http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php Copyright 2013, Marilyn Rae-Menzies Marilyn Rae-Menzies en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130522-082411
The boatsheds will be woven in the section on the right and are very detailed so these will take a lot longer to weave.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130522-082411 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 21 May 2013 20:24:11 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130421-101909


I made small card looms out of foam card and put warps on them for the kids to make their own small tapestries. Here is a photo of Brennan and Cairenn weaving them.



Progress on Barbara's tapestry. I have started weaving the middle section and this part should go a little faster as it is mostly weaving over and under two threads. Lots of colour changes but it is develooping well.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130421-101909 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sat, 20 Apr 2013 22:19:09 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130419-092915
]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130419-092915 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:29:15 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130416-195219


And here it is up on the wall with all the finishings completed and packing materials underneath - empty walls in the hallway.....



The furniture truck came about a week later and my friend Biddy and i were away on our road trip heading towards Hokitika, Westport, Picton, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and finally Hamilton where we arrived safely after having a lovely trip. Since then I have been living with Krista and her family and have my loom set up in a wee area in her home.



I finished the small tapestry which Betty Pears asked me to weave for her. You can see it on the frame in this photo. It was a portrait of her husband's great aunt and was designed by Betty who has been a very good tapestry weaver but is not weaving any more.



And then it was back working again on Barbara Allen's tapestry of Duvauchelles. This work had gone on hold while I was finishing the portrait tapestry and it was rather a good feeling to be back working on this one. The fine section depicting the Onewe Peninsula took me almost three weeks to weave. The sett of this section of the tapestry is 12epi and quite detailed, but I am pleased with how it is looking.



And now I am ready to start work on the middle section of this tapestry. The design is broken up into a triptych with the overlappig panels.







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130416-195219 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:52:19 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130128-101021
This first image shows the beginning of the work. The cartoon shows Maureen's face well. The rest of the cartoon is rolled around the baton at the top.



Maureen's face is developing well.



The face is pretty much finished and I have been working on the flowers on her dress. The dress was so complex that it took a long time to weave - lots of small shapes and many colour changes, but I love weaving detail like that.



Tony's hand is finished and I am almost ready to start weaving his face. This was a challenge as I really wanted to capture the wicked look in his eye which was a characteristic of his mischievous personality.



Hoorah! I think I have achieved what I set out to do! I started weaving his face just after the new year.



Tony's tie took a lot of weaving - five days altogether. I thought it was never going to get finished.



And this is where I am up to now. I introduced the bright green background the other day and am pleased with how it lifts the wole work. The finish line can be seen in this photograph so still quite a bit to weave.



]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130128-101021 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:10:21 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130106-083637
Anyhow, here are some photos of the last couple of weeks. Christmas Day with family at my little sister Veronica's place. My grandaughter Jenna who will be presenting me with my first great grandchild in March came down from Hamilton with her partner Brent to share our Christmas day. This photo shows Jenna with her cousin Callum. Callum is Veronica's eldest boy.



And here is our Mum on Christmas Day. She hadher 88th birthday yesterday, 4th January.



Boxing Day morning and I was travelling to Westport with my brother Tony Rea. A very early start and here is a lovely pink cloud over North Canterbury, just past Culverden at about 5.30am



And driving through the Rahu Saddle - lovely beech forest in the rain.



My sister Yvonne and I went for a lovely walk along the cliffs from Cape Foulwind to Tauranga Bay. I took heaps of photos of course, and Bruce, Yvonne's husband took the car to the Bay so we didn't have to walk all the way back.



A superb walk with beautiful vistas everywhere we looked.



Bidibids!



And now I am home again and back at work. The tapestry is going well. I am now finished Maureen completely and have started work on Tony's face - hoping to catch that cheeky look. My brother Joe took this photo.


]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry130106-083637 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sat, 05 Jan 2013 19:36:37 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121206-115033


Here is Maxine with the painting that provided the title for the exhibiton. The inspiration for this work has been the loss of her studio in the Arts Centre of Christchurch after 14 years working there, and since then Maxine has had to reassess the way she can go about her artistic life - the ups and downs of the past two years since the earthquake have challenged her to produce the work for this exhibition.





