Greek Museum of Adelaide Exhibition

I spend an extraordinary hour or so this morning at an exhibition at the Flambouron Hall, 18 Fulton St Glenelg, guided by Chrysoula Melissinaki, president of the Greek Museum of Adelaide Inc. Chrysoula has lived in Australia for eight years and is passionate about collecting, preserving, displaying and cataloguing art and craft items belonging to the Greek-Australian community in Adelaide.


Most items have been donated by members of the Greek-Australian community. A few come from Museums in Greece or are on loan.


The association hires halls for exhibitions and stores the collection at other times in boxes in Chrysoula's home.

They hope to create a permanent home for the collection. I was mightily impressed. Items were beautifully displayed - indeed curated, with ample descriptions in both Greek and English. Chrysoula has found videos of various elements of the exhibitions and these can be viewed on screens. Also available are books that provide further information.

I was able to take photos, and given permission to use them on social media. Chrysoula took me through the whole exhibition and gave me background on the items.  The exhibition deserves more detailed cover. I am, however, anxious to publish and distribute this tonight, so that friends and Guild members in Adelaide might be able to get to the see it before it closes on Saturday around lunchtime. It will be closed on New Year's Day, but open from 10am -5.30pm on Thursday 2 January and Friday 3 January and 10 am- around 1.30pm on Saturday 4 January.


The exhibition covers a wide range of handcrafts, including musical instruments, pressed metal, lamps and a fine collection of old irons.


There are beautifully crafted wood items.

The importance of Plato and Socrates to Greek culture is acknowledged in many homes, and in the exhibition.

It is, however, the textiles that took my breath away.






There are many examples of historic and vintage weavings, many arriving with migrant families. The two on the left were made by Chrysoula's grandmother.

Many examples are behind glass - great for viewing but not so good for amateur photography.

This is just a tiny sample of the crochet on display - from spider-web fineness to heavy bedspread quality.










Similarly, the costumes vary from skin, to heavy wool to fine silk.

I loved the Cretan work, and the examples from Skyros.

Some fine cutwork, and Lefkaritika, one (left) hand-stitched and one machine.

 

Tatting

I have tried to capture the scope and depth of this exhibition.  If you have a chance to see it, don't miss out. It is a remarkable achievement for a non-profit community group. It is a huge commitment of time, effort and shared knowledge. I do hope this develops into a full-fledged museum - and that other groups take inspiration from it. 

This is Adelaide's heritage.
Thank you Chrysoula and your Museum volunteers.

Twelfth Skyros Man and Chair Finish

 

The twelfth man is finished, along with his two flower motifs. I stitched the smaller sections in darning stitch and the two large bits - his pants and top - in Bokhara. 

 

Here is the final panel washed, ironed

 

 

 

 

 

and pinned in place on the chair cover, ready for stitching in place.

 

It is awkward stitching it on my sewing machine. A long-arm or  industrial machine would be easier, especially around the front of the arms.  

However, I managed. I'm glad I decided to buy a cover for the chair and stitch to that, rather than hand-stitching the linen to the chair itself by hand. While that may have given a tighter fit, being able to take this off to launder or repair gives a level of comfort.

It isn't an easy object to photograph, but here are a couple of shots of the finished chair in situ.

 

 

I still have quite a bit of thread left, somewhat to my surprise. Bokhara stitch should use more thread than running stitch and I thought I might need to buy more, but I have plenty left for a small back cushion, or other projects.

 

 

I'm so pleased with this project. I was enchanted when I saw it as a director's chair in Inspirations 78, and I have finished the adaptation to an armchair before Inspirations 80 has arrived.

 

Thanks to all my family and friends for encouragement along the way.

 

Now to sit and stitch in my chair!
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Earlier posts on this chair can be found at
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/men-of-skyros-preparation.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/men-of-skyros-stitching-begins.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/men-of-skyros-original-darning-man.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/men-of-skyros-bokhara-man.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/men-of-skyros-lattice-man.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/bokhara-coat-man.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/men-of-skyros-panel-one.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/men-of-skyros-chair-panel-one.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/skyros-man-6.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/skyros-man-7.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/skyros-man-8.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/second-skyros-panel-finished.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/skyros-man-9.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/skyros-man-10.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/skyros-chair-eleventh-man.html
http://jillian-alwaysstitching.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/skyros-chair-cushion.html




 

 

 

Skyros Chair Cushion

I needed a design for the cushion seat of my Skyros Chair. I could have repeated some of the men, but wanted to retain the effect of the line of men dancing around the back of the chair, so I spent quite a bit of time looking through my books to find other designs that were appropriate to Skyros embroidery.

