Fay Skyring OAM Textile Works Gallery
The Fay Skyring Gallery hosts exhibitions throughout the year, displaying the work of our talented members. Exhibitions include our annual members' exhibition: "Warped and Twisted"; a yearly collaborative exhibition inspired by the themes set by the Design Canberra Festival ; and solo exhibitions highlighting artists and recent art graduates who are awarded a CSW membership through the ANU School of Art & Design Emerging Artist Support Scheme.
Our gallery is named in honour of CSW Life Member: Fay Skyring OAM, a talented and inspiring weaver/teacher who helped shape Canberra Spinners and Weavers Inc. You can learn more about Fay on our Vale page.
Our gallery space (bookings subject to availability and to gallery policy) has quality hanging tracks with clear cables, and a variety of plinths. Contact: csw.gallery@gmail.com
Possum Magic exhibition - 13 to 27 August 2024
This exhibition features the work of CSW members and their friends using cones of possum/merino yarn from a knitwear company in Melbourne that went out of business. The cones were originally destined for landfill but instead the company looked for a charity to donate them to. They chose the Bega CWA who were raising funds for the Bega Hospital. CSW member Liz Jarvis came across some of the cones in a gallery in Goulburn, and ended up travelling to Bega to collect more than 200 of them. They were offered for sale to CSW and the Capital Region Knitters Group. The idea of holding an exhibition showcasing the originality and diversity of members’ skills was floated, and ‘Possum Magic’ was born.
Warped and Twisted - May 2024
Our annual exhibition of member's work.
2023 Fay Skyring Scholarship Exhibition: Alison Cone and Elizabeth Croft, 16 March to 8 April 2024
The Fay Skyring Scholarship was established to honour the legacy of Fay Skyring OAM. In her long working life Fay was a weaver, an artist, teacher and mentor to many.
This one year scholarship aims to promote textile arts by offering the recipient access to CSW workshops, culminating in an exhibition at the Fay Skyring- Canberra Textiles Works Gallery. The scholarship gives the recipients an opportunity to further research and develop their textile design practice.
The inaugural scholarship was offered to two recipients who were offered two CSW workshops each at no cost (materials and equipment use included).
Presentation by Elizabeth Croft
CSW Members' winning pieces at the 2024 Royal Canberra Show, 28 February to 13 March
Empathy for Lumpy by Lillian Dorman, 26 Jan to 27 Feb 2024
Artist Statement: "These bodily forms have come from exploring textiles and the symbolic place they have as a ‘second skin’. The texture, form and dye have been specifically used to create tension between seeing the object and touching it.
I encourage people to touch and examine these 'lumpies' and through doing so, find a way to connect and empathise with their own bodies.
I work primarily with textiles, using my hands and body to feel what I am creating as much as I see it. I often use themes of the body and skin in my works, especially to create connection between self and others."
Transformation with a Twist and a Turn, 10 to 12 November 2023
Contemporary textile works created by CSW members. Each piece is the result of collaboration between at least two people. Artists exchanged partly-made textiles to be transformed into a new work: some whimsical, some with conceptual intent, others for practical use.
All work was donated to raise money for Canberra Spinners & Weavers.
Metamorphosis - Georgia Chalmers (EASS Awardee), 3 to 23 October 2023
The main body of work in this exhibition tells the story of trauma; chronic illness and healing, by referencing the metamorphosis of the butterfly. “Just a Visitor” addresses the notion of country and belonging.
From Fibre to Loom - Kathleen Phillips, 29 August to 29 September 2023
For more than 35 years, Kathleen Phillips has applied her knowledge of fibre, yarns and weave structures to create a wide range of scarves, wearables, rugs, tableware, bags and decorative wall pieces. This exhibition tells the story of her journey.
Open skies - Moving out - July 2023
Textile Assemblages by Clementine Belle McIntosh
The artist uses circular and place-based art making techniques to produce a series of textile assemblages. Artist Clementine Belle McIntosh takes familiar outdoor canvas/textile objects (swags, awnings and tents) to consider her own relationship to rural “Australia” as a descendant of colonial/convict heritage.
Site-specific materials gathered as gifts from loved ones, waste and/or found objects constitute the textiles bodies, reflecting the artist’s lived rural experience. The process of dyeing, sewing and collecting cloth, became a meditative exercise as McIntosh considered her associations to each item and its stored histories.
The exhibition draws closely from a recent camping trip taken by the artist to outback NSW and Victoria. During this time, interactions with the non-human environment were influenced by a swag, awning and tent. These objects acted as a porous skin, protecting and bridging the artist to familiar and unfamiliar places.
Warped and Twisted - May 2023
Our annual exhibition of members work.
Communing with Compost' and 'Dumpster Dining' by Eilis Fitt - April 2022
Exhibition of work by Emerging Artist Support Scheme (EASS) awardee Eilis Fitt
Transformation with a Twist - November 2022
Members exchanged unfinished or 'failed' projects, or unwanted supplies, to be repurposed and given a new lease on life.
Message Strips by Pam McDougall - October 2022
Artist statement: The theme of this exhibition is ‘communication’ in some of its forms - spoken, written, in code, signalled or signed to mention a few. The works exhibited have evolved over some considerable period of time and touch many different periods of my life which have shaped my thinking.
Warped and Twisted - May 2022
Our annual exhibition and sale of member's work.