In 2015, 75 entries were received from 12 countries: United Kingdom, France, Latvia, Canada, Argentina, Hungary, Denmark, Mexico, India, United States, New Zealand and Australia.
New Zealand artist, Marilyn Rea-Menzies was announced as the winner of the 2015 Kate Derum award for small tapestries. Marilyn’s intriguing tapestry Doll was selected from a shortlist of 41 original works including Australian artists Chris Cochius and Cheryl Thornton, who both received high commendations from the judges.
The judges awarded the Irene Davies Emerging Artist award to Latvian artist, Agnese Ondzule for her work Get to know her.. The judges also highly commended New Zealand artist, Sue Weir for her work Amongst the folds.
The judges were excited to have the challenge in selecting a winner from the calibre of internationally acclaimed textile artists. In selecting Marilyn’s work as the winner, the judges were impressed by the tapestry’s profound visual impact and extraordinary technical artistry with an astonishing palette creating a tension between the precise and measured process of tapestry weaving and the immediacy of modern day digital imaging. “The doll is often associated with the safety and comfort of childhood, but the intense colour relationships in Marilyn's tapestry also provoke a sense of unease”, says Kirk.
Marilyn was thrilled to receive the award and said she became “hooked on tapestry" weaving in the eighties and describes a fascination with the ‘doll’ as a metaphor for humanity, creating many drawings and paintings which inspired this small tapestry, the first in a series portraying the human condition. Marilyn intends to use the $5,000 prize money to further develop and extend her art practice which was briefly interrupted following damage to her studio during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Kate Derum Award Finalists
Cos Ahmet, Janet Austin, Marie-Thumette Brichard, Chris Cochius, Cresside Collette, Rosemary Crosthwaite, Carmel D'Ambrosio, Ilona Demecs, Jilly Edwards, Jane Freear-Wyld, Murray Gibson, Tim Gresham, Birgitta Hallberg, Betty Hilton-Nash, Rachel Hine, Anne Jackson, Ruth H Jones, Dimity Kidston, Velga Lukaza, Lindsey Marshall, Louise Martin, Jo McDonald, Tea Okropiridze, Judit Pázmány, Liv Pedersen, Julia Rapinoe, Dr. Shubhankar Ray, Marilyn Rea-Menzies, Michael F Rohde, Liliana Rothschild, Krystyna Sadej, Christine Sawyer, Patricia Scholz, Jennifer Sharpe, Ann Shuttleworth, Rebecca Smith, Julie Taylor, Cheryl Thornton, Vladimira Filliion Wackenreuther, Emma Jo Webster, Rosemary Whitehead
Irene Davies Award Finalists
Nicole Breedon, John Brooks, Michelle Driver, Mariana Ortega, Joan Korn, Sue Lindton, Agnese Ondzule, Mala Sen, Ema Shin, Jukaterina Sohareva, Sue Weir, Ama Wertz
Judges
Professor Kay Lawrence AM, Former Head School, School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia, member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Tapestry Workshop and tapestry weaver
Dr Tony Preston, founding Director of Christchurch Gallery
Ms Valerie Kirk, Head of Textiles, Australian National University, Canberra and tapestry weaver
2015 Kate Derum Award Winner
Marilyn Rea-Menzies (New Zealand), Doll, 2015, tapestry, 26 x 25 cm
A doll is a model human being, mostly used
as a toy for children who play act experiences that ready them for their future lives. Dolls
are traditional in most cultures and are most probably the oldest known toy. They have been used as objects meant to be treasured and studied and also used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world. For me the ‘doll’
is a metaphor for humanity and I have played with this concept in many of my drawings
and paintings. For some people dolls can be quite sinister and full of threat. They can feel a sense of unease when there is an intellectual uncertainty about whether an object is alive or not. This small tapestry is the first in a series of doll portraits that attempt to portray the human condition.
2015 Irene Davies Award Winner
Agnese Ondzule (Latvia), Get to know her, 2015, tapestry, 21 x 29 cm
I didn’t get chance to meet one of my Grandmothers so I did it through my tapestry. I found my grandma’s embroidered table cover and chose to transform it and weave. When weaving I thought about my Granny, how she did so amazing job so carefully. It felt so full of love and warmth. I did get to know her through tapestry, her hard work, her love for embroidery and weaving. I did get to know her...
2015 Kate Derum Award – Highly Commended
Chris Cochius (Australia), Tea time/time for tea, 2015, warp: cotton, weft: wool, cotton, polyester, linen, tea bags, 27 x 12 cm
An overseas trip - wanting to record my trip somehow, beyond keeping a diary, I started
to collect the teabags from the cups of tea
that seemed to punctuate time spent with family. Significant moments of connection, contemplation and continuity. Time for reflection, ritual and regrouping. Daily I emptied and washed the tea bags, dried and packed them into an envelope and then back at home they sat on my desk, small rectangles of paper, waiting for inspiration, opportunity...
Later – when work overwhelms and real life seems desperately complicated a quiet little mantra begins in my head and slowly grows until it cannot be ignored.
It’s tea time – time for tea.
2015 Kate Derum Award – Highly Commended
Cheryl Thornton (Australia), A red square, 2014, cotton, linen and viscose, 19 x 16 cm
The colour red.
Red warp on a loom.
Having a warp on my loom provides a constant and continuity. Red warp is particularly enticing.
The red of this cotton warp has a softness about it, for me it is a good red, the right red, ...not too yellow, ...not too blue, ...it is a pink red.
The colour of the flesh of a summer tomato. The red of a quality leather wallet.
Weaving with a mix of various materials that behave differently when woven emphasises a more spontaneous surface. Linen, cotton and viscose.
The acceptance of the imperfections and irregularities of the handmade and looking more closely at the ‘perfections in the imperfection’ as a philosophy...wabi sabi.
Totally red.
Like immersing cloth into dye.
There is something sacred about red cloth. A red square.
2015 Irene Davies Award Highly Commended
Sue Weir (New Zealand), Amongst the folds, 2013, tapestry, 21 x 29 cm
For me as a child, great delight was had in finding a shell unblemished by the passage
of time. Now as an adult, I see the beauty in both objects and people where life’s journeys bestow a certain majesty that is attainable only by time. The design for this tapestry developed from a by chance observation of a shell nestled amongst the rich folds of a reversible velvet scarf. As I wove, the well-travelled shell’s beauty became even more apparent, drawing me deep within its journey.
