Sunday, February 3, 2013

Nalda Searles Drifting In My Own Land was managed by ART ON THE MOVE and funded by Visions of Australia . It toured nationally to 18 venues between July 2009 and Febraury 2013.




the grass skull, a hollow form in an effort to understand the casing
 in which we live. grass stitched with linen thread. it is strong and resilient.




 a siphon or funnel stitched from grass and salvaged woollen blanket.
Its talking about the movement of energy, fire, life  moving from point to point a direction.

the balga blanket . i started this in 1995 and it was much sttiching. the xanthorrheoa bracts each have
7 stitches, this became a meditation. its about shelter , protection , camoflage of ones inner parts which are sensitive, its about how the land offers us comfort and a home.
the blanket was gifted to me, very used and double.








the stone coat, dorothy's wildflowers , they are like small stoney flowers,
poems hanging from the surface.
 the stones gathered and donated.  over years .
 it should be named the collectors coat. each stone has a natural hole in it. the original owner of this coat was deeply affected when he saw it.

tjunti . stones and a tennis ball  made when I was a camping in central australia 
i like it because it has become an inexplicable object.

the kangaroo couple in john curtin gallery . perth.
dresses, xanthorrheoa, silk, and rye grass.
they have a presence which is uncanny.
the installation team said that they could feel strange things at night in the room here.
singnage in Tamworth Gallery, i tried to salvage it
 but unfortunately it had gone to the tip .I was quite hurt.

there is grass , silk and snake bones , its like a dried out dam in a paddock, 
when I was 8 I almost drowned in a dam like this, they could have been my bones there, 
its a spiral before the plough cuts its diagonal furrows across the land, simple coiling with a strong thread and the lifeline of red silk.

hair basket is made from my own hair stitched with strong cotton. 
its a vessel ,  and feels like soft leather  ,
the hair took about 20 years to save.
i was offered a bag of hair by a hairdresser but i couldnt handle it.
this piece drew much attention in the galleries.
Its a human thing to react to human hair away from the head.

this is the reverse of the white kangaroo. the silk strings running down the back of the dress 
came from a small silk shirt I found. 
the whole shirt supplied enough textile for all the ties.
xanthorrheoa bracts are stitched onto a white dress 
 the kanga shoulders are made from rye grass.




this is the brown kanga dress when  i first put the bracts onto it in 1995. 
todd is wearing it at elach butting rocks near muckinbuden.
my mother made the original brown woollen dress for me in 1976.
I dont see this dress as an artwork.. it is more a fact of life . it is more than art or is it art and life combined.?




sweet desire,  a mans suit trousers circa 1947  (purchased in Kalgoorlie) with netting circa 1960 (purchased in Timbucktu) , its about a mans need to expereience the softness of the feminine. verticordia grandis flowers are stitched onto the netting.



courting cushions made for my parents 
who did not have the opportunity to court much. 
they were married not long before my father went off to war.
it is rye grass stitched with thread
and mixed with verticordia grandis. flowers from the sand plain country.



 this is a book of stories made from an old grey blanket. there are 32 pages in it and each one tells a story. here it is hair and banksia leaves on the first page.every other page is covered with xanthorrheoa bracts like music scripts.. it think it could be composed as music.










Botanica has been sleeping and dreaming, she has emerged from a watery hole, there is flotsam and jetson floating around her, 
she is from the bush but could be anywhere even in the bathtub or a bed.





this red blanket has a cotton mattress cover stitched on its other side. the marks are from a solar resist i accidentally did over 3 years. its xanthorrheoa bracts there are 7 vines of them snaking up the blanket. the seven sisters , its an old blanket , a red comforter.





grrrrr. is a small figure with a big presence,
 it is fearful looking and menacing, with its hackles up but it really is protecting itself and looking for a place of shelter.
the body and the head were found years apart
 and then the hackles were applied some time later again.


