Craft / “Exuberance”, curated by Sharon Peoples and Carol Cooke. At Craft + Design Canberra, until August 26. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

THE 20 embroiderers included in this exhibition were chosen for their exuberant use of the hand stitch.

Artists were invited to “explore exuberance through colour and how colour is expressed in contemporary hand-stitched handwork”.

During the covid lockdowns there was a worldwide upsurge in hand crafts made at home. Many online courses sprang up with particular interest in hand embroidery. This was overlaid with a deep concern for the environment. Exhibiting artists took up readings based on Rachel Caron’s “Silent Spring”, published in 1962, which galvanised global environmental movements.

In her introductory essay “Perception of Colour”, Sharon Peoples points out the importance of the eye in combining colours – unlike paint squeezed from a tube, threads cannot be lightened or darkened by the addition of water or another colour. Each thread of colour retains its own presence. It is tempered by its relationship to surrounding colours and textures, created by the chosen stitch and I would add the type of thread.

Both curators of this show are exhibiting work. Carol Cooke has taken the peace symbol and is showing three embroidered versions. “A Little Piece of Me” uses numerous embroidered flowers and leaves and butterflies to form the peace symbol. They are colourful and are stitched on to a black and white, narrow-striped fabric backing. The colours pop and the work is restrained in its exuberance.

Sharon Peoples is showing “The Wateringhole”. A large circular shallow vessel is crowded with embroidered birds, all pushing to have a drink.  The birds are hand embroidered and appear to represent a colour wheel. You can see them jostling and hear them twittering to get to the water. Perhaps they are bower birds, as the vessel is also crowded with pieces of coloured plastic: bottle tops, plastic wire, reels, feathers, lids, and buttons. For me, this work sums up the meaning of exuberant, without being messy.

However, small works can also be exuberant. Amy Jones is showing a work titled “Disintegration”. A woman in a bright, floral dress, is lying in a very grassy patch, overhung with brightly coloured leaves and vines. The exuberance of her gown is tempered by the many greens of the area in which she is lying.

Several other works also successfully achieve “exuberance” for me.  Cathy Jack Coupland is showing a work titled “Coral”. It captures the colours and textures of a coral reef as viewed through a glass looking box.

Liam Benson has stitched brightly coloured, shiny beads and sequins on to layers to coloured tulle  capturing a moment of joy and exuberance.

Embroiderers will undoubtedly appreciate the hand stitching in these works, which covers a wide variety of threads and stitches, expressing many thoughts and concepts.