AN opportunity to be artists-in-residents during the Otherness of Light exhibition at Millicent Gallery has helped Bernadette Clifford and Kay McDonnell showcase their work to the public.
The exhibition officially closed at the weekend after a month-long run, which was extended by four days due to its popularity.
Selected to feature in the exhibition, both artists work with fabric with Bernadette favouring eco printing while Kay prefers felt and silk.
Bernadette said in-line with the Otherness of Light theme, she created fabric which reflected “dusk and dawn”, with the soft pastel colours being a change from the vivid work she usually produces.
“Eco printing is the practice of placing leaves and flowers on fabric and transferring the shapes and colours,” she said.
“Silk and wool are the most absorbent for this as they are protein fabrics.”
Bernadette creates her eco prints from placing leaves and flowers on the fabric before rolling it tightly and binding it with thread to help the transfer process.
The bundle is placed in hot water with rusty iron, bringing out the edges of the foliage, which ranges from geraniums to soursobs.
“I also do free machine embroidery – I do not sketch where the thread is going to go beforehand, I simply manipulate the fabric under the machine as I go,” Bernadette said, with the result being fine illustrations of insects, flowers and leaves.
The Japanese collage art of boro is also used in Bernadette’s art.
Kay’s work includes woven wraps made with felt with layers of silk, embellished with non-fabric textures.
The artist has also adorned objects such as wood and utensils with felt to transform them into turtles and moths.
“I based my art around light pollution,” she said.
“Turtles can get disorientated if they see anything other than moonlight when they’re born and insects can also become confused between day and night with excess light.”
As artists-in-residence, Kay and Bernadette found visitors were curious about their process.
“All of us (artists) have such a different energy and it’s affected how people see our work,” Bernadette said.
“It’s been great to show people how it (the art) is made and just how much work goes into it,” Kay said.
“And the response from Millicent has been excellent – so many of the locals have come through to see the exhibition.”
