Merrilyn George

Merrilyn George

Ohakune

Animal Vegetable Mineral and Project NIMTL
 
My dad, a bushman, taught me to sew using the sewing machine, and also taught me to knit. Teaching Textile and Food Technology became my profession. I have been seriously making quilts and other textile creations for about 20 years, but recently retired from permanent teaching. 

My decision to take part in this 100-day project was based on supporting our national group initiative and using it to firstly finish a large project and secondly to do work based loosely on the game we played as children- Animal, vegetable, or mineral.  It seemed important to be doing art every day to form good habits, and especially use the time well during the different Covid stages.

For the animal part I sat outside watching birds, recording their sound and habits, and observed the small animal life of the autumn garden. I became especially fond of the fantail which we call piwaiwaka in our area and especially wanted to depict it in a way that showed the movement as it follows you round the garden or bush. 

In the vegetable group I used the fruit and vegetables to make papyrus, used seed heads to photograph and draw, made botanical prints, made stamps from designs for fabric. I took lots of photos which will be used in later work I am sure. I made walnut ink to use for writing.

The minerals I used were iron (as in rust), and copper along with plant material using different minerals as mordant in dyeing fabric and paper. I have already used some of this fabric on the large project. 

This project was chosen to allow flexibility in working. I was pretty faithful to creating every day (I don’t like not finishing things I start), and I did quite a lot of experimenting with process. I also worked every day on my big project, but I will post that one separately. 

I am not sure if I would do this again. It would depend on my situation.  I think at another time I would put more thought into a project which could be developed over the time, perhaps creating restrictions to go deeper.  It was a good thing to do to get into a daily art practice habit. This time was a reality check - a ‘make do with what you have time’.  I did not buy anything for these projects, nor did I buy any clothes or things for the house. I felt very happy with what I have already and felt the call to care for the environment even stronger than before, and reject consumerism.
 
Nashi Pear

Courgette

The photographs and the quilts: I used fruit and vegetables from the garden to make the ‘papyrus’, by slicing, boiling and layering between fabric and paper until it has dried. I have used this in collage. 


Integral Ecology Laudato Si

Integral Ecology detail

Whakangarungaru te Tangata

Responding to the reading of Laudato Si (Papa Francesco 2015), the encyclical on ecology and climate, are the two works Whakangarungaru te tangata and Integral Ecology. I wanted to leave the fabrics in a natural state and included raw edges in the composition. 

Whakangarungaru te Tangata detail

The writing included inks of walnut mixed with acrylic and homemade pens, and repeats ecology whakatauki/wisdom in pen and ink and machine stitching.

Te Manu o Rangimarie


Te Manu o Rangimarie

My Bird of peace/Te Manu o rangimarie has been worked over fabric which was a result of breakdown printing and my drawings of the piwaiwaka with added stitching. I will develop this idea.

Comments

  1. Grandma BDecember 4, 2020 at 11:07 AM

    Thank you for sharing the breadth and depth of your journey. The portfolio you have produced is beautiful and inspiring.

    ReplyDelete

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