Site Lines Meets Textiles

Feeling like some hand-stitched prospective drawings this month? Feeling like some Dandenong time? Then head to Walker Street Art Gallery’s currrent exhibition, Site Lines.

Featuring 56 works from RMIT Architecture students, this student-curated exhibition features line drawings and hand-stitched perforated plastic in three-dimensional form.

RMIT honours graduate, Michelle Hamer, guided the students’ creative process over a three-year period.

“My students wanted to mix tapestries with architecture,” she said.

It wasn’t all straight forward though, as some students had never stitched before.

A challenge well met by the cohort, who showed off their handiwork to family and friends at the launch.

“Combining work from four separate tutorials was also a challenge,” Ms Hamer said.

A small group of pupils make up the exhibition space, with their works sitting on a 16.5-metre photographic backdrop from Wai Keat Cheong.

For some third-year architecture students, like Rhys McFarlane, this is the first time their work has shown off campus.

“It’s exciting to have our work on display in the heart of Dandenong,” Mr McFarlane said.

It was inspiring to see how the students worked with the unique exhibition space, even incorporating a door into the backdrop.

Though quaint, the works are well proportioned and easy to admire.

The exhibition sits adjacent to award-winning artist, Michele Elliot’s installation, Whitewash. 

Designed in response to issues surrounding border control and asylum seekers, this piece is a fascinating collection of fabrics taking up an entire wall.

These exhibits form part of Dandenong Council’s Cultural Threads art festival, a “celebration of art, textiles and cultural diversity”.

Site Lines is open until August 30 at the Walker Street Gallery & Arts Centre.
Find more details, here.

By Aeden Ratcliffe 

@AedenRatcliffe

Images by Rhys McFarlane

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