]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121206-115033 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:50:33 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121206-112442


Me with Janet and Garry.



With Peter



And with Garry. It was Garry's birthday on the day they returned so we celebrated with a tiny birthday cake.]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121206-112442 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:24:42 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121106-100021


And here are Kay and I with two of her works which has just gone up on the wall.



Last evening we had the opening and a lot of people attended. Three of Kay's paintings were sold. This photo shows the table all set up just before the first guests arrived.







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121106-100021 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:00:21 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121009-090857


The photo below shows how the tapestry is looking this morning.



I am really enjoying weaving this tapestry. It is very fine, 11epi with the 12/6 Cotton warp. There is so much detail in the work that it needed to be fine. The finished size will be 105 x 95cm.

I usually work one week on the portrait tapestry and one week on the landscape tapestry which is the one below. This tapestry has been commissioned by Barbara Allen and shows the view from her home at Duvauchelles on Banks Peninsula. Barbara will be moving from there sometime soon and wanted a tapestry that would remind her of her time living in such a lovely place. She also wanted me to weave some of the things that she was very fond of such as the pohutakawa flower, the Boatsheds, etc. I decided to include these as inserts into the main landscape. The tapestry is warped at 12 epi and I am weaving the inserts at 12 and the main landscape over two threads giving a sett of 6 in this area. That enables me to weave the finer detail in the inserts. I have noticed also that 6epi I am capturing the essence of the place. Both tapestries are being woven on their sides and as they are such different designs it does take me a wee while to get back into the flow of each one once I start to weave. So week about is a good way to go.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry121009-090857 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:08:57 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120716-072741

Speech time! Wilson explaining his love of weave structures. Brent Firken the Gallery Director at left.


Talking with Judy Rodgers.


Wilson with Ria van Lith and Valerie Osborn, both wonderful fabric weavers.


A view of my triptych painting looking through Wilson's scarves







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120716-072741 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:27:41 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120703-135655
The exhibitions explores the connections between the two mediums - fibre and paint - creating works that at first glance may seem to have little or no connection. With deeper scrutiny though, the parallels between the two become more obvious.

Paint needs to have structural support of some sort be it a wall, wood, paper or canvas. I chose canvas as the support for these paintings and worked in acrylics. Canvas is a textile, created through warp and weft using either cotton or linen - a fibre. I treated theses paintings as textiles, letting them hang free in their own space on the wall. Cutting into the canvas created new structures forming within the paintins. By using the canvas itself as warp and weaving strips of painted canvas in as weft, three dimensional elements were introduced. The imagery in the paintings was inspired by the structural elements of Wilson's textiles. By taking the woven structures out of their normal small scale and enlarging them hugelhy, new structures and abstractions were formed, thereby creating images with power and presence.

Wilson's weaviang shows a journey about weave structure and colour. Black and white particularly highlights structure and the contrast shows the interaction between line and form. the interaction of colour is evidlent in manhy of Wilson's hangings. When they move, and when viewed from different angles, the colour can change to give a different perspective.

THE HANGING



The back wall was the perfect spot to hang this 14metre fabric length and doesn't it look stunning with the orange length in front. Wilson and George had to run wires across the gallery from wall to wall, above the lighting system, so here they are, ready to start putting in the first hooks for the wires.



I'm up on top of the ladder - birds eye view of Wil and George down below.



And here I am, still on the ladder, hanging the scarves.



Don't they look good. Note my paintings on tg=he floor - still to go up on the wall.



Sill on the ladder! This time making sure the painting is straight.



The painting 'Synthesis 7" seen through the hanging scarves.



The triptych 'Synthesis 4" also seen through the scarves. We had a lot of fun putting this exhibition up. It took us all day, but was worth it. Next Sunday 8th July is the official opening of the exhibition. If there is anyone reading this who hasn't received an invitation and lives in the Canterbury area, do feel free to come to the opening. We will look forward to seeing you there.





