Expository Angel 2 - drawing/embroidery (Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Exhibition)

The creative works were further validated through a conference day of Lectures by Liz Williamson, Head of Design Studies, CoFA, UNSW and Curator of Fashion and Textile, National Gallery of Victoria. Five artists were selected to present artist's floor talks contextualising the research outcomes of the works regionally, nationally and internationally. The exhibition included a exhibition catalogue published nationally. and widely distributed through Art Gallery, Museum, Library and University sectors contributing to current debates and discourse in regional arts practices and interdisciplinary arts practices in Australia.The work combining the process of drawing with embroidery was included in an exhibition of nationally selected, curated, invitation-only survey of contemporary Australian textiles. The original major creative visual-art work was selected by Joe Pascoe, Director of Craft Victoria and on the basis of the work proposed and an artist's research statement. The inclusion of the work in the exhibition contributes to the field of textile art and is one of a series of works as part of on-going research into drawings by 19th C convict engraver, James Walsh, located in Fremantle Gaol, WA. Research contribution The creative research outcome challenges long-held assumptions of the range of textile arts practice by identifying new forms and processes of drawing to embroidery through an engagement with recent research debates in relation to the subjects, nature and forms of textile practice. The works were also informed by an investigation of the role of memory in the original drawing process of James Walsh and incorporation of remembered pattern motifs in the creative research practice of drawing/embroidery toward the exhibition. Research Significance The works were included in the curated exhibition which was originally included in the annual Wangaratta Regional Art Gallery calendar of events via a rigorous selection process by Gallery Director, Exhibitions Curator and independent industry professionals.