Hangings from fibre

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 18

Hangings from fibre

Dorothy Terry never quite knows how her fibre wall hangings will look when finished. “Some I start and just see what happens,” the Christchurch artist said. Mrs Terry has been making fibre hangings for about two years, after painting for exhibition for several years. Disillusioned with painting she turned to hangings after reading several books about the art and taking a nine week course in off-loom weaving. “The annual exhibition at Andersen Park (in Invercargill) was coming up and I decided to do something different from the paintings I had exhibited. “I began the first hanging with an idea from a book. It had a lot of coils and twists and took a lot of work. When it was shown people

rang me up asking for one for themselves.” That hanging did not turn out as she had expected, and neither have several of the hangings she has made since. ‘T start with an idea, often from a book or the enironment and go from there, some turn out as I thought they would, others don’t.” All of the 17 hangings Mrs Terry has made for her first exhibition of fibre art in Gallery 111 have been made in the last few months. She has had more time to devote to her work since moving to Christchurch 18 months ago and giving up work recently. Mrs Terry usually uses natural colours for her hangings. Some of the wool is bought yarn, some home spun. The home spun is used

for its texture — “If I want a fine evenly spun yarn I will buy it When I spin wool, the lumpier the better.” One piece, called “Kelp,” is made of strips of woven wool, twisted and draped from driftwood to represent kelp. The strips of browns, greys and , greens, were woven on a small loom before they were attached to the driftwood hanger. Part of the fun of making a piece is collecting the items to use, Mrs Terry believes. Another piece, called “Concha,” is an excellent example of this. Driftwood provides the frame for the work, natural and bought wools and interwoven with shells. Dorothy Terry names each of her hangings, several with Latin names. “I gave the first one a Latin

name and have just continued that” Although she usually uses natural tones, she has made pieces using vibrant colours. Choosing the right colour combination is a matter of testing colours with each other. “I made one hanging with a lovely gold colour, and reds and blue. In the daylight the gold looked green. I had to pull it out and start again.” All of the hangings in the exhibition, which runs until November 2, are for sale. Mrs Terry has made some hangings on commission before. She hopes to have an another exhibition in the future but not for sometime — “I enjoy making the hangings but they are hard work.”