Here are the kanga couple looking so dignified.
alert and not fearful . they are like and egyptian couple commanding our attention.


inland boundaries detail. a gifted red dress stitch and mola
 onto plant and mud dyed canvas.






a hybrid stole for a wayward woman.
eucalyptus  leaves tied with silk threads cover a fur which is reversed
its a homage to female anmials. and intended to offer some comfort  to enjoy from the mallee trees.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The exhibition Nalda Searles Drifting In My Own Land  is a collection of textile works made to express certain aspects of life/art/history/culture that has long been of  focus in my practice.
Looking back at this point , having been to many venues and given floor talks I am slowly seeing deeper into it.
Having the opportunity to walk amongst the works and then even speak about them, which takes quite some courage, it is like I could just go on telling more and more of the story as it unravels.
Initially making use of many  clothes and blankets which i had reserved for some years seemed to be the driving force. Now I see that is was both that and a deep desire to speak of life in a symbolic manner.
Im now reading Freud, which is probably at the right time, these works could  not have been made with the same energy and need if I had been aware of what I was saying.

But that is the reason for all art. We don't make it to solve problems , we make it to create more.
What seemed like an open ended collection of rags and bones has sort of ordered itself into a narrative but still I am lost in its poetry.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Prefix

Prefix a textile exhibition showing in both Kobe Japan and Perth West Australia includes  my  "core sample terra australia" . It is a 30 metre length of hand plied plant dyed silk string piled into a perspex tube and sealed. The layers of the silk in earth colours do resemble a core sample when it is withdrawn from the earth .
It will be show at the WA museum until the new year.

Monday, May 9, 2011

The dollmaking group in Narrogin has become re established . The younger noongar women are making cloth dolls using recycled clothing.
Cecile W and myself have been running workshops there. we are all having fun and learning good things. this imager is while we were at Pingelly. April 2011.

