Storytelling | Medium: mixed media tapestry/textile art | materials: leftover, up-cycled cotton fabric, undyed cotton wadding, eco friendly textile ink, cotton thread, natural dyed bamboo yarn, merino wool felt & acrylic yarn | Techniques: hand painting, hand embroidery, hand quilting, patchwork & appliqué | Size: 201 cm x 152 cm | Production date: September 2022 till March 2026
The Dutch have a phrase: “Wat is de rode draad van het verhaal?”, “What is the red thread of the story?”, meaning what is the thread that strings all the fragments into a coherent storyline.
In these uncertain times of chaos and trouble we lose track of that thread that helps us make sense of things, that leads us and moves us forward. Threads get worn out, broken and lost. Everyone of us has the right and the need to tell their story, to be heard. That’s why we gather. We take time to face one another to share, to give and receive a listening ear, to learn from each other, to find compassion, kindness and to find our common threads that have the potential to unite us. With those threads we can start to weave new stories, we can weave a brighter future tapestry.
“Creating an intricate and time consuming work such as this one, comprised of textile pieces put together mindfully, ink painted by hand and a gazillion small threads that passed through my fingers, is my silent protest against the fast paced, patience deprived, accelerated consumption culture that we live in”.
Title: Storytelling Medium: mixed media tapestry/textile art | materials: leftover, up-cycled cotton fabric, undyed cotton wadding, eco friendly textile ink, cotton thread, natural dyed bamboo yarn, merino wool felt & acrylic yarn Techniques: hand painting, hand embroidery, hand quilting, patchwork & appliqué Size: 201 cm x 152 cm Production date: September 2022 till March 2026
Diana van der Harst is a multidisciplinary artist whose journey has resulted in the creation of an ever evolving Leftover Universe where Tender Time Sighs. While she has a focus on textile art, she also uses painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography and writing to seek and tell her story. Her creations originate from a meeting between inner and outer travels, from studying things up-close to things far away, from observing the small to observing the vast; a process of constantly shifting focus, a movement much like breathing. Tender Time Sighs; breathing life into a Leftover Universe, showing us traces of transformation and encounters with animate and inanimate beings. Drawing from her own experiences, inspired by life itself, characters have developed who share their meetings and findings along the way. Diana’s work is poetic, contemporary, intuitive, contemplative, intimate, emotional, whimsical, spiritual, narrative and embodies a magical realism.
Diana was born and raised in The Netherlands before she moved to Australia. It is in The Netherlands where Diana had her main art education and where she started exhibiting her works back in 2004. During a masterclass in textile design in The Netherlands in 2007 she was invited to exhibit her art in Tokyo, Japan. Since that exhibition she had 4 solo exhibitions and several work periods in Kyoto, Japan. Exhibiting for nearly 20 years now she showed her works in The Netherlands, Antwerp/Belgium, Melbourne, Perth, Tokyo and Kyoto/Japan. Diana is now focusing on her upcoming solo exhibition, during which she will be giving workshops as well as undertake an artist-in-residency. She is one of the participating artists in her community that opens up her home studio for the public to come and visit, an initiative that is held two weekends a year as part of an Art Trail. Several other projects are in development and she is open for commissions.
Email: leftoveruniverse@gmail.com | Website: http://www.leftoveruniverse.com | Instagram: dhyana_in_a_leftover_universe
Leftover Universe 