Award-winning fibre panel

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 7

Award-winning fibre panel

Nelson reporter

A Christchurch entry, “Te Whakakotahi o te,” by Vivienne Mountford, has won the inaugural United Building Society’s craft award.

With the award goes a prize of $5OOO. The building society has allocated $lO,OOO to the Suter Art Gallery, in Nelson, for a biennial craft award, the first one of which was judged by the distinguished Tasmanian

textile artist, Margaret Ainscow, on Friday. The award winners were announced at the exhibition in the Suter Gallery on Saturday morning. The first exhibition was for fibre craft. Fifty-six entries from all parts of New Zealand were received.

Ms Ainscow, a senior lecturer in fibre and fabric at the Tasmania Institute of Technology’s

school of art, said that when approached to judge the exhibition she knew that it would draw the best of fibrecraft in the country and she had not been disappointed. She said she had an extremely difficult job choosing the three top entrants. The runners-up (with $lOOO each) were

Helen Schamroth, of Northcote Point, Auckland (“Restructuring the Power”), and Evonne

Sloan, Auckland (“Landscape One”). Ms Ainscow had chosen “Te Whakakotahi o te’.’ (which took up the whole of one wall) because she had particularly liked the marriage of the idea, its progress, and the “internals,” the integrity in the use of New Zealand fibres and the transition from

the early indigenous fibres to contemporary ones. The use of flax and

raupo is dominant in the exhibit at the left of the picture and these fibres are replaced in a transition through to lace and wool. “I sensed in this exhibit a joy in the making. It was a very confident piece,” said Ms Ainscow. “Restructuring the Power” was the departure from some of the other works in the exhibition, she said.

“Landscape One”

showed exceptional craftsmanship and again showed a clear picture of the enjoyment in the making and respect for the craft process. If she had a criticism to make it would be that so many did not combine the three elements (material, message, and statement), said Ms Ainscow. In some works there was confusion which tended to cloud the message, she said.