In Embroidery of the Greek Islands and Epirus Region by Sumru Belger Krody, I found a number of examples of Skyros work, that include a range of exaggerated and mythical animals. I settled on a bed-hanging that used a series of embellished roosters.


I enlarged and adapted one of these roosters, and traced it on to the cover of the cushion that came with the chair. The fabric on this original chair cover was a strong, woven cream linen-like fabric, soft and loosely enough woven to stitch.

I tried it in my sitting frame, hoping to be able to move it around the house more easily than the large frame in which I am still working the Skyros Men, and thus work both projects at once.


I soon found, however, that the project worked much better out of the frame altogether.

The stitches used in the bed hanging, according to Krody, were outline stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch and a form of counted-thread running stitch. As I could not count the threads in the chair fabric, I restricted myself to the other three stitches - mostly outline and chain to take the wear it is likely to get. These stitches were much easier to manage out of the frame.


I took the general colour palette from the original and used mainly threads I had - including a couple of hanks of Gloriana silk, oneblues/mauves/greeny-gold and another pinky-reds. I had several shades of Madiera silk in golds and greens, and bought a few more when these ran out. I used  DMC perle 8 for the heavy outline.

I am pretty pleased with the result. My rooster takes himself a lot more seriously than the Skyros Men take themselves, which provides a nice contrast.

Skyros Chair: the eleventh man

I have taken the last panel of my Skyros Men out of my floor stand and oval hoop for the last two men and four remaining small motifs.

I worked the two remaining bird motifs with the panel in my hand rather than in the hoop.




I then mounted the panel in a sitting frame This gives me a bit more flexibility in when and where I stitch it.

I had to leave the attached calico side panels on to fit the end man in the hoop- so I worked him first. Thus the eleventh man stitched is the twelfth man in the panel.

Now that he is finished, I can remove the calico side panels and fit the one remaining figure, with his two associated flower motifs, securely into the 12 inch hoop to complete the panel.





The end is now well in sight and reach.

Skyros Man 10

I haven't entirely neglected my Skyros Men. Circumstances over the last weeks have meant I've found less  time to sit at the large frame in which my last panel is mounted. I've been away a bit and needing projects I can carry with me, or work in other parts of the house.

I have, however, managed to sit and complete bits of the tenth man on and off over the last few weeks.

This weekend I made a concerted effort to work on the large areas - choosing once again to use my favourite Bokhara stitch. It gives good coverage and I enjoy it. As I have said before, it is a stitch used in the Mediterranean around the time of these figures and has the same sloping effect as the running stitch off-set by one thread in each row.

Admittedly, Bokhara is more a Turkish influence - but there was Turkish influence on Skyros. I am playing the role of an embroiderer from other parts of the Ottoman Empire engaged to work on Skyros and intent on saving time and remaining motivated!








The Tenth Man is now finished. Two to go - plus a few stray birds and flowers!

Skyros Man 9

I traced up my third chair panel of Skyros Men as soon as I finished the second one. By careful manipulation, I managed to get all four men following the slope of the arm of the chair without putting them very far across the grain of the linen.

I then added the edges and mounted it into my oval frame. This time, however, I tried the oval frame in my all-purpose floor stand, rather than in the stand that came with the oval hoop.

I have had some difficulty with the clamps on this general stand but my friend Alan Bevan made some adjustments and adaptations for me. This is the first chance I have had to try it out since he made them, and I am hoping it will give me more flexibility than the stand that came with the oval hoop.

The general stand is rather better suited to roller frames that have straight sides, but I managed to arrange the hoop in the stand using the clamps on the top of the oval where the curve is minimal.



 


So far it has worked well. It allows me to have the work at a more upright angle to my body. The original stand puts the work between 90 degrees and about 75 degrees to your body. This allows me more like 60-45 degrees.




I am working, as before, largely in darning stitch, but using Bokhara on his pantaloons.




I am also working up a scheme for the cushion of the chair - but more on that later!

Here he is finished.

Second Skyros Panel Finished

The small motifs are finished off and the second panel for my chair is out of the frame and ironed.

I pinned the new panel on to the chair cover, while it was still on the chair. This gives me the most reliable fit.






















I then removed the cover from the chair and stitched the panel to the cover using my machine.


I am mightily pleased with the result.




There is, however, no stopping now, as the chair looks decidedly unfinished!


Four more men and a few motifs to go.