EPISODE TWENTY SEVEN :: Anna Barberio of For Flynn Protest Art - Art as Self-Care and an Act of Resistance

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The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In Episode 27 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Anna Barberio of For Flynn Protest Art. 

Anna is a cross stitcher, mixed media protest artist and a student of psychology. We talk about anna’s approach to craft, how much of her work has come from a place of necessity, and particularly how her work has come from a place of necessity during the election season and presently, under the new presidential administration in the US. Anna raises some really important points about craft and self care, and we both have a great big chat about the ways in which we look after ourselves (or more often than not, fail at doing that) 

 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Find Anna: website | instagram 

Want more? 

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

ani

EPISODE TWENTY THREE :: Emma Lehan of The Fleece and Wheel - Having and Go + Thoughts on Sourcing Locally

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The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In Episode 23 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Emma Lehan of The Fleece and Wheel.Emma is a knitter and spinner based in Queensland. We chat about how Emma’s interest in knitting eventually led her to spinning, and how her thoughtful partner gave her a drop spindle as a christmas present a few years ago, leading her down the path she’s on now. Last year, Emma got involved in an Etsy Local market, which was a huge motivator for her to get her business up and running. We talk about how she’s managed her business and why she’s chosen to source locally. Emma walks me through how she has found her sources of fibre and how she’s developed these relationships over time.

Emma's Handspun Alpaca for the giveaway! 

Emma's Handspun Alpaca for the giveaway! 

Emma is generously sponsoring a giveaway of 3 luscious skeins of her handspun alpaca! Here's how to enter: 

1. Follow @thefleeceandwheel on instagram

2. Follow @close_knit on instagram

3. Comment on this blog post with your instagram handle and name

GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, 27TH JAN 2017 8am AEST. 

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Emma's biggest bit of advice:

"Have a go. Because a lot of people think 'I can't possibly do that'. and that's wrong, of course you can, you just have to try... Just start, and don't get discouraged" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Find Emma: website | instagram 

Want more? 

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani

EPISODE NINETEEN :: Julie of Little Loom - Interpreting Fibre In a Free Form Way & Navigating the Complexities of Making and Selling Work

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The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

 A very special thank you to this week's episode sponsor, Wool Gathering,  a four day wool crafts based retreat being held in Victoria in May 2017. During the Gathering you will participate in three wool based classes, with options in knitting, crochet, spinning, tapestry weaving, Saori weaving, needle felting, wool embroidery and yarn dyeing.  

Wool Gathering teachers have many, many years of experience between them, and include Sue Grandfield (Riotous Assembly); Clare Devine (Knit Share Love), Briony Singleton (Gradient Yarns Australia & Briony Knits), Prue Simmons (Dyeing to Weave) to name just a few. Classes have been designed to suit all levels of experience so you have the option to take all your classes within the same well loved craft or you can try something completely new as beginners are well respected at Wool Gathering!

Participants of Wool Gathering will get to enjoy the incredible Tarndie Farm. Tom Dennis, the current (6th generation) owner, will entertain you with his History of Tarndie tour where you will learn all about the pioneers who settled the property and then the Fleece to Yarn tour will see you walk with the sheep from the paddocks to the shearing shed where you will learn all about Polwarth fleece.

Tickets are currently on sale and you can find all the nitty gritty details at www.woolgathering.com.au and follow along on instagram - woolgatheringaustralia and facebook - wool gatheringaustralia.

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Julie is a free form fibre artist, utilizing weaving and macrame techniques to create her unique wall hangings. She and I discuss a mutual love affair with all things linen, and how she made a transition from using whatever materials she found to thinking more consciously about where her materials came from and how they were made. We talk about navigating the complex space of pricing and selling handmade work, and how she keeps up the motivation to continue making work regularly. Julie tells me about her love of teaching free form workshops as a form of art therapy for herself and her students, and how she has used this style of making to lighten her own state of being when going through some tough times. 

Julie teaches workshops in free form - intuitively creating using beauitful materials and a few simple knotting and weaving techniques. She recounts how people often struggle with this at first and find it confronting, the fact that they're not being told what to make, but once they drop in, and let go, it's such a special feeling. Julie tells me she gets goosebumps just talking about it. 

 

Julie first picked up weaving when she was struggling with post natal depression. It was a meditative escape for her, and somewhere she found some peace. At first, she reckons she tried too hard, tried to be what she thought a weaver should be, and that just wasn't working for her.  Then she bought some handspun yarn and decided to not try so hard and to let go. It was at that point that she created the first piece she really loved, and that was a really pivotal moment for her. She started listening to Woolful, and started learning about fibres and then moved exclusively to high quality, ethically-source, and rare and vintage fibres.