1 page cv


NALDA MAY SEARLES
E: naldasearles1@bigpond.com
EDUCATION
1989 - 91 Fine Arts degree painting major (distinction). Curtin University of Technology, WA
1978 till present Self taught fibre textile basketry and stitch skills
1969 - 72 Psych nurse training Mental Health Services, WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012 Roads Cross Flinders University SA. and national tour.
2011 Nalda Searles Drifting in my own Land continues national tour until 2013
2010 13th Trienale of Tapestry Lodz Poland
The Stringmakers. Tjulyuru Art Centre Warburton Ranges and Holmes A Court Gallery WA?
2009 -13 Nalda Searles Drifting in My Own Land. National tour to 18 venues
2007 - 10 Recoil National touring exhibition. MAGNT
2006 - 08 Woven Forms National touring exhibition
2007 Canopy of Air Elllenbrook Gallery, WA
Mine own Executioner Mundaring Arts Centre, WA touring exhibition
2004 - 06 Seven Sisters: Fibres Arising from the West FORM, WA touring exhibition
2001 SOFA Chicago USA. Australian Craft Council
On Line artist in residence John Curtin Gallery with Pantjiti Mary Mclean
Folded Australian Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand
Home is Where the Heart is Art Museum University of South Australia, SA
1983 Basketry of Nalda Searles Cheese Factory, Balingup, WA
ENVIRONMENT COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
2000 East Kalgoorlie Primary School Mine painting project with Pantjiti Mary Mclean
East Kalgoorlie Primary School Mural with ngaatjatjarra language
with Pantjiti Mary Mclean
1998 Mullewa Community Park Design, WA
1997 Piney Lakes Sculpture Project Melville, WA
1997 O’Connor Primary School Design and Structure Project with Mary Mclean
( State Gov Award for excellence)
WORKSHOPS, RESIDENCIES, TEACHING, LECTURES
2010 Northern Queensland Indigenous communities Ghost Net Project
2009 Sustaining Yarns Speaker and workshop Museum of Australia ACT
2008 Creative Development Workshop, Hobart, TAS
Canning Stock Route project. Kunnawaritie Martu Milli Arts & Form
2007 South Project Soweto. Johannesburg, South Africa
Basket Makers of Victoria Design Development Workshop
Curtin University Visual Art Students Workshop. Fibre Textiles
Blackstone Festival. Tutor. Blackstone Community
Clever Hands FORM Port Hedland in association with Woven Forms exhibition. Tutor
Jigalong Community. Martumilli Arts. Punmu Community. Tutor
2006 Tafta at Geelong Tutor. Fibre Textile Workshop by 1 week. Tutor
Selling Yarns (Indigenous Fibre textiles) Charles Sturt University Darwin. Speaker
Woven Forms Workshop Leader. 100 women at FORM
Woven Forms Forum. Speaker
2005 Residency Blackstone Community. Fibre textiles. Tutor
Tatfta @ Brisbane, Tutor
Residency Parrngurr Community. Tutor
2004 South Project. Craft Victoria Speaker and Workshop
Residency Parnngurr Community. Tutor
Arts Event Blackstone Community. Tutor
Tjanpi Festival Warburton Ranges. Speaker and Tutor
Dwellings Onslow Primary School (with Wallace Greenham)
2003 Residency Punmu Community Western Desert. Tutor
Residency Carnarvon Community. Tutor
Publications
The Art of Mankind. Thames and Hudson Mary s. 2012
2009 Nalda Searles Drifitng in My Own Land, Publication. Catalogue for the exhibition Editor Andrew Nicholls
A Stitching Of Words DVD 28 minutes. For the exhibition Producer Dr G Skevos Karpathakis ECU.
2009 Surface Design USA .Writer Wendy Lugg.
2008 Recoil ArtBack NT. Edited Margie West
2007 Canopy of Air Catalogue essay Philippa O'Brien
ART TEXTILES of the WORLD Australia Vol 2. Telos. UK
Cultural Strands FORM Publication
2006 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial Catalogue
2005 Woven Forms Object Gallery, NSW. Catalogue
2004 Seven Sisters - Fibres Arising from the West Catalogue for the exhibition editor Andrew Nicholls.
2003 Tracking Cloth Wollongong City Gallery Catalogue
2002 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial Catalogue
2000 Essential Truths Readily to Hand Catalogue
1998 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial Catalogue
1997 Masters of Their Craft Noris Ionou
Recovering Catalogue for the exhibition.
Awards and Grants.
2009 Lifetime contribution to the arts. Perth WA. Inaugural Artsource Award
2006 New Work Grant. ArtsWA for preparation for Fellowship application
1998 Award for Excellence in Public Art, Government of Western Australia
1995 Mid career fellowship form WEST Australian Dept for the Arts.

