India Flint

Quiltfelt Landskin

Course Description
In the quiltfelt landskin class students will undertake daily windfall walks, dyeing strips of fabric to be used in a layered, pieced, stitched , quilted and ultimately also felted cloth whose gentle colours will reflect those of the woods around us. The pieced cloth will grow organically day by day as small dyed fragments are added, before a gentle wet-fulling process is applied on the last day followed by one final overdye to bring harmony to the piece in the form of a last colour wash.

Skill Level
All levels of experience are welcome; as India says, "I'll accept anybody who can thread a needle."

Artist's Biography
India Flint was born in Melbourne and has led a peripatetic life with pillows at various times in Quebec, Vermont, Germany, and Austria. Her textile practice embraces art, theatre, science, and fashion. Flint completed an MA in 2001, researching eucalyptus dyes for textiles. Her book Eco Colour was published in 2008. Represented in museum collections in Europe and Australia, she has undertaken costume commissions for Leigh Warren & Dancers as well as the West Australian Ballet. The distinctive eco-print that marks all her work is one of her most significant discoveries. India Flint always travels with a small cauldron and with large pockets, collecting windfalls and dyeing cloth as she wanders. For more information about India, visit her web site at http://www.indiaflint.com.

Artist's Statement
In my work I honour the stitch and the dress-up box, cherish fragments, rummage contentedly in grandmother’s button jar, and remember old stories. I reference the traditions of the nine-patch, follow sheep trails, go woolgathering, and fill my pockets with leaves. As a small girl I loved to sit on the front stoop with my grandmother listening to her telling stories as the sun gradually set. My favourite was that of the princess who finds herself alone in the forest and must make her clothing from what she can find...leaves, grass, and wisps of fur caught on the bushes. It’s still an important story.