The tenth anniversary of the Geelong TAFTA (The Australian Forum for Textile Arts) was
celebrated on the last evening, Friday October 2, 2009, the party was themed 
“THE WIZARD OF ODD”

The staff worked tirelessly to make a wonderful end to a very full week of art making.

My boss, Janet below

A fantastic band called “SWING-IT”played for the 350 participants and tutors.

Here are some of the lovely folks enjoying themselves and each other.

I came as a Munchkin with a lovely party hat with my batik tools and puppets spilling
out.  My class did an outrageous skit to the tune of If I only had a Brain.

The massage therapists and reflexologists mingled with the traders to making it an outrageous good time.

The folks who attended the Geelong forum for the first time got a prize every day and
were known as the Virgins.

The party then moved to the Common room where everyone was really Uncommon. The eccentrics continued to sing ballads and enjoy the last gathering of a fine flock.

Next, I travel to Sydney, stay tuned…

Mary Edna

A beautiful site called Southern Artistry showcasing Mary Edna Fraser

Kiawah Flight

A day trip by ferry took 40 minutes to Darling Harbour and was a fantastic way to commute. I met Yvette, an American  film maker at the Queen Victoria Building. We lunched and wandered to the Art Gallery of New South Wales to view contemporary aboriginal and Australian art. It was my first day off this trip and I enjoyed Sydney’s streets and people watching.

Thursday and Friday I lectured at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales to first year and finishing textile students.

More later,

Mary Edna

After an engaging week of  teaching batik for TAFTA my travel from Melbourne to Sydney was a restful sunset flight.

Sylvia Riley, who I tutored in the 2007 class in Orange, Australia, kindly shuttled me to her home at Homebush in Olympic Park.  Her 4th story apartment faces a mangrove forest.

Sylvia is an accomplished silk painter and owns the business www.silksational.com.au. I bought incredible vintage kimono silks, books, and supplies for batik which will be shipped home.

Our first day we traveled to the Blue Mountains to collect plants for eco dyeing. We toured the Three Sisters at Katoomba

with daughter Bianca and friend Petra

and Black Heath bush.

At the home of Allison and Derek Murphy in Dargan.

Sylvia began collecting eucalyptus bark and leaves, bracken fern, lichen, and flowering eggs and bacon plant for us to use for natural dyes.

Silks were first scoured to accept the dye. My job was to mangle leaves separated into 3 pots of simmering water to extract dyes from eucalyptus, braken ferns, and tea tree.

Sylvia carefully folded plants in to create patterns with the Japanese shibori technique of clamping and binding

The day was spent mordanting silks in alum and stirring the pots loaded with silk.

A few samples of the natural dyed silks that will be shown December – January in Charleston,

KIMONO SILKS.

More to come,

Mary Edna

My students at the Forum in Geelong did some very fine batiks. I hope to return in two or three years back to Australia to teach and exhibit again for TAFTA. The artistic exchange is one of my finest experiences. Each person I taught really informed me about the art form as I witnessed their explorations. New friends were made in this journey that will greet me on the return. Here are some of the batiks made in this class.

Dear Friends,

Janet De Boer is the coordinator of the forum. Her chief troubleshooter is Jude Skeers. Breakfast starts at 7:00 and the days are full ending with presentations by tutors, who are masters in their fields. Sandy Elverd is a basket-maker from Adelaide. Anne Field is a weaver from New Zealand. Karin Kortenhorst is a jeweler from Holland. Chunghie Lee teaches at Rhode Island School of Design. Carol Barton makes pop-up books and has taught at Haystack. David Scanlon makes masks. Catherine Howell and Holly Brackmann also came from the USA to teach. Allie Snow, Karen Torrisi, Sue Dove, Celia Player, Lindy Frayne, Ruth Hadlow, Jacinita Leishman Jae Maries, Adrian Sloan and Marie-Therese Wisniowski all tutored at the 2009 Forum. Here is some of the work of the students.

Dear Friends,

This is a beautiful school, located on the Port Phillip Bay.

Tutors and students were housed in wonderful building . One of the planned events is the Heathen Bazaar

where folks sell handmade works directly.

It was an amazing event!

More later,

Mary Edna Fraser

Dear Friends,

I have been having such a fabulous time and my students are brilliant.

More to come,

Mary Edna

Dear Friends,

Frida Kahlo night was last night in the dining room and this lady was the best but Donna was on staff at the Textile Forum and could not win grand prize. Many uni-brows and mustaches in dresses paraded through. Australians have so much fun!

Janet is my boss and these are my buddies!

Today I learned from Dean Frenkel (Guinness Book of records for Longest Note) the beginnings of how to throat sing, a lesson I hope to share with my daughters Sarah and Rebecca. We were in a Mongolian yurt. He also gave didgeridoo massage which sent remarkable sound-waves through your back.

More to come, Mary Edna