CV. and contact


CURRICULUM VITAE
NALDA MAY SEARLES
b.1945 Kalgoorlie 
naldasearles1@bigpond.com

EDUCATION

1989 - 91 Fine Arts degree painting major (distinction). Curtin University of Technology, WA
1978- present Self taught fibre textiles.
1969 - 72 Psychiatric nurse training Mental Health Services, WA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2013 Fingers and Petals The Handmade Flower Show.
2012 Roads Cross Flinders University SA and national tour.
2010 - 2013 NALDA SEARLES drifting in my own land . National touring
Beyond Garment. Museum of Western Australia
The Stringmakers Tjulyuru Arts Warburton Ranges. Holmes A Court Gallery Perth
13th International Tapestry Exhibition LODZ POLAND
Sacred Sanctum. Mundaring Art Centre
2009 -2013 NALDA SEARLES drifting in my own land. To 18 venues nationally.
2007 - 10 Recoil National touring. Art Back, NT.
2006 - 08 Woven Forms. National touring. Object, NSW.
2007 Canopy of Air Ellenbrook Gallery, WA
2006 17th Tamworth Biennial and national touring
2004 - 06 Seven Sisters: Fibres Arising from the West. FORM, WA State touring.
2002 - 04 Tracking Cloth. Wollongong City Art Gallery, Indonesia
2002 Coiled up. Adelaide Festival. Intertwine Project
2001 SOFA Chicago USA. Australian Craft Council
On Line with Pantjiti Mary Mclean artists in residence John Curtin Gallery
Folded. Australian Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand
Commitment. Fellows Exhibition FORM, WA
Home is Where the Heart is. Art Museum UNISA.
2000 Folded. Gallery Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Miniature Textiles. Art and Craft Museum, Itami, Japan
1999 X recent works. Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
Searles at the Bat Centre. Durban, South Africa
1997 recoverings. Moores Building, Fremantle. WA
1996 Language of the Land Learning Ngaanyatjarra. Kalla Yeedip, Midland, WA
1995 Longitudinal Project Minmya Kutjara. Pantjiti Mary Mclean and Nalda Searles. Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
1992 En Kai Paii process project. PICA, WA
1989 Sticks and Stones. Eileen Keys and Nalda Searles. Christensen Collection, state touring.
1988 Burnt Offerings. Searles, Keys Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
1987 Bush Picnic. Searles, Keys, Sounness, Barspuil. New Collectables, WA
1986 Strings From the Pilbara. Narek Galleries, Canberra, ACT
1985 Bush Meetings and Basketry. Craft Council of Western Australia, WA
1983 Basketry of Nalda Searles. Cheese Factory, Balingup, WA
CURATORIAL
2013 Fingers and Petals The Handmade Flower Show. Perth.
2010 Mine Own Executioner. Mundaring Art Centre
2002 - 05 Dr Pantjiti Mary Mclean Fellowship Retrospective Tandanya, SA
2001 Pantjiti Mary Mclean. On Line. John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology, WA
1999 Mustering, Go Along Now. Pantjiti Mary Mclean. Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
1998 Recent Paintings Pantjiti Mary Mclean Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Recent Paintings Pantjiti Mary Mclean Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Panjtiti Mary Mclean and Nalda Searles at Goldfields Arts Centre. Kalgoorlie, WA
1995. Pantjiti Mary Mclean Festival of Perth Artist. Fremantle Art Centre
1994 High Fibre Diet with John Kean Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
Warta Kutju Street Art Project Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, WA
Warta Kutju Street Art Project Border Art Workshops, San Diego, USA
Street Art Children’s Art with Philippa O'Brien, Kalla Yeedip Gallery, Midland, WA
1993 Hunting Grounds Pantjiti Mary Mclean Paintings with John Kean,
Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
1984 Grass Basketry of Marjorie Ridley Craft Council of Western Australia, WA
ENVIRONMENT COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
2000 East Kalgoorlie Primary School Mine painting project with Pantjiti Mary Mclean
East Kalgoorlie Primary School Mural using Ngaatjatjarra language
with Pantjiti Mary Mclean. Kalgoorlie WA.
1997 Piney Lakes Sculpture Project Melville, WA
O’Connor Primary School Design and Structure Project with Pantjiti Mary Mclean (Award for excellence). Kalgoorlie WA.
1995 Doomboom Kep with composer Kerry Fletcher. Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and Fremantle Festival Street Projection WA.
1994 - 95 Gnarogin Park, Site Artist Narrogin WA.
1994 Lake Monginup Reserve Esperance Project, Design team visual artist. Esperance WA.

WORKSHOPS, RESIDENCIES, TEACHING, LECTURES.

