Catch up with old friends and make some new ones!

Join us for a unique opportunity to network with textile artists, quilters and fibre enthusiasts from the Perth, Peel and the Southwest regions. Enjoy refreshing morning tea from local produce, followed by a tour of the Oceania: Distance and Diversity exhibition and artist talks.

About the Exhibition

Oceania: Distance and Diversity, a juried travelling exhibition of 29 art quilts made by members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Oceania region currently on exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery 28 January - 26 March, 2023. Bunbury is the last stop in a 2 year long exhibition tour of New Zealand and Australia. The exhibition which explores the many interpretations of either distance, diversity or both within the Oceania region.

Within the 29 works selected by the jurors are several high-profile quilt artists from Australia and New Zealand, who have works in international collections and who have won prestigious prizes in global art quilt events. There are also SAQA members from our region who have used the theme as an introduction into this wider art quilt world.

Event Details

11:00 - Welcome & Morning Tea

12:00 - Artist Talks

12:30 - Tour exhibition

1:30 - Wrap up or continue networking over lunch at one of the many nearby cafes in Bunbury or visit the very popular Bunbury Farmer's Market before you head home.

Artist Talks

Both of the exhibiting artists from WA will be on hand to provide personal insight into their works and guide you around the exhibition.

Pat Forster

Pat Forster moved into art quilting in 2013. Her passion is geometric design which reflects real life – in nature and the landscape. She has exhibited widely in juried exhibitions including in New Zealand, America and England. Pat has work in private and public collections including of the WA Water Corporation and the National Museum of Australia. Her talk will explain the inspiration for her ‘Distance and Diversity’ piece and the design process for it.

Marie Mitchell

Marie Mitchell combines her two lifelong passions for nature and textiles her mixed media art practice. Her work is significantly influenced by current global events and national issues, including climate change, threats to the Australian environment and the current refugee crisis. Convinced everyone can do something to effect change—Marie’s something is raising awareness of what is being done and how people can get involved. She believes art can touch people in ways scientific data cannot. Her work is intended to generate awareness and appreciation for the natural world while exploring its fragility and our role as caretakers for future generations. She wants her work to inspire the viewer to think alternatively, speak out and join others in collective action to foster change.

She combines unique fabrics with a variety of upcycled materials to create figurative and semi-abstract paintings from fabric and thread. Her work, 'Fragile Skin', in this exhibition is part of a series inspired by a flight over the wheatbelt just after the worst of the Black Summer bushfires. Her most recent work in the series, 'Starting the Cycle: From Dead Dirt to Living Soil', won the Textiles/Sculpture prize at the 2022 South Perth Emerging Artist Awards.

Marie was a member of the SAQA Oceania Exhibition Committee and the Australian curator of the exhibition.