Jeanne Llewellyn

Jeanne Llewellyn’s Artist Statement

One day in my garden, in need of inspiration whilst sitting on my veranda sketching the things I could see,  the result was ‘One Day in My Garden’, the first large tapestry I made and still one of my favorites. It is wool and silk on a cotton warp. ‘The Old Timer’ came about when I entered a Tree themed exhibition. The tree is a WA peppermint, this gnarled and twisted old tree stood in the corner of a pioneer cemetery, the oldest gravestone with a date of 1866, it had a presence about it suggesting it had witnessed much. It has a cotton warp, mostly wool, with some hemp, nettle, and silk weft. By the end  I felt quite attached to The Old Timer, sadly next time I went past the cemetery it was gone, I am so glad I have acknowledged it, and it can live on in my weaving. ‘What a Lovely Day’ is a semi-abstract landscape. I wanted to experiment with different techniques and shapes; it has a cotton warp and wool, silk, and hemp weft.

Jeanne Llewellyn’s Biography

I have always had an interest in textiles, learning to knit and sew at an early age, but it really took off when I moved from the UK to the small town of Nannup in the SW of Western Australia, where I learned to spin and dye with local bush plants. I started tapestry weaving in 2004 with my enrollment in the Warrnambool Tafe Diploma course, a fascinating and comprehensive six years all done by correspondence.

In 2012 a joint exhibition of tapestry and paintings with an artist friend, our very first, in the local gallery was a sell-out success and gave me the confidence to enter more, including the Kate Durham exhibition here in Australia, Woven Arts in the UK and Small Format Tapestry Exhibition with ATA. With my weaving, I am still working my way through the many designs produced and put away for further investigation, in the Diploma course, plus I am constantly inspired by the landscapes, of this vast continent. I mostly use cotton warps and wool, and dye fiber with natural dye made from bush plants as well as commercial dyes but am also using silk, cotton, and hemp all of which can be produced here, and I would love to investigate further the local plant fibers, yet another project.