Jan Leishman

The River Runs

Woven tapestry (wool weft, cotton warp)
48cm x 20cm (Mounted: 51cm x 25.5cm)

>> Jan weaves tapestries on a upright (haute lisse) loom. She has been exhibiting her work regularly for the past 12 years and holds a Diploma of Art (Woven Tapestry) from South West TAFE, Warrnambool (2007). She moved to Ballarat from Dunkeld in 2014.
Jan is inspired by colour, form and her environment. A member of the Soldiers Hill Artist Collective, she has exhibited widely across western Victoria, Melbourne – including the former Victorian Tapestry Workshop – interstate, New Zealand and the USA.
 

Threads of Fabric

by Robert Sidler

This ain’t no painting
It’s cloth
Woven thread strand by strand intricately placed
To inspire thoughts of imagination
The dead crows in the tree of lava
The intergalactic giraffe flying through the unknown
The fiery rivers of Dante’s hell embanked by the faceless
The gold peacock sits upon her eggs oblivious to the obvious
Or time itself if time be yellow
Meandering through the wasteland
Dividing uniting and segregating
As time moves onwards forwards

Listen to Robert’s poem (read by Jason Nahrung):
 

>> Robert is a member of Ballarat Writers who enjoys writing as a hobby. He lives in Ballarat after having spent many years in Europe.
 
Jan’a response to Robert’s text:
I am greatly impressed by the many and varied images Robert has observed in my work. He has drawn on the threads of both our imaginations to create something larger than the original. His words enhance my tapestry by freeing it from creation by one person and allowing it to express itself more expansively in symbiosis with another.
 

Poster art by Alexander Neil for text by Robert Sidler