Craft & Culture
Arwen’s artwork on canvas and paper utilises a unique mix of media - dressmaking patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil, and paint. Through this multi-media approach Arwen references landscape and oceanic forms while exploring intersections, crossovers, and parallels between historical and modern European and Pacific cultures, often from a feminine perspective.
"I love how dressmaking patterns speak about identity, who we are on the outside and inside; the tissue paper is fine and transparent, it’s like a kind of skin. Each shape, like Tapa design, can be filled with imagery. I use each piece as a space to tell part of a story. Tapa is a hand-made barkcloth that contains the imprint of the women who have produced it. I believe clothing, doilies, embroidered cloths and other handcrafted items also carry imprints or ‘memory’ of those who have made them. I wonder about the conversations, feelings, and ideas they expressed while working with the needle and thread or beating at paper mulberry fibres. The art of decoration has long been used to elevate everyday objects, to adorn, and to tell stories or record history. Pattern and design are a form of communication across culture, time and place."
— Arwen Flowers.
Arwen’s artwork on canvas and paper utilises a unique mix of media - dressmaking patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil, and paint. Through this multi-media approach Arwen references landscape and oceanic forms while exploring intersections, crossovers, and parallels between historical and modern European and Pacific cultures, often from a feminine perspective.
"I love how dressmaking patterns speak about identity, who we are on the outside and inside; the tissue paper is fine and transparent, it’s like a kind of skin. Each shape, like Tapa design, can be filled with imagery. I use each piece as a space to tell part of a story. Tapa is a hand-made barkcloth that contains the imprint of the women who have produced it. I believe clothing, doilies, embroidered cloths and other handcrafted items also carry imprints or ‘memory’ of those who have made them. I wonder about the conversations, feelings, and ideas they expressed while working with the needle and thread or beating at paper mulberry fibres. The art of decoration has long been used to elevate everyday objects, to adorn, and to tell stories or record history. Pattern and design are a form of communication across culture, time and place."
— Arwen Flowers.
