Clarence Textile & Fibre Exhibition 2024

Tasmania’s longest running Textile & Fibre exhibition is celebrating its 25th year. This exhibition will show the work of artists working in both contemporary and traditional textile media with a special guest exhibition The Gauntlet Project 1992 from the Bellerive Community Arts Centre.

During a tidy-up session, the Gauntlets were found securely stored in plastic bins in a shed at Bellerive Community Arts Centre.  In 1992, Artist in Residence Christine Gulline presented the concept that would occupy about a fortnight’s work by the artist participants. Her ideas sprang from a reflection of how the world was presenting at that time, with striking similarities to the world of 2024.

There were 31 participants and twenty seven Gauntlets were created, each with a small mirror attached to the back so that wearers could “take on” the persona of the gauntlet. New skills were learned. Many gauntlets were a cooperative effort amongst the artists. They were dyed, painted, embroidered, silk painted, textile crayoned and printed, beaded and appliquéd.

The finished works were launched at the Hobart Botanical Gardens, Clarence Council Chambers and displayed at Kangaroo Bay’s ‘Clarence by the Water Festival’. They were also part of a travelling exhibition to the National Arts Council Conference in Canberra and a major workshop in Batemans Bay NSW.

Official Opening Thursday 21 November 5.30pm. All welcome.

Image: AJ Anderson, After the fact, 2024