Kei Takemura and Katie West group show at Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre, Dandenong

August 10, 2019

Kei Takemura and Katie West both feature in the expansive group show ‘Zephyr’ at Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre in Dandenong. ‘Zephyr’ is part of the Cultural Threads Festival, crossing several venues and exploring the metaphors of folds, falls and fragility in textile art. The word Zephyr itself means a gentle, mild breeze, or any fabrics of fine, light quality, such as silk or yarn. Kei works with Japanese silk thread and Italian cloth to ‘renovate’ broken objects, respecting and veiling the cracks that mark the accident. Katie’s work ‘warna (ground)’ are a continuation of country through the fabric’s cotton fibres and the plant dye carried in these fibres.

‘Zephyr’ will be open until 31.08.19 at Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre. This Saturday 10 and next Saturday 17 August, Katie West will be holding a dyeing workshop to explore the different ways of leaving marks, stains and traces on fabric using natural dyes from native plants. In this hands-on workshop, participants experiment with and learn about dyeing techniques using silk and an array of botanical textiles.

Katie West will also be holding a solo show at DMG ‘Wilayi bangarrii, wanyaarri (go for a walk, listen)’, which opens next THURSDAY 15 August from 6-8PM. Her new textile works consider walking and listening as avenues that connect us with our past, present and future. These have been dyed with native plants like eucalyptus, corymbia and acacia found within the urban landscape, continuing her exploration of ways to stay attuned to the seasons. Her installation ‘Gently Give Attention’ also invites visitors to make tea as part of a meditation on our aliveness, our ties to others, and the remedies we devise to keep ourselves and loved ones healthy.






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