 

Julie's biggest bit of advice:

"...don' be afraid to try. There is no right way, there is no wrong way, just try. If you have an idea for something, don't not do it because you think it won't be well received, or because you think it's not the right way to do something, just try. That's how we learn, evolve, grow. And the fibre community is so encouraging and supportive"

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Find Julie:  instagram 

Want more? 

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani

EPISODE SIXTEEN :: Sarah Belcher of Blue Highway Hand Dyes - 'Comparison is the thief of joy', creating a local yarn, and exploring natural dyes

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The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In episode 16, I spoke to Sarah Belcher of Blue Highway Handdyes. Sarah lives in Texas, where she creates naturally dyed yarns from locally raised animals. We talk about her journey into dyeing, and how she couldn’t imagine acid dyes in her home around her family so she looked for an alternative and found natural dyes. She then went on to create her own yarn bases for her natural dyes fromTexas -raised merino and mohair. 

 

Sarah is a a self-described "yarn sniffer"  - which of course we bonded over instantly. She wanted to make her own wool and realised that there was a ton of merino and mohair in Texas and most of it was being sent abroad in bales. That led her to create her Tex Ranch yarn base - from Texas, and spun in Penn. 

When I asked her about how she went from the idea to make a local yarn to actually doing the thing, she told me that she  first just googled american mills, she knew about green mountain spinnery from when she lived in vermont, and mountain meadow mills, and coincidentally there is someone very close by making a small mill. Those guys would take a smaller minimum of fibre so that meant she could get small amounts processed more easily. She was able to figure it out by asking and the fibre community has been so open to sharing knowledge.

We also discussed many of the larger mills are often not aware that there is a huge market for farm to needle and lament the mass textile market that all of the wool goes overseas automatically. 

Sarah is a process knitter - she just knits to knit for the sake of it. it quiets her mind,  and she knits a little bit every night to wind down. It's like meditation. 

Sarah's biggest bit of advice:

"comparison is the thief of joy. look long enough to get inspired, but not so long to feel less about your own efforts." 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Find Sarah: website | instagram | facebook 

Want more? 

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani 

EPISODE FIFTEEN:: Kylie Norton - Embroidery Artist - Exploring Intersectional Feminist Theory, Menstruation, and Indigenous Culture and Traditions

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The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

Kylie Norton is an embroidery artist from the south island of New Zealand, who presently lives in Melbourne. She makes large scale embroidery with wool yarns, one piece takes her 4 to 5 months to make. Kylie goes through an incredibly time intensive process of cutting up the yarn and re-raveling it together to get the colours she wants.  Taught by her mum to cross stitch with kits as a kid, she experimented with colour blending and learnt how to re-ravel yarns to get a more full colour palette to work with. 

Kylie found her way into large scale fibre art rather recently, after earning her masters in Art History and wondering how to apply some of what she'd learnt there to her art practice. She searched for a while and couldn't find anything like what she imagined, so she just figured she'd try it herself. A friend of hers with excellent taste wanted to buy it, so she decided to continue pursuing these large scale embroidery pieces. 

We speak about how she uses her art history background in her fibre art - specifically indigenous culture and women and menstruation. Her work is about how different cultures celebrate (or do not celebrate) women's cycles and she's continuing to explore themes around this intersectional space Growing up in New Zealand, indigenous culture was celebrated and taught in school, and she found that it was very much a part of her life. We compare and contrast Australia, the US, and Canada and how these communities have emphasised or de-emphasised Indigenous culture and knowledge.

Kylie has loved how the fibre arts community has been inclusive and open to her and we chat about her inspiration in the community. 

Kylie's Biggest Bit of Advice

"don't ever doubt your own skill...[and] don't let anyone belitte you...if it's a serious art form for you, then let it be. Give it a go and see what happens - the worst is it doesn't work out, which is not a big deal" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

  • Louise Jones - draws illustrations and stitches onto paper and stitches directly onto high fashion magazines 
  • Suzanna Scott  - fibre artist creating vaginas and vulvas out of fabric. 
  • Danielle Clough - embroidery artist using interesting objects to stitch onto 
  • Australian Tapestry Workshop - massive group collaborative weaving projects 
  • Craft Victoria - excellent resource for VIC based crafts people. 

Find Kylie: instagram 

Want more? 

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani