk'. The first was a tunnel book with layers of trees formed by fibres, and containing images of bears and a photo as the background. The feeling of going into a forest was excellent. The second book was another tunnel book that could be opened from either the front or the back. The main body of the book contained twigs laminated into the separate pages and the effect was of looking one way through the trees to early morning or the other way to evening. Dusk, in both cases, was a pulp painted image on the inside cover.
Gail continues her interest in pulp painting with images of trees, the sea and nature. In ‘Dry Lake', she created a dry lake bed or mud flats very convincingly through the natural texture of pulp painting. In other works like 'Dusk to Dawn', a similar technique was used to produce images of trees the time in a lovely range of mauves and greys. It is a very effective evocation of evening. Another pulp Painted piece, 'Coorong’, I found the most successful because of its bold design and linear qualities. It uses the straight perspective lines of the barrages to divide the surface and creates a work that can be seen as abstract pattern as well as a semi realistic image of the sea.
The exhibition also contains four abstract pulp painted pieces, 'The Tree Totem' series, each made up of four or five layers of coloured rectangles plus collages of leaves and/or textured pieces. The uncluttered designs together with the fibrous nature of the fibre paper allowed to show along the edges create strong and eloquent works.
For me, the most adventurous and dramatic pieces were the 'Banner series. These were six panels, about A1 size, mainly of ginger lily and banana fibre. They were made on a trampoline with layers of mucilaginous fibre so the colours could intermingle before draining was complete thus creating wonderful swirling patterns. The colours and shapes were impressive and reminded me of Aboriginal art.
I have enjoyed seeing the development and maturing of an Gail’s work and look forward to her next offering.
Plants for Papermaking
Includes directions for making paper from plants
Artist Books
includes pictures and binding notes
Paper Timeline
a personal timeline of the history of papermaking
Copyright © 1997 Gail Stiffe
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