]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120703-135655 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:56:55 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120627-081948


Here she is at the end of her third day weaving the sampler which teaches many of the basic tapestry techniques.



On her fourth day here, Ngaire started to work on her first small tapestry which featured a gum tree from one of her own photographs. We scanned the photograph and cropped it on Photoshop. Ngaire then added more colour into the image with oil pastels. She drew the cartoon, warped up the frame and commenced weaaving, learning to mix and blend colours, figuring out the changing sheds as the weaving developed. This is always a challenge for a new weaver as the sheds can change with the taking out and adding in of new weft yarns as the colour needs change. Ngaire is also learning how to build up shapes as well as colours.



A close-up view of the prgress of the tapestry. Ngaire has added in small inlays of orange/pinks into the background.



A lovely happy photo showing further progress and development of the tree trunk. Note how the tapestry is being woven on its side. This is because it is much easier to weave vertical shapes across the warp rather than up the warp.



The work bench showing the range of yarns used in the tapestry.
]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120627-081948 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:19:48 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120620-200015


Here I am - up the ladder - with Stephenie helping from down below and my ex husband Dave Menzies watching on.



Stephenie and I sitting in front of her tapestries after the hanging was completed. Steohenie's work is very contemporary, and strong in concept and colour.



This photograph shows the wonderful tapestries woven by Elizabeth Arnold. Elizabeth's pieces tell the story of the Burgess Gang who were bushrangers back in the 1860's, holding up coaches in the Nelson area. They were vinally captured, faced a trial and three of them were hanged for their crimes.




Trish Armour's tapestries on the back wall are part of her series "Windows of the Soul". They are based loosely on the myth of Psyche, using contemporary imagery. Skymbolish and human emotions are revealed through a collage of scenes overlapping each other as if they are pasted on a billboard and being torn away. The moth represents the soul. Three of these tapestries were exhibited earlier this year in New York.

My tapestry 'Lace 2' is in the foreground on the left wall and features a portrait of my youngest daughter Elissa. The magnolia tree just coming into bloom was a metaphor for her life at the time of designing the tapestry.



The only new works on my wall were the tapestry based on native New Zealand plants. Because of my committment to weaving the Government House Tapestry Screen, I had been unable to weave very much new work, so most of the tapestries on display in this exhibition showed a variety of the tapestries that had been wovlen over the last few years.
]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120620-200015 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:00:15 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120612-142425

This photo shows the front of the house with my sign on the fence.



Here is the studio with work in progress.



A view of the Hallway Gallery with some of my work on show at the moment.



The guest room for students and for Home Stay guests. You can contact me by e-mail marilyn@tapestry.co.nz if you are interested in coming to stay as a student or a Home Stay guest. You can also make contact through this blog.

I also have one room to let. It is a large unfurnished, sunny room with its own access to the front deck. It would be very suitable for a person who would like to run a small business from there e.g. a graphic artist would fit very well into this house. It would also be suitable for a flatmate to live in. I am looking for a professional person who has a job and an empathy for the arts, to share this house with me.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120612-142425 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:24:25 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120611-141437



I have finally opened up my blog page and realise that my last entry was way back in January. I guess I have some small excuse as since then I have shifted house, set up my new studio and Hallway Gallery and contracted shingles which is only now starting to get better, worked towards an exhibition of tapestry in Blenheim in April..............and heaps else! I have just stopped working on my last painting for the exhibition which my friend Wilson Henderson and I are doing at Arts in Oxford in July. Over the last few weeks I have been working on a series of large paintings all around 2 metres by 1 metre in size for this exhibition. I have been photographing Wilson's weave structures in his work and taking them way out of scale and then painting from them. I am quite pleased with the results. I knew I would not have time to weave tapestries for this exhibition and so decided I would paint instead. I am using the canvas as a textile though, cutting into some of the works and weaving into them with strips of painted canvas. So new work for me. Altogether I needed 8 paintings and have just started the last one a few days ago. The two photos show close-up details of two of the paintings.
]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120611-141437 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Mon, 11 Jun 2012 02:14:37 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120101-222723
I have decided therefore to show some photographs. On Boxing Day I travelled over to Westport with my brother and had a lovely time over there for four days. I took many photographs and here are two of them. These are pasture flowers, clover and I'm not sure what the second one is. Most people would class them as weeds, but they are quite beautiful when you get up close to them.





