http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php Copyright 2012, Marilyn Rae-Menzies Marilyn Rae-Menzies en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 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 http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110605-193729
Some of the artists exhibiting are - Philip Trusttum, Barry Cleavin, Bill Hammond, Julia Morison, Graham Bennett, Martin Whitworth, Darryl George, Jason Grieg and many others. There were so many people at the opening that I didn't get a good look at all the work, so will have to go back again before the exhibition finishes. It is on for over a month, until the 10th July.



]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110605-193729 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 05 Jun 2011 07:37:29 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110523-092555
Here it is as it looks in a close up view.



And hanging on their wall.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110523-092555 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 22 May 2011 21:25:55 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110416-091441


This is how the tapestries, the bobbins and the yarns looked when I first saw them. There was dust all over them but with careful vacuuming and shaking etc they are now all looking good.





A few days later my looms were brought into my home and the double taken and stored at Tony's warehouse in exchange for the loom. Thank God for a wonderful supportive family, brothers and sisters and all.



Here you can see my brother-in-law Cedric (at the back) helping the truck driver to carry one of the looms into the spare room. And here are the yarns that were first rescued.



And here are the looms all set up and almost ready for work.



Diane is tipping out the yarns rescued last Friday on to a blanket ready for cleaning. It took us about two hours to get all the dust off these yarns, but they are all looking good now.



And here we are - weaving again. Hurrah!



The space is small but it is working well. We just have to be careful to keep the yarns organised and tidy so that we don't trip up over them all the time. I am so lucky that I was able to set the looms up again and that we can now get back into the work. Happiness is............ being able to work at what we love doing!







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110416-091441 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:14:41 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110413-075501


On February 22nd (my Dad's birthday) a very violent earthquake struck our city once again. This earthquake, only 6.3 on the Richter scale was the most violent I have ever felt, and I have felt numerous large earthquakes in my life, being born and brought up on the West Coast of the South Island. This earthquake was centred near Lyttelton, underneath the very hard rocks of the Banks Peninsula. These rocks are so hard that they did not absorb the shock waves but instead, bounced them off in every direction, towards and underneath the city. They were only about 5 kilometres underground as well which made it all worse. Evidently the G forces were enormous, larger than any before, for an earthquake of that size on the Richter scale.

I had a wonderful visitor in my studio that day - Sue Walker who was the director of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop from its inception in the 1970's until a couple of years ago. I was so wowed by her presence in my studio, and we were discussing the tapestries when the earthquake struck about five minutes after she arrived. What a welcome to Christchurch for her!! I remember saying as we struggled towards the door trying to keep upright, "Boy that one has got to be an 8!" We stayed under the door for a few seconds until the shaking subsided a little and then Diane and I made sure that Sue and another couple who were in the studio got down the stairs safely. At the bottom Diane and I, at the same instant, said "Gee, Our bags, the car keys!!" and back up the stairs we dashed, rushed behind the loom, delved under all the fallen stuff from the shelving, the dirt and dust from the walls, and rescued the bags and Diane found my carkeys. And didn't my kids give me a hard time about going back up!!!!!

Outside it was all chaos, people rushing everywhere, the Observatory Tower down on the ground, screams coming from all directions and then everyone standing together in the middle of the South Quad lawn. I was so sure that there were work people underneath the rubble, but I found out about two weeks later that nobody was hurt in the Arts Centre. We were all so lucky! Chris, the maintenance boss told us all to make our way home. I looked for Sue and couldn't find her, saw Serena panicking and breathing hard, gave her a hug and said 'Slow Down, take a deep breath" but she was off again once she realised I was out of the studio and safe. She also disappeared and I saw Diane striding out across the lawn before she disappeared too. I think all our instincts were to just get home which was what I did too. Walked to my car and slowly made my way home. Lissie my daughter rang my cell phone just as I got to the Montreal St corner and it was so good that she managed to get through! She remembers me saying that there were buildings down on the ground everywhere, but I have no memory of actually seeing them.



This was how the Observatory Tower looked last Friday when we were allowed into the studio to rescue more of my 'stuff'. We were given half an hour on Friday morning. I had gathered together a team of us, me and Diane, my sister Julie and her husband Cedric and George, Wilson's friend who also came in with us to rescue Wil's work as he had to attend ERO meetings that day and couldn't come with us.



Here we are in our hard hats, me, Julie and George.



