Valerie Hearder on the art and soul of quilting

Africa Nova

Textured Tuesdays: I'm just back from South Africa and I have so many fabulous textured images to share!This display was at a wonderful gallery shop called Africa Nova in Cape Town. Telephone wire baskets along with ceramics, beaded dolls and the traditional circular red hats worn by married Zulu women. African icons from Ethiopia and beaded giraffe from Zululand.

Bead and Basket Textures

Textured Tuesday: African bead aprons and finely woven baskets. Kim Sacks Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Telephone Wire Basket

Textured Tuesdays: We saw this large telephone wire basket at the African Art Centre in Durban, South Africa. Vibrant colour  and free form weaving.

African Beaded Skirt

Textured Tuesday: Detail of a beautifully beaded Shangaan fertility apron, Limpopo Province in South Africa.

 

Indigo and Clay

Textured Tuesday: Deeply textured hand built pots by a Zulu craftsman paired with indigo dyed cotton. Love being in South Africa.

Textured Tuesdays

This stack of folded kuba raffia cloth exudes texture, colour and energy. Abstract designs are appliquéd on to a background fabic. The colours suggest the essence of Africa. I spotted these fabrics when we visited Kim Sacks Gallery in Johannesburg on our last tour to South Africa. I've been visiting Kim Sacks' Gallery for the past 35 years. I wouldn't miss it. Kim curates the best African textiles, pottery and artifacts from across Africa. I always take my tour group there and this is where we'll be next month. Check out the web site and get a taste of the best craft gallery in Africa.  Here is a full kuba cloth that my friend Rosi Robinson bought from the gallery during out visit.

Textured Tuesdays

The Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan. We got up at 4:30 am to get to the market and see the fresh fish ready for sale and distribution. it was full of pattern and texture. These are fresh octopus.

 

Textured Tuesday

Whalebone vertebrae, many hundreds of years old. I found this at Red Bay Labrador at the earliest known Basque Settlement in North America. the Basque hunted whale and returned to Spain with whale oil. There are 9 holes drilled in the centre of the vertebrae, perhaps made by researchers looking at the DNA of the whale.

Textured Tuesday

I photographed this detail from a piece of handwoven raffia cloth in a shop in South Africa. Decorated with beads and cowrie shells. Some of the squares are dyed with indigo. It has a kind of pom-pom edging.