Seven extremely talented and respected Australian aborigines, belonging to the indigenous Wiradjuri group, have recently attended an innovative custom-made textile training workshop in Melbourne.
Held at the Kangan Institute’s Textile and Fashion Hub in Richmond, the programme taught the participants to transfer their artistic skills from canvas to wearable cloth with the help of cutting edge digital equipment and technical expertise.
Other than being mentored by the young Australian indigenous designer and creator of Gaawaa Miyay label, Lucy Simpson, the participating artists also received screen print training from the leading print and production studio New Model Beauty Queen (NMBQ), as part of the workshop.
The aboriginal participants of the three-day-long intensive programme were—painter, illustrator and designer Gail Naiden, artist Kath Withers, art teacher Nyree Reynolds, sculptor Graham Toomey, painter Mirree Louise Bayliss, traditional weaver Beverley Coe and seamstress and jewellery-maker Dawn Johnson.
Jointly organized by the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation (WCC) and Kangan Institute, the workshop is seen as a preliminary step to WCC’s far-sighted goal to establish an indigenous textile and fashion business, which would provide training and employment opportunities to the Wiradjuri community, residing across the central western New South Wales.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=146745
