Creative Touch
They work in very different mediums, but tactility and the ‘feel’ factor are at the heart of the making process for these unique artists,
Three craftspeople who find joy in the tactile pleasures of their practice, and the lovely results.
THE TEXTILE ARTIST
Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. Melbourne-based weaver Tammy Kanat pours hers into her woven wall art.
“My work is very connected to my soul and my heart, and whatever I’m feeling and going through will impact on what I create,” says the mother of three.
No doubt it’s the emotional honesty embodied in her works that has contributed to her phenomenal success. Tammy has followers and commissions from Perth to Paris and Portugal, thanks to Instagram, and the accolades keep coming for her mesmerising, abstract weavings.
Large and textural, Tammy’s works are crafted from mixed yarns in a range of shapes, but her signature statements are circular and ovoid works resembling massive eyes or spiralling vortices.
“Some people say they look like slices of agate or desert rock,” says Tammy. “People see so many different things.” And what does Tammy herself make of them? “There’s a joy to them,” she says. “They’re organic and soft, and lift my spirits.”
A former jewellery designer, Tammy began weaving in 2011 when she was seeking a feature artwork for her home; she couldn’t find what she was looking for, so she made her own. Quickly hooked, she attended classes at Melbourne’s Australian Tapestry workshop. “Traditional tapestry is all about perfection. I took that knowledge and began playing with it. I made some mistakes, but I liked my mistakes.
I find the imperfections beautiful, and they give the work personality.”
Some of Tammy’s works feature bold, riotous swirls in jewel-like colours, others are in muted, earthy tones. “I love rainbow colours, but then there’s another part of me that is very connected to nature and loves earthy and natural tones,” she says.
Unifying all the pieces is Tammy’s deep love of fibre and fabric. She works with all types of wool (merino, alpaca and mohair, ultra fine and super chunky), linen, silk and even hessian. “I love yarn. I love the feeling of it and the way it twists and turns in my hands as I work with it,” she says. “Weaving centres me. It’s my form of meditation.”
Tammy’s latest venture is a collection of wool and silk rugs, her second collaboration with Cadrys, launched in June at the Denfair design show. tammykanat.com
THE CERAMICIST
From the first moment Ulrica Trulsson sat at a pottery wheel, her hands gloved in clay, she felt truly in her element. Eleven years on, the Swedishborn, Queensland-based ceramicist is still enchanted by the transformation of a humble ball of clay.
“It’s such an exciting process to feel the clay open up under my hands on the wheel,” she says. “I feel so connected to the material. I really love watching it take shape, seeing how each piece has its own character. It’s enthralling.”
Ulrica arrived in Melbourne in 2007 with her Australian partner Andy, after they met overseas. She enrolled in a ceramics course as a creative outlet while working in hospitality, and the more she explored her love of clay, the more she felt she’d found her calling. She completed a diploma in ceramics at TAFE before moving to Adelaide to undertake an associate training program at the acclaimed JamFactory craft and design centre. She now lives in Brisbane and works full-time in her home studio.
Ulrica makes contemporary homewares from stoneware, a dense clay she favours for its earthy tones and textural qualities. Her pieces are utilitarian – cups, bowls, vases, canisters and jugs – but they’re crafted with such pared-back simplicity that they are more akin to exquisite sculptures. Driven by the desire to “reimagine and explore everyday objects”, she elongates and refines her shapes to create forms that are minimalistic and enigmatic. They manage to look Mid-century modern while also evoking timeless archaeological finds.
“I think about the archetypal shape of a bowl or cup, then I play with scale and proportions,” says Ulrica. “I push and pull the shapes, giving them a little twist.”
Her muted and earthy colour palette is informed by details in the natural world, she says, and it’s possible to see striations of rock, swirls of water or patterned sand in the subtle surface treatments of her works.
“It’s really interesting to work with different surfaces, from dry and rough to satin-smooth and everything in between,” she says. “I find every texture exciting because people connect with it in different ways. Things like cups require a smooth surface, but if it’s a decorative item I can be bolder with the texture.”
Her objects are conceived as utilitarian objects, so tactility and functionality are of utmost importance to Ulrica, who muses on each object’s journey from production to use. “As a maker, I touch and handle the object all the way through the making process, always mindful of how someone else will handle the finished product,” she says. “I love it when someone says to me, ‘I drink from your cups every day.’ That is a wonderful thing.” ulricatrulsson.com > Ulrica’s work appears in Clay Intersections, a group touring exhibition, on show in Canberra (until July 27), then Coffs Harbour and Tamworth, NSW. For more, go to australiandesigncentre.com.
‘As a maker, I touch and handle the object all the way through the making process, always mindful of how someone else will handle the finished product.’ Ulrica Trulsson
THE BASKET WEAVER
Ronnie Jordan loves the soothing rhythm of bending and twisting reeds and grasses to form woven baskets. But weaving is much more than a relaxing activity for this Aboriginal woman. It is a lifeblood that connects her to her past and helps keep her people’s stories alive.
Ronnie (short for Veronica) is a Kalkadoon woman from Mount Isa in Queensland, who now lives near Canberra, in Ngunawhal country. She was taken away from her mother at the age of two and didn’t meet her again until she was 13, at which point Ronnie discovered a large family she had never known, and a wealth of cultural knowledge she’d never learned. It set her on a long pathway to connect with her heritage.
A horticulturist by training, Ronnie was working as a cultural ranger at ACT Parks & Conservation Service when she went to an indigenous women’s conference. There, she attended a traditional weaving workshop. Immediately, she felt all the threads of her life – her love of plants and working with her hands, her connection to country and her passion for cultural learning – all come together. “I’d had the connection with the plants for so long, but hadn’t known how intrinsic they are to our cultural identity.”
Ronnie became a passionate weaver and spent time with cultural elders to hone her craft, gaining proficiency and knowledge to the point where she was given permission to teach. Under the business name Culture On The Move, she now teaches traditional coil basket-weaving, twining and painting to school groups, government employees and cultural organisations.
Ronnie uses a mix of native grasses ( Lomandra and Dianella) and water reeds such as cumbungi and juncus for her woven products. She collects the materials herself, and most weekends can be found scouring the countryside, on friends’ farms or along local rivers, collecting these strappy plants by the armfuls. There is a process to preparing the plants. First, every leaf has to be stripped, then the materials are dried
‘Teaching the cultural techniques of coil weaving ensures that this traditional skill will continue for generations to come.’ Ronnie Jordan
and aerated for three to four weeks, before being soaked thoroughly. “By the time you have a finished product, it can take eight to 10 weeks, to do it the culturally right way.”
Radiating warmth and energy, Ronnie is full of encouraging words for participants in her workshops. She handles her materials with tenderness and respect, and imparts this attitude to her students. Weaving, she believes, has the power to heal.
“I’ve been teaching elders from the stolen generation, and through weaving they’re reconnecting with their culture. Weaving is very good for healing because it’s calming. We sit in a circle – we’re all equal, there’s no head of the table – and it helps them to open up. It’s a very powerful thing.”
Non-indigenous people love Ronnie’s workshops, too. In fact, after three hours in her presence, often no one wants to leave the room. “After a workshop, people often say they feel high on life and energy. That’s because weaving is so good for healing.” # cultureonthemove@gmail.com