Ararat Gallery TAMA will host a workshop series that focuses on the art of backstrap weaving with artist Ilka White next month.
Backstrap weaving is a traditional weaving technique that involves using simple tools to create textiles. This ancient artform uses the weaver's body to control the weaving loom's tension.
Participants will have the opportunity to create a woven band, as well as explore pattern making, learn basic techniques, and connect with a textile tradition practiced across cultures for millennia.
The one-day workshop will be held on Sunday 16 February, from 9.30am to 4.30pm and is suitable for beginners aged 14 and over. All workshop materials are provided.
Those interested in participating are encouraged to book their spots as soon as possible as there are only 12 places available. The cost to participate is $130 per person or $120 for concession holders.
Bookings can be made online via the Ararat Gallery TAMA website.
This workshop is held in conjunction with the exhibition Weaving matter: material experimentation, which runs until Sunday 16 February 2025.
Ilka White lives in Djaara (Dja Dja Wurrung) Country, Central Victoria. Direct engagement with the natural world and a love for 'primary' skills inform the way she lives and makes.
Ilka taught Textile History, Weaving and Crafts in Society at RMIT University for many years and maintained a production studio before working throughout Australia as an independent artist, teacher, and facilitator. She has taken an immersive approach to making in communities and ecosystems across the continent and the Torres Strait and learned alongside traditional weavers in Indonesia, India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Ilka's work has been published and exhibited in Australia and abroad for around 30 years. She is represented in public collections including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. As a teacher, Ilka's popular classes continue to reflect her appreciation for the potency of cloth and our responsibility as co-creators on this incredible, finite planet
"I hope participants will feel, as I do, a connection with textile tradition." Ilka says.
"Weaving, particularly using body-tensioned looms, is an essential human skill that's been practiced across cultures for millennia. Cloth is both universal and personal. Everyone will bring their own colour and pattern choices to the design and construction of the band they will take home from our day together."
