A blow for fibre art

Press, 12 September 1984, Page 20

A blow for fibre art

LYN HOLLAND

Weaver Jill Dando readily admits her exhibition for the C.S.A. Gallery is useless. “There’s not one useful thing in it,” she says, unre- . . pentant. But that is exactly the ; point. The exhibition, run- , ning until September 23, is an attempt to show that weaving is not limited to “something one wears, J walks on or eats off.” ' Many people, including fellow artists, believe weav- j ing has to be useful to be J justified, Jill Dando says. To

them weaving is a hobby, not an art Yet weaving is just as valid an art form as painting. The exhibition is to “strike a blow for fibre artists,” she says. “People look at the things and say ‘What does it do? They don’t do anything. They are there because they are there.” The exhibition gives her the opportunity to use. ideas without having to consider the market potential; the luxury of creating “for me, just for the hell of it” She began weaving about

18 years ago in Dunedin. She always had plenty of wool available on the farm where she was raised but had never done anything with it When she got a loom by chance there were no classes to learn weaving, so she taught'herself, using books from the local library which had “elves hopping through the instructions.” When she taught herself spinning two or three years later it was again only with the aid of books. She remembers how. proud she was of those initial pieces of spinning. They were “terrible, ropey, all curled up and lumpy,” but they were proof that she could spin. Now she owns six large looms, seven smaller ones and a spinning wheel. She spent nearly three years as president of the National Weavers’ and Spinners Guild. For the last four years she has been, a member of the Gefn Craft Cooperative and her work is sold throughout the country. Her house is filled with her work and littered with bright wool. Her three sons also weave, helping her keep up with heavy demand for her distinctive scarves. Although she has shown her work in many exhibitions, including a national exhibition of weaving at the C.S.A. Gallery last year, this is her first solo show. She has completed 12 pieces for the exhibition, mainly wall hangings of woven wool, mohair, linen or cotton. They are all for sale with the possible exception of one, which she does not know if she can part with. It is woven with “just about everything” — bleached and unbleached cotton, mohair, silk, polypropylene, spun and unspun wool, rayon, linen and artifical raffia. Several years ago, Jill

Dando received a grant from the Southern Regional Arts Council to attend an Australian conference to learn more about felt-mak-ing. It requires plenty of hot water, soap and hard rubbing of the fleece. As yet she has not sold any of her felt pieces, but making them is firn and “good therapy.” On the Southland farm where she grew up she “got used to spaces” and her love of nature is reflected in her work. Much of it has a natural theme, such as her felt “pods,” or the hangings showing places such as Lindis Pass, sunsets, rainbows or prisms. The less pleasant side of nature is depicted in one of the pieces which hangs in her lounge. Entitled “After the Saw” it is her impression of the “amputated fingers” which remained when trees in Hamilton Avenue were pruned. Spinning is important to weavers, Jill Dando believes. By handling the raw fibres the weaver gains a better understanding of the finished yarn and cloth. ’Hand spun yams also offer the weaver greater possibilities than commercially spun yarns. Dyeing her own yam offers even more possibilities. Initially she was attracted by colour but scared of it. Now she has learnt to think about the colours before she begins her work, to aim for a particular effect Colour and design are two things lacking in New Zealand weaving, she believes. Jill Dando does use exotic fibres, such as camel hair, angora (collected from the rabbits she keeps) or mohair, but most of her work is with wool. “I believe we have to support New Zealand, it’s a wool country and I like wool.”