What is it?
We could start a neat little What am I? competition here, couldn't we?
Inside the mystery structure. Photo courtesy Botanic Gardens
A bird's eye view. Photo courtesy Botanic Gardens
Are you any closer to working out the conundrum?
If you've been to the Botanic Gardens recently and checked out the
Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden you will have seen this fabulous structure.
If you haven't visited, or, if you have no idea what it could be, here's the answer!
It's a shade/shelter structure, a storytelling dome in the
Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden and it's been woven in bamboo by members of
Basketry SA.
With over a hundred members in South Australia,
Basketry SA is a group of artists and craftspeople who have been getting together to make baskets and fibre sculptures for more than thirty years.
Standing tall
They make functional containers and sculptural pieces from plant materials, waste fibre from gardens and beaches, and man-made materials.
Their involvement in community arts projects includes the dome above and large garden structures at the Royal Adelaide Show.
Take a seat . . .
Basketry is an age-old craft, used in many cultures, past and present. Its more obvious utilitarian uses provide for carrying, catching and storing food, and building shelter.
Beth Wylie
It also appears in decorations for ceremonial rituals and offering to gods.
With increasing awareness of the importance of the well-being of our environments and the human race, there has been a resurgence in the appreciation of ancients crafts such as basketry, as a way to tread more lightly on the planet.
Basketry SA has inherited and embraced a rich legacy of basketry knowledge and techniques and enthusiastically works to keep the craft alive.
Currently,
Basketry SA members are preparing for the group's biennial exhibition.
Assemblage is a joint venture with the
Friends of Urrbrae House for the 2016 Adelaide Fringe.
It's an exhibition of contemporary basketry and fibre art which brings together many of the strands of experience, skill and creative energy of each member exhibiting. Natural and man-made materials are assembled and woven and, while still retaining their own physical identity, transform into unique and personal pieces.
Beth Wylie
The exhibition offers a taste of modern Australian basketry, including its relationship with indigenous Australians' weaving practices and its place in a sustainable world.
Fringe is not very far away put
Assemblage in your diary now!
It's showing 14 28 February at Urrbrae House, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus. (Enter off Fullarton Road, just south of Cross Road.)
The exhibition will be opened by assemblage artist and three-times
Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize award winner, Janine Mackintosh at 2pm on Sunday 14 February.
Assemblage is on show Monday Friday 11am 4pm and on weekends, 1pm 4pm.
Beth Wylie
If you're a member and would like to exhibit, remember that applications close at the end of January. If you'd like to become a member of
Basketry SA, visit the website at
https://sites.google.com/site/basketrysainc/home.
For enquiries about the exhibition, contact
Basketry SA via email at basketrysa@gmail.com, or on 0419 800 405.
