From Textile Trove to Fabric Folk Tales

TEXTILE TALES: Nundle artist Natasha Soonchild is working on a new series of soft sculptures crafted from recycled fabrics (photo: supplied)

A NUNDLE-BASED artist has dusted off a collection of discarded fabrics to transform into new works during the COVID-19 closure of arts venues, in an ‘at-home’ residency supported by a micro grant from Arts North West.

Natasha Soonchild lives and practices her art from Stormcrow Studio. From there she’s been exploring and developing three-dimensional works using materials and techniques unfamiliar to her.

“I am also researching and developing an at-home sewing kit utilising recycled textiles,” she told Arts North West.

“I have found it to be quite challenging working in a new medium!

“Over many years I have collected discarded textiles with the aim of creating soft-sculptures, so I do not lack the raw materials. It is the nature of those materials and how to manipulate them that I am having to learn about.

“There have been lots of experiments and trial-and-error.” Natasha Soonchild

According to Natasha the learning process has involved online courses in raised embroidery, and textile toy design and pattern creation.

“This is the first time I have used an online platform for learning,” she said.

“I am gaining a wealth of knowledge in the specific skills and also developing an understanding of online learning, skills building and sharing resources.

“It has been great research for the at-home sewing kit I am developing as part of this project.”

Visual inspiration

While undertaking her project, Natasha – a sculptor, designer, painter, printmaker and recycler – has been researching a selection of traditional English and Scottish ballads collected by American folklorist Francis James Child, referred to as the ‘Child Ballads’.

“I have always been fascinated by folk tales and wanted to frame my project through the lens of the characters, creatures and themes that feature in these ballads,” she said.

“This research has also led me to reach back into my own memory of folk tales I read as a child which were inhabited with witches, selkies and changelings, and has proven to be a wealth of visual inspiration.

“I am looking forward to sharing my depictions of these stories through soft sculptural forms.”

The results of Natasha’s project will be presented on her social media accounts (instagram: @stormcrow_studio / facebook: @stormcrowstudionundle). She will also post an online portfolio of the project on her website: www.stormcrowstudio.com along with the at-home sewing kit for sale.

Childhood Home inspires Care and Creativity

DOMESTIC SCENES: Armidale artist Leah Bullen is working on a series of drawings inspired by her childhood home (photo: supplied)

AN ARTIST living and working in Armidale has turned her attention to the details of domesticity during the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’, embarking on an at-home residency made possible with a micro grant from Arts North West.

Leah Bullen cares for her elderly mother and “needed to stay at home with her due to increased caring duties,” she told Arts North West.

“I have been visually recording scenes from my neighbourhood and the daily activities of my family home.

“I’m making a series of drawings and paintings on paper that refer to the everyday and the domestic.” Leah Bullen

According to Leah, the residency has provided her with the opportunity to make work by paying attention to both the caring process, and the world she grew up in.

“As I could not maintain a safe social distance from her due to my caring duties, the initial phase of the lockdown meant that I rarely left home,” she explained.

Leah Bullen Community Garden (photo: supplied)

“During this time, the world outside receded, while the quiet and domestic sphere of my childhood home became a constant backdrop.

“I have approached this project through observing, photographing, drawing and visually recording daily activities and my home environment.

“This documentation includes a variety of subjects, such as interiors, domestic vignettes, home and garden landscapes as well as documenting everyday activities during lockdown,” she said.

Return to drawing

A graduate of the School of Art and Design and the Australian National University, Leah told Arts North West that she’s been developing a hybrid approach to her art in recent years, based on watercolour painting and monotypes.

“This process usually involves the use of a relief-printing press,” she explained.

“COVID-19 has meant that I do not currently have access to this printmaking equipment.

“Though challenging, this situation has provided me with the opportunity to use this home residency time to return to drawing, experimenting with mark making and more direct approaches to working.”

Follow updates from Lea’s studio on Instagram: @leah.bullen

Leah Bullen Saturday Morning (photo: supplied)

Duo’s ‘sunroom sessions’ success

PASTOR & PURCELL: Armidale-based duo Helena Pastor and Christopher Purcell recording their collaborations in a home studio (photo: supplied)

A PAIR of Armidale-based musicians is producing quality recordings at home during a pandemic that has closed performing arts venues, thanks to a new user-friendly recording equipment made possible by micro grant from Arts North West.

