Hey Maker! Event - Natural Dye Demonstration with Anne Leon.

 

Anne Leon will be doing a natural dye demonstration following our guest speaker Lamorna Cheeseman from Studio Naenna, Thailand. Join us at the Autumn Club in Murwillumbah, 7.00pm Thursday 11th April.

Time: 7.00 - 9.00pm
Where: The Autumn Club  
(next to Murwillumbah Library) 
 
Tickets: $18 - Bookings Essential
      BUY TICKETS ONLINE 

Anne is a print maker and textile artist living and working in Byron Bay. She has a wealth of experience and knowledge in natural plant dying. Something I love about Anne is her warmth and generosity in sharing her vast knowledge. We met a few years ago at her studio in the Byron Industrial Estate, she was so generous with her time explaining how to dye wool with onion skins and then gave me a container of mordant to take way with me. This is a woman passionate about the ancient art of plant dying and keen to share.

“After years of plant-dyeing, this still hasn’t lost its magic for me, because although you can determine some of the outcome, you can’t control it completely. The result always surprises and that’s the magic of it. We set the scene for the magic to happen and literally unfold. Leaves do different things at different times of the year, under different weather conditions and sometimes changes occur for no apparent reason at all. Each time we unwrap it feels like being given a gift, and that’s why we love doing it”

The diversity of Anne’s work, from watercolours to fabric design, reflects a rich artistic career, spanning over 30 years. Anne utilises a wide variety of techniques in her work, including screen- and block-printing, painting, dyeing, batik. She has exhibited extensively in solo and group shows, within Australia, and has work in International private collections. The quality and versatility of her work have earned her numerous large commissions, from Interior designers, Architects, Couturiers, to Corporations, domestic and international.

As plant-dyers have done through the ages, Anne begins by gathering leaves and flowers from her local environment. She then prepares silk and wool cloths using a variety of folding, wrapping, clamping and tying techniques, sometimes pieces of plant material are pressed between layers to give patterned effects. Her most recent collection combines modern technology and traditional techniques to create exquisite plant-dyed wools and silks that areavailable as fabric, or are made into beautiful garments, wraps, throws and scarves.

You can see some of Anne’s work in collaboration with potter Lucy Vanstone. The exhibition “Waders, Cluckers & Hooters” is at the Wheel of Life Gallery in Brunswick Heads, 21 fingal st, on now untill April 20th.