Dawn to Dusk on the Northern Rivers

A collaborative slice quilt by the Goonellabah Art Quilters 2021.

Way back in 2019 (remember those times?) the Goonellabah Art Quilters planned to make a collaborative art quilt, a mural representing life in the northern rivers region of NSW, Australia. Each quilter was to make a single panel. When assembled, the panels would create a mural of life in the region, starting from the right hand side at dawn and finishing on the left on the upper reaches of the river at sunset.
Firstly, a cartoon was drawn by Patricia Smithyman giving an outline of the shape of the piece, sketching in the river and hills. Secondly the sky was dyed from a brilliant dawn sky on the left in the east above the sea, to a sunset sky in the west over the hills. The cartoon and sky was sliced into 8 sections, one for each quilter.
Colour was discussed - what colour is a river at dawn, at midday, at dusk? How do the shadows fall? What do we see? Fabric was shared so continuity would happen between panels.
then the COVID lockdown made collaboration very difficult.
The quilters continued to work on their pieces but it was so good when we could meet again and compare.
As the hills were completed, the details were added, trees, fields and crops, towns, vehicles, farmhouses and of course birds and wildlife.
Many techniques were used, from raw edge applique, to chenille work for the crops, thread painted birds and animals, paint and dye.

Dawn to Dusk: Panel 3 Patricia Smithyman

Dawn to Dusk Panel 3,2,1 Patricia Smithyman, Pat Skene, Sue Griffiths

Dawn to Dusk Panel 5 4 3 Marilyn Hawkins, Chris Graeve, Patricia Smithyman

Dawn to Dusk Panel 8 7 6 Pat Oxtoby, Jane Low, Heather Davison

applique, art quiltsSusan Griffiths4 March 2021art quilt, dawn to dusk, raw edge applique, fusible applique, group quilt, landscape quilt1 Comment