Anne Greenwood Untitled

Ann Greenwood: Untitled Textile

The Artist

Anne Greenwood was born in 1939 and is best known as a textile artist and art teacher. Ann uses very simple weaving techniques. Over the years her work has developed more towards sculpture. Her interest in textiles and weaving came about in her late twenties when she took up weaving in order to try and manage post-natal depression.

Ann was trained and worked as a primary school teacher in the 1950s but following her discovery of weaving Ann decided to teach adults instead.

A friend introduced her to the weaving loom on which she began to make functional pieces such as rugs and fabric lengths but soon progressed to large scale works of art.

"It was my passion and I loved it. I also loved teaching weaving because it was an opportunity to encourage women to express themselves through weaving."

Weaving was not only a healing process - but also a chance for Ann to express her creativity - something she had never recognised in herself. Others like what Ann created and her large works have been showed in many Australian art galleries.

In 1990, Ann visited Bhutan as the invitation of the Australian International Development and Assistance Bureau. Her visit was 'to study the implications of finer wool and see how the women who looked after flocks, would process it and spin it. This is something that also provided inspiration for Ann.

In 1995, illness put an end to Ann's weaving but it opened up other opportunities. At almost 60 years old, she started her artistic career over again with embroidery, starting with small works and abstract pieces mostly in a circular format. Noone was more surprised than Ann because she only knew two embroidery stitches.

"I had been working for years on large scale woven pieces, but during my illness I had all these images in my mind and they flooded out. I needed to get the images onto cloth. For eight years I was compulsive in my embroidery."

In November 2018, a major exhibition at the Gippland Art Gallery of Ann's work was opened. The Peacock Garden showcased 30 works of art from Ann's stunning embroidery.

The Work of Art

Created in 1974, the work of art, which is untitled is created from woven wool using dark and crimson reds. Standing out on its dark background are lengths of wool that drape downwards that form an aesthetic and pleasing look. It is as mentioned above sculptural. The work itself almost appears to resemble the Sydney Harbour in reverse. The work shows what effects textiles can produce on a larger scale.

Although this is the sole work of art that represents Ann Greenword in the University's art collection, the University has a growing textile collection with works by Keiko Schmeisser and many others.

References

Ann Greenwood entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Greenwood

Welcome to Ann's stunning garden, Old Colonists' Association of Victoria, November 2018, https://ocav.com.au/news-evnts/welcome-anns-stunning-garden/