2010 Wongutha Birni Women . Wongutha Birni. Kalgoorlie.
Dollmaking revival Narrogin , Young Nyoongar warts
Ghost Net Project. Torres Strait Darnley Island
Amulet workshops Bunbury Regional Gallery.
Fibre Textile winter workshops. Moora Fine Arts Assoc.
2009 Selling Yarns Speaker and workshop faciltator. National Museum of Australia. ACT. Indigenous Craft Conference.
2008 Silk waste craft development project for impoverished women. Vikasana Mandya India.
Fibres West workshop Bunbury WA.
2008 -1987 Inclusive Edith Cowan University textile student bush camps, workshops, tutor, artist in residence. Regional WA.
Martumili artists, Kunnawarritji WA.
Creative development workshop, Hobart, TAS.
2007 South Project Soweto. Johannesburg, South Africa
Basket Makers of Victoria Design development workshop
Blackstone Festival. Tutor. Papulankutju Community WA.
Clever With Our Hands FORM Port Hedland WA. In association with Woven Forms exhibition. Tutor
Jigalong Community. Martumilli Arts. Punmu Community WA.
2006 Tafta at Geelong Tutor. Fibre Textile Workshops
Selling Yarns (Indigenous Fibre textiles) Charles Sturt University Darwin NT. Speaker
Woven Forms Workshop Leader. 100 women at FORM
Woven Forms Forum. Speaker
2005 Residency Papalangkutju Community WA.
Tatfta at Brisbane workshops. QLD
Artist residency Parrngur Martu Community WA.
2004 South Project. Craft Victoria Speaker and Workshop
Artist residency Parrngur Martu Community WA.
Arts Event Papalangkutju Blackstone Community WA.
Tjanpi Festival Warburton Ranges WA
.2003 Artist residency Punmu Martu Community WA.
Artist residency Carnarvon WA.
2002 Adelaide Festival Intertwine Project. Tutor
2001 TAFTA at Geelong workshops. VIC.
2000 Canberra School of Art residency in fibre textiles.ACT.
Wollongong University residency in fibre textiles. NSW.
1999 Lectures Pretoria Tecknikon, Durban Art Gallery, South Africa
Artist in residence, Bat Centre, Durban, South Africa
1998 - 99 TAFTA Fibre Textile Workshops, Mittagong. Tutor
1997 - 01 Inclusive Environment Art and Design Midland TAFE, Fibre Textiles/Painting
1996 Western Desert fibre workshops.
1994 Fibre Networks. High Fibre Diet. Fremantle Arts Centre, WA. Tutor
1994 - 98 Narrogin Aboriginal Corporation. Intermittent fibre textiles workshops.
(Narrogin Dolls Joyce Winsley and co)
1993 - 95 Hobart and Regional Tasmania fibre workshops and residency.
1991 - 93 Inclusive Warta Kutju Aboriginal Corporation street art project. Healthway, Kalgoorlie, WA

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of  Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Ararat Regional Gallery
Museum of Craft Itami Japan.
Textile Museum Lodz Poland
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory
Janet Holmes A Court
Kerry Stokes
John Curtin University .
Edith Cowan University .
Murdoch Unversity .
Wollongong City Art Gallery
Central Tafe Perth.
In collections in collaboration with Pantjiti Mary Mclean
AWARDS
2009 Lifetime membership Award WAFTA for contribution to Textile practice in WA>.
2009 Inauguaral award Artsource. Contribution to the Visual Arts in Western Australia.
2008 New Work Grant ArtsWA for further development of works. Essay fees.
2006 New Work Grant. ArtsWA for preparation for Fellowship application
1998 Award for Excellence in Public Art, Government of Western Australia
1997 Fellow Craft West
1995 Creative Development Fellowship ArtsWA
1991 Awards for outstanding graduating student Curtin University Visual Theory & Painting
1984 Creative Development Grant Australia Council For the Arts.

PUBLICATIONS

2912. The Art of Mankind: Textiles. MarySchoesser Thames and Hudson.
2010 Contained Cecile Williams ART MONTHLY. April ,
2009 NALDA SEARLES drifting in my own land. Catalogue.
2008 Recoil ArtBack NT. Edited Margie West
2007 Canopy of Air Catalogue essay Philippa O'Brien
ART TEXTILES of the WORLD Australia Vol 2. Telos. UK
Cultural Strands FORM Publication
2006 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial catalogue
2005 Woven Forms Object Gallery, NSW. catalogue
2004 Seven Sisters - Fibres Arising from the West catalogue
2003 Tracking Cloth Wollongong City Gallery catalogue
2002 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial catalogue
2000 Essential Truths Readily to Hand catalogue
1998 17thTamworth Fibre Textile Biennial catalogue
1997 Masters of Their Craft Noris Ionou
Periphery Magazine Issue 31 and 37
recovering catalogue 1995
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