╳ Lace offers the mystery of concealment and the subtle interplay of space, light and shadows. Its layering can enhance the human body and create alluring effects in interior design and architecture. The exhibition ranges from bold large-scale installations and sculptures to intricate textiles and jewellery. Materials include gold and silver wire, linen and silk as well as mulberry paper, tapa cloth, horse hair, titanium and optical fibre.
╳ Pieces of particular beauty include “Ediacara laces” by Alvena Hall. The delicate vessels made from a combination of materials including cotton gauze bandaging, rice-paper, cotton thread and whipper-snipper cord to name a few are based on fossils, of the same name, discovered on the underside of wave-rippled rocks high in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The artist explains: “researching them I arrived at the notion of ‘time’ as a filter that only selects certain things (under very special circumstances) to become fossils. It is extraordinarily rare for anything as soft and squishy as a 540-million-year-old jellyfish to have its impression preserved. And it’s just as astonishing that such imprints are ever discovered. I fell upon the notion of apparently fragile, transparent lace-like objects to express my wonder at these natural phenomena.”
╳ Peter Battaglene and Fiona Tabart’s ‘Arbor Vitae’— a triptych screen made from sandblasted toughened glass. Their artist statement describes the piece as: ‘An organic object belonging to a larger whole, the leaf is symbolic of the relationship we share as part of a larger society. We have therefore titled the work Arbor Vitae from the Latin ‘tree of life’. The graphic expression of this pattern has been enlarged and projected on to three glass panels to create a triptych screen. Precisely registered and finely etched onto both sides of the panel, the thread-like network of interconnected lines and voids, positive and negative spaces, appear expressed in three dimensions to diffuse the screens’ transparency.’
╳ Polish artist Bozena Hanna Kaluga’s polymer boxes encased with woven cloth and wire are simply exquisite. Titled Dominoes II, she explains her work as: “elements of lace enclosed in transparent plastic boxes, isolated from the surrounding space,” and defines the piece as “in essence, a representation of the soul and its fragile elements in our existence— the confrontation of the soul with matter.’
╳ This is a well-planned exhibition and Powerhouse Museum has thoroughly covered all bases. The exhibition (and learning) experience is fully integrated, covering everything from an iPhone app to videos, supported downloadable teaching material, behind the scenes movie clips, online tutorials and slideshows.
╳ Images (top to bottom)
Ediacara laces, Alvena Hall
Arbor Vitae, Peter Battaglene and Fiona Tabart
Dominoes II, Bozena Hanna Kaluga
╳ For detailed information about the LoveLace Exhibition, please follow this link
