Red Hot Fibre

This was a curated touring exhibition of 26 artists selected from Red Hot Fibre '98, supported by the Regional Galleries Association of Queensland, Noosa Regional Gallery, Fine Print Australian Paper and the American Book Store. This exhibition began touring in May 1999 and after being exhibited at twelve galleries throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria the exhibition finished at the Queensland Museum, Townsville in July 2001. The exhibition was on display for 455 days and was visited by over 33,000 people (1).

(1) Statistics drawn from RGAQ Exhibition report.

Scissors cut paper, stone blunts scissors, paper wraps
stone; down through time, hands have formed these symbols.
A game; but in the work of many artists in this exhibition, also
a metaphor for the vicissitudes and opportunities of life
itself. Considering other meanings: I think of scissors, a tool,
as technology, paper an artefact, as all human products, including
art, stone, a natural substance, as the natural environment. Such
considerations make the title of this exhibition even more
apposite, because for many of the artists, the choice of materials
appears to be an important aspect of their expression. Materials
which require processing, so that artists must constantly
balance the demands of "scissors", "paper" and
"stone".

The process of curating SCISSORPAPERSTONE has been exciting, challenging and exhausting. The offer extended by Red Hot Fibre™ to develop a touring exhibition form RHF '98 was oppotune. In devising the brief, I hoped to provide scope for the artists I had selected to develop and explore their practice on a material and conceptual level. Initial proposals were enthusiastic and diverse, but I was not prepared for the wealth of response as it was revealed for the first time during the adventure of unwrapping the work. Some artists have travelled a personal journey through the metaphor of the game, while other have taken the opportunity to experiment with materials and techniques suggested by the exhibition title (cutting and wrapping are implied by scissors and paper). I am delighted by their various responses.

Red Hot Fibre™ and Noosa Regional Gallery have taken a chance in working with an 'off-site' emerging curator to develop this exhibition. I am grateful for their support and encouragement and trust that the outcomes / consequences exceed their expectations.

The spectrum of the work is startingly broad, yet the richness this brings to the show has the capacity to extend the boundaries of papermaking and fibre art beyond a preoccupation with technique and material and allow politics, personality, perplexity and playfulness to emerge.

Fiona Marshall curator

Fiona Marshall - Curator
As curator of Scissor Paper Stone, I would like to thank the artists who have made work for this exhibition and written about their work. My particular appreciation goes to Katherine Nix, who produced the catalogue essay and Maryann Long, who persevered with catalogue design when the whole project seemed uncertain. My thanks to Red Hot Fibre™ for the initial opportunity to develop the exhibition and their support along the way and to the staff of the Noosa Regional Gallery for their help with administration and installation.

Red Hot Fibre™
Red Hot Fibre™ acknowledges all the organisations and individuals who have contributed to this exhibition. It has been rewarding to develop a lasting relationship with our sponsors, Australian Paper, Fine Print (Qld) and the American Book Store. Special thanks to Chris Collingwood, Louisa De Amicis, Bruce Thomas, Luke Burless, Maryann Long, Katherine Nix and Kevin Wilson and especially our curator, Fiona Marshall and her family.

This project has recieved assistance from the Exhibition Development Fund made available to the Regional Galleries Association of Queensland by the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body. the RGAQ also recieves assistance from Arts Queensland. Special thanks to Rebecca Dezuanni and Stephanie Lindquist for advice and encouragement.

Catalogue design by Maryann Long (MA+Design)

Click on thumbnail to view works and details.

	Suspended Book Adele Outteridge
	Hanging Garden (detail) Marion Gaemers
	Sharp and Hot Kathy Crump
	Treaty Ma Fiona Gavino
	HIM # 2 (After Brett Whitely) Melissa Hirsch
	Solid Objects Kirsten Wolf
	Household Gods Liz Powells
	Twined Pandanus Mat Shirley Malgarrij
	Stonefaced and Tongue-tied Britt Knudsen Owens
	Presence of Being II Christine Ballinger
	Paper wraps stone, paper becomes stone Jill Brose
	Five fold screen Gail Stiffe
	Monocular - stone (detail) Motoyuki Niwa
	Lost Property Mary Ann Hatcher
	Kern Mantles (Core samples) Lesa Hepburn
	I can see through your game (detail) Cathy Sicilliano
	Bush Basket Wentjia Napaltjari
	Boxes I - IV: scissors, paper, stone nemesis (detail Box III) Anna Kings
	Scissors, Paper, Stone: An inconsequential book of chance (detail) Marianne Little
	Friendships made in stone stand the test of time Snow stone: Mt Wellington (1 of 3) Kate Ford
All photographs shown of Scissors Paper Stone exhibits by Russell Stokes, unless otherwise noted.

Red Hot Fibre™ began with a vision to create a regular high profile exhibition event in Queensland for innovative and adventurous natural fibre and handmade paper artworks from throughout Australia. In conjunction with the exhibitions, programs were developed to include demonstrations, workshops and seminars to inform and educate audiences about the potential of these materials and techniques as contemporary artforms.

The exhibitions were planned to give paper and natural fibre artists an opportunity to display their work to audiences in a way that would generate increased sales and increased interest in the media.

Red Hot Fibre™ is exploring new formats, outlets and avenues for promoting papermaking and natural fibre art in Australia.

For more information on this catalogue or Red Hot Fibre™ initiatives, click here to go to our contact details page.