Writer, songwriter and lyricist Helena Pastor has been working with composer and musician Christopher Purcell for five years. They are known as Pastor and Purcell.

“We’ve written an eclectic collection of 27 songs, including the song cycle ‘Lullaby and Lament’ and a series of songs for a ‘Tattoo Songs’ album,” she told Arts North West.

“Generally, how it works with us is that I write the lyrics and Chris sets them to music. The lyrics come first, then the music, and Chris and I really love the magic of bringing these songs to life together. Helena Pastor

“We’re hoping to collaborate with other songwriters and recording artists in the future.”

Helena used her grant to purchase a home-recording Tascam DP-03SD Portastudio 8-track digital recorder, and she said it was early audience responses to the duo’s music that inspired them to use the lockdown period in their impromptu home studio.

“Before COVID-19, Chris and I were regularly performing our songs in Armidale and the response was always resounding. We were encouraged to record our songs so they could be made available to a wider audience,” she said. 

“Although Chris and I had recorded a handful of our songs at a local recording studio, we wanted to record all of our material. Our new user-friendly recording equipment is now enabling us to produce quality digital ‘demo’ recordings at home that we can share with the New England community and further afield through online platforms. 

“We’re also planning to use the recordings for promotion and marketing purposes to build our careers as songwriters.”

Song-room central  

According to Helena, whose memoir Wild Boys: A Parent’s Story of Tough Love was published by UQP in 2015, the recording project is progressing well. 

“Chris and I are meeting up twice a week in his sunroom at ‘Invergowrie’, which is ‘song-room central’ for the moment,” she said.

“The sunroom windows look out onto paddocks, and Chris’s two dogs are our appreciative audience. 

“We already had microphones and microphone stands, headphones, and high-quality speakers for mixing, we were just missing the final (and most important) item for recording at home.”

The Tascam DP-03SD is light and portable, Helena told Arts North West, meaning the pair be able to take it anywhere once they start recording with other musicians and vocalists. 

“It only took a week to work out the equipment, and we’ve recorded three songs so far,  experimenting with different techniques to achieve the best results,” she said.

“Chris had previous experience as a sound engineer, so that’s made the recording process much easier, but the Tascam DP-03SD is a little beauty! We’re so happy!”

Songs are being uploaded onto the Pastor & Purcell SoundCloud account:

https://soundcloud.com/pastor_purcell with links on the Creative New England Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativenewengland/. For more about the project head to: http://www.helenapastor.com

IMAGE: Chris Purcell (photo: supplied)

IMAGE: Helena Pastor (photo: supplied)

Home is where the art is

ISOLATION CAPTURED: Tamworth-based artist Erika Sorby’s self portraits were a creative response to pandemic lockdown. (photo: supplied)

A TAMWORTH-BASED visual artist will use pandemic isolation as a theme for a unique home-based artist-in-residency initiative created by New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), made possible by a micro grant from Arts North West.

“We were particularly interested in how artists have been creative during this time of lockdown and the experience of being in, and transitioning out of, isolation,” Belinda Hungerford, NERAM’s manager, exhibitions and curatorial, said.

“Artist Erika Sorby was the worthy recipient and she has been dealing with isolation by focusing on self portraiture.” Belinda Hungerford

An emerging artist with a double degree in secondary teaching and fine art, Erika is originally from Newcastle. She practices art around her teaching commitments and will begin her five-week ‘residency at home’ in July.

“During the residency Erika will continue to explore self portraiture and use the incredible portraits in NERAM’s collections for inspiration and experimentation,” Belinda said.

“Erika will share with us her progress through weekly blog posts and present a talk at NERAM at the conclusion of the residency. We’re really looking forward to seeing what she creates!”

NERAM recently reopened to the public, with COVID-19 visitation measures in place. The Arts North West micro grant will assist the gallery in its ongoing mission to support and promote local artists.

Follow Erica’s progress during the residency on NERAM’s website and social media: www.neram.com.au; Facebook @neram.art; Instagram: @neramuseum and follow Erika via her Instagram handle: @esorbyartist

Erika Sorby’s Self Portrait with Shower Curtain