And here we are waiting for our safety talk! Cedric all geared up with his ladder to rescue the Railway Cup tapestries, which he did beautifully. Quite frightening, but once we got in there we didn't have time to worry about being safe. We just got on with it, bringing out as much as we could in the time allowed. Liz Hodgson, who was the person organising everyone to be able to go into their spaces, is in the middle of us in the orange jacket. Liz was very helpful and supportive of our rescue. My thanks go out to her as well.



Here is a back view of Diane starting to pick up the yarns as she knew just what we needed to continue working on the tapestries. See all the plastic bins we took up with us. Loads of black rubbish bags as well. These photos are very blurry, as my hand was quite shakey and I took the photos too quickly being aware of the lack of time.



Here is a view of the studio looking towards Wilson's and Anne's looms with George photographing the mess. You can see my tapestries still rolled up under the glass shelves. They soon got picked up and taken outside.



Here are some of my paintings resting by the pool and waiting to be put into the truck.



Here is the alleyway between the studio and the Scott building next door. Lucky we weren't standing here when the earthquake struck. The beautiful old buildings are going to be rebuilt, but that will take time and money, I guess. I will not be going back into the Arts Centre with my studio. At the moment my looms are in my spare room and we are back working on the tapestries. I will need to relocate though as my wee flat is not big enough to hold all my studio.


]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110413-075501 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:55:01 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110211-092347


Here is a view of the studio, taken yesterday morning, showing one piece on the loom and all the yarns surrounding us. The studio space is rather small, so we are stepping over yarns all the time. However, they look lovely and are very inspirational to our work. It looks rather chaotic but it is very easy to find the colours that we want with them tipped all over the floor like this. Diane and I are making colour choices all the time, mixing and blending the colours on the bobbins. Luckily we do not have to do hatching in the weaving, so the work is progressing faster. We are aiming to weave 1 sq ft each week and have almost kept up to that. The design is a mixture of complex and simple areas, so a good balance is kept there.



This image shows my hands at work.



And here is Diane sewing slits on her piece. She is weaving very well, as previously she has only worked on miniature tapestries. It is a huge change for her to work on a larger piece.


Here is what is going on outside the studio. The Observatory Tower in the Arts Centre was very badly damaged in the earthquake in September last year, and every aftershock increases the damage. A couple of days ago workmen started to put scaffolding up around the tower, so it looks as if work might start on trying to repair some of the damage.



]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry110211-092347 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:23:47 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101209-080741

Here is the James Chu tapestry as it was nearing completion. His wife Julia, who commissioned the tapestry in memory of her husband James, came into the studio last Saturday and cut the tapestry from the loom.



And here we are after the tapestry was released from the loom. Julia is so happy with the tapestry and it will be given to her son one day to pass down through his family.



And here it is after all the finishings had been completed. It took me two days to tidy up the back threads and have it ready for hanging. Julia is coming into the studio this morning to pick up the tapestry and take it home.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101209-080741 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:07:41 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101116-210011
I have been in the studio on my own today, as Anne is teaching spinning down at Ashfords for two days. Quite a few people came in including this family whom I photographed weaving on the small table loom which is always set up for people to try their hand at weaving. Here are Luca, Nico and Isabella with their Mum looking on.



I have been working on the commissioned tapestry and it is coming near to completion with about three more weeks work to finish it.

]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101116-210011 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:00:11 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101115-074241


]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101115-074241 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:42:41 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101107-090916






Sharon has been progressing well with her first tapestry. She is picking up and understanding the underlying principles behind the techniques and that enables her to weave more quickly each day. I think she will complete the tapestry within another three days so that will give her time to learn some other techniques that do not come into this tapestry. Pick and pick, soumak,ghiorde knots and other textural techiques, some more practice with hatching etc will all be good for her to learn. ]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101107-090916 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sat, 06 Nov 2010 20:09:16 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101020-210119


Here are some more photo's of the exhibition in which the quality of the work was superb.





]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101020-210119 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:01:19 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101017-090803


The photo below shows the design concept on paper.



And this next one shows the work with the first eye woven.



Today I will start working on the second eye. It is amazing how the essence of a person comes in once the eyes have been completed. I find they are the hardest part to weave on any tapestry portrait, and it is so important to get it right. I also had to do quite a bit of unweaving when I was first working out the tonal values of the grey/blues in the face. This work comes to life when it is viewed from a distance. Close-up it looks like a whole lot of shapes and colours. The face can be seen alright then, but it really is designed to be seen at a distance. ]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101017-090803 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sat, 16 Oct 2010 20:08:03 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101003-194827


Here I am with my camera standing by Wilson's loom photographing my space (just imagine I'm there as you can't see me, but I am behind the camera). You can see some of his jackets and scarves to the right and the tapestries 'Lace 2' and the two 'Underfoot' pieces on the back wall. It was a bit of a mission getting them hung up there as I had to get the big ladder and prop it up against the wall to hang the pieces there. The small tapestries are on the wall to the left and we shifted Anne's blankets so that they could hang on the racks below them. The tapestry 'Gianna - Portrait of a Grandchild' hides the yarns on the shelving unit. The door to the studio opens on to the stairwell landing.



