All about colour

| Bendigo Weekly | 15-Apr-2011 11.01

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“We threaded a needle and...”, the 20th anniversary retrospective exhibition of the Bendigo Branch of the Victorian Embroiderers Guild, will be at the California Gully Mechanics Institute on School Street, on April 22, 23 and 24.
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From soft sculpture to crazy patchwork, the many types of embroidery skills will be on glorious show this month, when the Bendigo branch of the Embroiderers Guild celebrates its 20th birthday.
“We’re breaking with the tradition of having a biennial show,” guild member Maggie Antram said.
“This is a retrospective of 20 years work, to show there is no limit to what you can do with embroidery.”
Ms Antram said contemporary embroidery is influenced by textile art, although the exquisitely fine work of many of the Bendigo club’s 120 members is also evidence of the handing down of age-old skills.
“We meet on the first Sunday of the month at the Marong Shire Hall, and for new members, we say come along and have a try, to see if it suits.
“We’d love to see more kids coming along for us to teach,” she said.
Ms Antram, a retired antique dealer, said that for her embroidery is “all about colour”.
“It’s a passion,” she said.
“For us, we look at trees and flowers and see stitches.”
The birthday exhibition will feature work by the first Bendigo president, Dorothy Addlem, as well as long-time member Betty Luke, whose soft sculptures of tiny rabbits are a highlight.
On show there will also be delicate embroidered butterflies, finely stitched Mount Mellick work (white on white) and examples of gold work and beading.
“Once a work is done (and it can take many many hours), we’re happy to pass them on to people,” Ms Antram said.
“It’s the process of creating it that is so absorbing.”
b.Entertained

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