PAMELA FARMER

- WINNER OF THE WOOL QUILT PRIZE

First time winner and textile artist extraordinaire! Read Carol Heath's insightful report on a little known but innovative artist of the future.

© Carol Heath

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #38 December 2000

'Expressions 2000: The Wool Quilt Prize' was held recently at the National Wool Museum, Geelong, Victoria. A joint project, run by the Museum in conjunction with Running Stitch and Ozquilt Network Inc., the exhibition attracted entries from prominent textile artists all over Australia. The $2000 acquisition prize sponsored by the National Wool Museum was awarded to 'Earth Blanket' made by relatively unknown Victorian artist, Pamela Farmer.

The work was inspired by the undergrowth litter which is walked over in the bush. It was constructed from an old woollen blanket, dyed with eucalyptus leaves, layered with merino and alpaca felting and stitched together by hand and machine using applique, quilting and embroidery techniques. Although not recognisable as a quilt, it fits the definition of the exhibition as "a stitched, layered textile, predominantly of wool".

The strength of the piece comes from the natural, subtle, earthy colours and from the extraordinary, intricate stitching which creates a blend of lowered and raised organic shapes over the surface of the work. Pamela uses her sewing machine to create undulations, raising and flattening surfaces which then create shapes. She says that when she is working in this manner, something takes over and is often surprised at what comes out. She feels she doesn't always have much control over it, seeing the work as it develops. Her unusual stitching technique is explained when Pamela reveals she originally trained as a printmaker. She uses her stitching lines as she would have originally scratched details and fine lines into copper.

As a young girl, Pamela planned a career in the scientific area as she had a fascination with wildlife, plants and insects and collected, drew and catalogued found objects which she displayed in the garden shed. However, her mathematical abilities were not strong and she felt she needed to change direction. She was fortunate to grow up in a household interested in the arts. The family home in Toorak (Melbourne) had been furnished by a commissioned contemporary cabinet maker called Krimper, whose work is included in the National Gallery collection, and the walls were hung with paintings by Drysdale, Roberts, Dale, Chagall and Renoir. Surrounded by stimulating art works and with an ability to draw, a visual arts course was the obvious choice.

Pamela enrolled in a course which emphasised printed textiles and printmaking and in her own words "spent more time shopping at Myers (department store) than attending lectures". She found the course too mechanical and limiting with no experimentation so when the chance came to leave and travel to England with her family, she took it. It was many years before Pamela would return to her art work. In the meantime, she established a business making leather belts at her father's tannery. She had returned to England, married and become a mother of three. Back in Australia she established a small specialist herb and perennial nursery, settled in a new relationship. In all this time her creativity was channelled into home, family and garden, but finally about seven years ago she returned to art studies, this time in a visual arts course at Frankston TAFE (Institute of Technical and Further Education), majoring in printmaking.

She found this course more to her liking with different subjects, visiting artists' lectures and trips to exhibitions. However, limited by the lack of printmaking equipment, she taught herself to use the sewing machine to "carve" and "etch" details into fabric surfaces instead of the metal she was used to. She had also at this stage, joined the Victorian Feltmakers and was becoming proficient in felting and natural dyeing techniques.

Felt is an important component in Pamela's work but she does not limit herself to one material or technique so that her work becomes rich and detailed. Although predominantly using wools and silks, Pamela sources her materials from anywhere and everywhere, including op shops (charity shops). Before starting a new creation, Pamela often spends days dyeing wools, fabrics and beads in an old electric copper in the backyard. She usually has many pieces of work in progress at the same time and may put aside one, unfinished, while she works on another. Some are never finished as a piece themselves but may be cut up and reused in another work. Pamela has come to realise that it is the expression of herself that is the important thing, not the finished project. Her work is very self expressive.

Pamela's pieces have won many prizes at wool shows and she has exhibited with the feltmakers at the former Meat Market Craft Centre. She also sells her work at the Art Shed at Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula. However, the Wool Quilt Prize is her first major textile award, and raises her profile to national level. Her focus for the future is to create a body of work to exhibit as a whole to show the different facets of her art. She would also like her work to be included in a contemporary mainstream art gallery.

Pamela is a person who believes that "things come to her". She doesn't have a problem gathering materials for her work. People often give her things she needs to use. She has no doubt that things she wants she will get somehow. Call it positive thinking, creative visualisation or karma but I think the same principles will work for her with the future recognition and exhibition of her work. May the force be with you, Pamela.

© Carol Heath 2000