Here is another view. You can see the collaborative tapestry 'Do not Stare' hanging across the top beam of the empty loom. This tapestry was designed by Paul Johns, a Christchurch artist. This tapestry was also the most difficult one I have ever woven, two large circles for the faces and smaller circles for the eyes - very difficult to weave perfect circles in tapestry. Lots of unweaving went into this work.



Here is Wilson's spot in the studio. You can see his 8shaft Mecchia jack loom with a warp waiting to be wound on to the back beam. His rack of jackets, vests and wraps is to the left of the loom and his scarves hang on poles from the ceiling.



I am progressing quite well on this commissioned tapestry. The sett is 11epi so it is reasonably fine to weave. I really like working with these greyed down blues. ]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry101003-194827 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:48:27 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100928-193019




Here is the tapestry commission that I have been working on for a wee while now. The tapestry is a memorial for the man featured in it. His wife has commissioned me to weave the tapestry which will pass on down to her son one day.

I have done about three weeks work on it now and yesterday i decided that the tonal value of the mouth was wrong, too dark, so I took it out and needle wove it back in, with a lighter value. I think it looks much better. i have actually done quite a bit of 'unweaving' in this work so far, as the tonal values are so important to get right.



Here you can see how I have lifted the woven section above the mouth and taken the weft threads out, leaving the warps bare.





It is always a bit of a pain to have to unweave a section but it is worth the effort in the end, and if it is done as soon as possible then it is not too hard. It would be really difficult to do after the weaving was completed. I learnt this the hard way many years ago when I agonized over a tapestry that I wasn't happy with and thought that it might be okay. However, I ended up undoing almost half the tapestry and reweaving it. A big lesson, and now I always say, 'If in doubt, take it out!!"



]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100928-193019 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:30:19 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100907-220906




Yarns were thrown all over the floor, but the shelves did not fall down and it did not take too long to get them back up in place again.



And here is another view of the yarns on the floor, also showing my latest commissioned tapestry on the loom. Luckily this had no damage either. I have been working for about two weeks on this tapestry and it is going along nicely.



One of the saddest sights I have seen today is the cutting down of the old gingko tree in the South Quad. I can see this tree from the window of my studio. Unfortunately it has had to come down because it is very close to the Observatory Tower, which also has to come down, little bit by little bit. I do hope that it will be able to be rebuilt, but am not sure yet whether that will be the case. Below is the view from my window showing the Observatory Tower and the gingko tree in the process of losing its life. I think it was one of the first trees to be planted in the Arts Centre, so a very sad day to lose it. I can't imagine the Arts Centre without the Observatory Tower and am just going to hate watching that come down too.







]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100907-220906 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:09:06 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100809-222142




Friends enjoying the evening. Caroline Bull, in the purple scarf,is chatting to Gwen Cairney with two of my sisters-in-law, Claire to the left and Marilyn to the right, looking on. Caroline and her husband Geoff Low, brought a friend, whom they introduced to me as Richard, to the cutting off and I was awed and excited when I discovered that he was none other than Richard Nunns, who is a most amazing musician specializing in ancient Maori music and bird song. He gave us a wonderful surprise, when to quieten the crowd so that I could introduce Lissie, he brought out a greenstone whistle and beautiful bird song suddenly filled the studio. Awesome! Thank you so much, Richard.



Here I am introducing Lissie, standing in front of the tapestry.



Lissie cutting the warp threads.



And here it is, the right way up at last.



And today after lunch and a very hectic morning, a very understanding student who put up with me rushing here and there and giving her only a little attention, pinning and sewing the side seams and the velcro on to the tapestry, gluing the velcro to the baton and finally we were able to hang it on a wall in a spare studio in the Arts Centre and photographs were taken. Here are Lissie and I posing while 15yr old Connor takes our photo with the finished or almost finished tapestry. Still some threads to sort out at the back of the work and the sides to be finished stitching. All good and so pleased to have it finished after so long.]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100809-222142 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:21:42 GMT http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100802-205242
]]> http://www.tapestry.co.nz/blog/index.php?entry=entry100802-205242 Marilyn Rae-Menzies Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:52:42 GMT