tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1764260211336629812024-02-08T12:31:43.556-08:00SUSAN FELL MCLEANhttp://web.me.com/gondwana_textilesSusan Fell Mclean Australian Contemporary Textile Artist and Sculptorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15692294960939220468noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-176426021133662981.post-82991117494413184262009-10-22T18:27:00.000-07:002010-06-01T17:11:31.159-07:00Six Memos - Shepparton Art Gallery<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; font-family:Arial;">An exhibition of textile sculpture installations by </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Susan Fell Mclean</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; white-space: pre; font-family:'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oct 3-Nov 15 2009 Curator Jo Ely</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">‘Six Memos’</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is an exciting new exhibition by internationally recognised textile artist Susan Fell Mclean.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In this new body of work, Mclean</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">challenges the traditional ways in which textile art is perceived and represented. Six large-scale installations inhabit the gallery space, repositioning textile as an extension of sculpture and contemporary critical concerns.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The exhibition is</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> not focussed on technique alone. Mclean has taken inspiration from the writings of literary great, Italo Calvino. In </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">his seminal text, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Six Memos for the Next Millennium</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, Calvino identified six key values that elevate us beyond the human condition, reiterating them as a set of principles to guide us into the twentieth century and beyond.</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Mclean interprets and </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">responds to these values – Visibility, Exactitude, Lightness, Quickness, Multiplicity and Consistency – as they relate to contemporary society.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Each of the values is explained as a balance between the meaning of the value and its antithesis. For instance, we cannot understand lightness without comprehending heaviness. We cannot comprehend quickness without having experienced slowness and deliberation. To understand exactitude we need to experience chaos and disorder. And so on.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The resultant artworks </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">transgress the boundaries of textile art, combining very traditional textile dying and making techniques with contemporary sculptural concerns and notions of sustainable living.</span></span></p> <p class="NoSpacing"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK1"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Based in Euroa, in Northern Victoria, Mclean extracts many of her dyes from Australian</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK1"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> eucalyptus leaves, producing the soft and subtle colours which characterise her work. These organic and muted hues, together with delicate Japanese Rozome and Shibori techniques, create layered and textural artworks evocative of the arid Australian landscape.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="NoSpacing"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK1"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is an exhibition of exceptional and visionary artworks.</span></span></span></span></p> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Susan Fell Mclean has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions nationally, as well as in Belgium, Canada, France, Italy and Malaysia. In 2008 she was invited to exhibit textile work in the Parisienne exhibitions, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">‘Australia Naturally’</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">‘Sculptured Packages’, </span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and had a short film screened at the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Musee du Quai Branly</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She holds a Master of Visual Arts from Monash University. Whilst studying, she was awarded a highly sought-after studio position at the Palazzo Vaj, Prato,Tuscany, Italy. She regularly attends international conferences as a speaker and exhibitor. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wall text by Curator Jo Ely</span></span></span><!--EndFragment-->Susan Fell Mclean Australian Contemporary Textile Artist and Sculptorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15692294960939220468noreply@blogger.com0