This month at The Percy Thomson Gallery we are proud to be hosting the Taranaki Manawatu and Whanganui Regional Embroiderers' exhibition, When We Were Young. Talented Taranaki stitchers, Maree Burnnand, Diane Lithgow and Johannah Haaijema are among the prize-winning embroiderers featured.
Maree uses the very traditional goldwork technique of or nue to create extraordinary works with unusual themes - her piece for this exhibition is an immaculately stitched skull entitled 'Reflections' mounted on welding rods instead of the usual gold passing thread. Diane Lithgow's elegant canvas work embroidery 'Amazing Grays' won the framed kitset section and features many (perhaps 50?) shades of grey and silver.
Johannah Haaijema of Eltham has created a queen-sized bed quilt for the exhibition featuring 72 hand-embroidered panels in shades of cream with hints of other pastels. Each panel has a different subject - Johannah spent more than a year stitching the panels. She was runnerup in the traditional original section of the exhibition.
Visitors may also like to put a stitch or two into the New Zealand Tapestry Trust panel, also on display. Based on the same idea as the Bayeux Tapestry, it is one of a projected 100 panels intended to tell the history of New Zealand in stitch. Embroiderers from all over New Zealand are working on the panels and it is anticipated that it will take many years to complete. Exhibition runs until November 8.