Actually, I am not sure that the first flower is a clover, but they are lovely aren't they. I photographed these when I visited my brother Jim Rea's new property and we were walking through the paddocks. I am always amazed at the symmetry of nature and the wonderful proportions of colour that occur - good inspiration for art works.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry120101-222723 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:27:23 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110820-195604


This image is a photograph taken from my computer as I cannot show a finished copy as yet. This will be the Cover of the booklet. Also I am not sure of the price of it as yet, as I will not know that until I know how many copies I will get printed. The more copies I have printed, the cheaper they will be. I am hoping that they will cost somewhere between NZ$20-$25 each. If anyone would like to order a copy please e-mail me - marilyn@tapestry.co.nz with your contact details. As soon as the booklet is completed I will let you know the price, etc.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110820-195604 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:56:04 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110819-093414
After receiving the brief, I worked very hard for a week to present two design concepts, weaving a small sample and creating a cartoon for one panel to give an idea of the finished size. I was very happy to be told that my submission was accepted. Little did I know at that point what an interesting journey these tapestries would undergo.

Because of the very short time frame I employed another weaver, Diane Ammar, to help me weave the tapestries. Diane was a former student of mine and she proved to be a very good choice as her weaving was excellent and we had a lot of fun times, and traumatic times together.





These two photogrpahs show the first two panels as they were a few days before the February 22 earthquake. We were about one week away from finishing these two tapestries.





Here are the looms in my brother's workshop after they were rescued from the Arts Centre studio. A couple of weeks later we also managed to get more yarns out so that we could continue working on the project.



We are back working together on the project and a week or so later the first two tapestries were cut from the looms and hung together for the first time. we were really pleased to see how well they fitted together.



Work continued on the next two panels. Every square in the background is made up of three or four different colours and not one square is the same as another. We had a lot of fun choosing the colours. Colours in tapesry blend in an optical way, the same way the colours blend on a computer screen and it was very interesting finding all the different variations in these tapestries.





This next photograph shows a close-up of the bobbins hanging in front of the tapestry.



Sewing stitches. All the slits in these tapestries were stitched together as we went along. The tapestries had to be 37centimetres wide, so we were constantly measuring the width and adjusting. Stitching the slits helped to firm up the work and keep the width even. You can easily see the mixtures of colours in this photograph also.



I invited a few friends and family to the cutting off of the last two tapestries in early June. Warren Feeney, the ex-director of CoCA, cut the tapestries from the loom. As my wee flat is way too small, we had some difficulty in taking good photographs, but here you can see Warren cutting the fourth panel.



And here are Diane and I celebrating the cutting off and seeing all four tapestries together.



After the tapestries came off the looms, there was still a lot of finishing to do on them. Threads had to be darned in the back and the fold back borders sorted out. We wove the last six centimetres for the borders as a mirror image of the previous six centimetres so that when seen from the back the borders were not obvious. It worked very well.





And here is the last photograph showing Diane and I in front of the completed screen. The tapestries at last in their frames. They were presented to Government House last Wednesday morning by Her Excellency Lady Susan Satyanand. We attended them morning tea put on for the Presentation and this event was one of the highlights of my artistic career.



]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110819-093414 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:34:14 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110608-091152
Here are some more photos showing the state of the studio. Evidently the walls are very fragile and may not survive another large earthquake, though they have survived a number of 5.something quakes, thank goodness. It doesn't feel too good being in there and we are pleased to come out. Quite a sense of achievement when we manage to bring a lot of stuff out.







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110608-091152 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:11:52 GMT