Ranges Trader
Tuesday, 9 April, 2024
Yet another crash on Monbulk Road
Running 170km for charity
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Mail Streeton painting set for auction
See Real Estate liftout inside
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Bree Thomas holding her work.
Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS
Bree loves making textiles using images of moths and butterflies.
Gilt-edged quilts By Shamsiya Hussainpoor Menzies Creek crafter Bree Thomas has been an “artsy” person for as long as she can remember. Growing up she watched her mother knit, crochet and sew, as well as both her paternal and maternal grandmothers. “I knew from a very young age that I could take fabric or yarn and turn it into something, just as my mother and grandmothers did,” she said. “In my mind I definitely knew we were
makers - make things with our hands.” She was always interested in art and sewing; hence she started a degree in fine arts, majoring in painting at RMIT in the city campus, back in the late ’90s. Apart from coming from generations of crafting and simultaneously studying art, she found the book about the art of Annemieke Mein and from there, her perceptions in art changed - that textile is art too. “I had the pleasure of getting to know Annemieke when I painted and sewed her portrait as my entry to the Archibald prize compe-
tition a few years ago,” she said. She started a family and as a result didn’t finish her course. By the age of 20, Ms Thomas’s focus shifted from painting to making clothes and toys for her young family, including her first early attempt at self-taught crazy quilting. After her children became adults, she decided to come back to arts and quilting. She has been crafting her brain back together, after surviving a brain tumour in 2015. “A major significant shift in my creative process was 20 years later, with an upgrade in my
tools - in 2017, my grandmother left me some money and after some research, I purchased a quality Bernina sewing machine which allowed me to explore free motion sewing,” she said. “I have been putting myself out there entering quilting events at Quilt and Craft Fairs since 2017 but prior to that, I tried a few hand quilts.” “I did a self-portrait which was in a little mini quilt competition held by Australasian Quilt Convention Buy into craft or expertise events.” Continued page 13
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