By CASEY NEILL
Glass panels will reflect cultures from around the world in a new art project.
Artist Kristin McFarlane’s Here and Now will bring together about 100 separate glass etchings in a large installation at the Drum Theatre from 1 to 31 August.
People can contribute through public workshops at the Drum Theatre from 10am to noon on Friday 8 July and at Dandenong Library from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on Tuesday 12 July.
She was impressed by what students and migrants produced in recent workshops, particularly an intricate design by a grade five boy that replicated a fish design that traditionally appears on Vietnamese dresses.
Ms McFarlane said the participants used pencil to sketch a design on black paper, drew over it with a white pen, and placed it under the glass as a guide for their etching.
She asked them to create an image that represented a fragment of fabric or pattern of importance that spoke to their cultural background.
Ms McFarlane has replicated fabric details from the dress collection of Dorothy Hart, who owned Benga House at Heritage Hill, and those designs will also appear in the finished project.
The month-long Cultural Threads will build on its 2014 incarnation and celebrate textile art and cultural diversity.
The City of Greater Dandenong-hosted event will feature knitting, crocheting, dyeing, weaving, needlepoint, yarn art and other skills.
People of all ages and backgrounds will be guided by some of Australia’s most celebrated artists to forge connections, trade skills, share stories and interweave cultures.
There’ll be activities at multiple venues including the Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre, Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens, the Drum Theatre, the Dandenong and Springvale libraries and Harmony Square.
Intricate and colourful installations will adorn the municipality throughout Cultural Threads, which is a satellite event of Craft Victoria’s Craft Cubed Festival.
