2020 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

Tasmania, Australia

www.gonerustic.com

Facebook - gonerusticstudiogallery

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Crucible

As I trap layers of freeform crochet and eco dyed scrap materials between a stabiliser that ultimately dissolves, never to be seen again, I unconsciously make visual the cycle of loss, fragmentation and the threads that somehow hold us together.

Fragments, scribbled stitch, odd shapes, the seepage of light (interior light) through the gaps - I am only now beginning to realise what it all means.

It is a lost map, a fragile crucible, the intangible becoming tangible. And I have no idea where this journey will lead me.

Materials - silk crochet; naturally dyed silk fabric, teabag paper and yarn; free motion machine stitched.

                                       

2016 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

mutation

where did you come from

what are you

did you evolve or did

someone make you

your tendrils trail and twist

your shell seems rigid

and yet there’s life

so what are you

© Rita Summers

Mutation

Materials and techniques

Eco printed brown paper from grocery bags (eucalyptus leaves, rusty nails, onion skins); eco dyed silk tape; dyed wool thread; crochet; hand stitching. 

Wet formed between glass bowls.

2015 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

Tasmania, Australia

online as - stitchedupmama

www.gonerustic.com

vessels

three mysterious vessels

seemingly abandoned

by the tide

their surfaces an interlock

of ocean depths

sea grass and sunbeams

(c) Rita Summers

[original designs, begun in a workshop with Prudence Mapstone]

2014 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

Tasmania

(stitchedupmama)

www.gonerustic.com

I have always loved green. Wherever I live I seem to need hills and trees around me.  Others hanker for the sea; I prefer the hinterland.

This neckpiece was made from scrumbles which were discarded from another project I'm working on, and somehow they became a thing of beauty in their own right, representing the kind of natural environment I prefer. The gold beading reminds me of the light which reflects from water droplets after rain, or dew at sunrise.

2013 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

Tasmania, Australia

www.stitchedupmama.com

www.gonerustic.com

Matriarchs

Three generations of women (three handmade nails);

a hexagon template from my Australian mother-in-law;

the plastic rings I saved from the tops of milk bottles.

The spring from a broken plastic clothes peg;

simple embroidery and crochet stitches taught to me

by my Dutch mother and my American teacher.

Patchwork and quilting – remnants salvaged,

worn-out clothes re-used; every scrap saved;

beauty and warmth born out of poverty and thrift.

Donegal handwoven tweed; three leather buttons;

a broken silver ring (eternity/reality) -

gifts from my Tasmanian-born daughter.

Recycled woollen skirts; an op shop blanket;

my own plant-dyed, rusted wool and silk; blue buttons;

coffee-dyed cotton lace; my Canadian birth.

Symbolism and practicality; the art of making do;

nurture, birth, womanhood – month after month;

the quiet fortitude of women of all ages.

The creative spirit driving us year by year,

not diminished, but enriched by endurance, tears

and busy hands – the guiding hands of the matriarchs.

---

28 circles (4 x 7)  represent the passage of time and the reproductive cycle.

2012 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

St. Marys, Tasmania

www.gonerustic.wordpress.com

lost/found

discarded

useful once

now considered useless

yet someone picks it up

finds beauty

in decay

honours it

and others

with stitch

emotion

art

gives it relevance

and meaning

useless once

now considered useful

once lost

now found

rusted silk, woven mesh, wadding and old sheet music; found metal objects; perle cotton; crochet; stitch

 [inspired by the line 'I once was lost, but now am found', from Amazing Grace by John Newton]

2011 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

St. Marys, Tasmania

www.gonerustic.com

Apron for a Driad

trees

almost as ancient as land

dance in readiness for Aslan

arrange themselves in strange attire

composed of lace, leaves, fabric, thread

coloured with pigments

of leaves and rust

antiquity

embellished by dew

stitched by unseen hands

2010 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

St. Marys, Tasmania, Australia

http://www.myspace.com/gonerustic

flying free

morning comes at last 

streams gold

from thin cloud blanket 

silhouettes

the birds freewheeling through the air

I step outside

wade into

grass and lingering dew

shake off

the clinging shroud of sleepless night

cotton, bone buttons, wooden beads, perle cotton,

hand stitched, hand crocheted, hand-dyed

                                                                          

2009 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

St. Marys, Tasmania, Australia

http://www.myspace.com/gonerustic

nest

seeds wake up and push themselves out of the garden beds

new plants turn their flower heads to follow the sun

while birds sing their hearts out in celebration

their perfect nests formed spontaneously

from grass and other findings - no pattern no design just instinct

a place to nurture the next generation

when the children bring one in to me I hold it in my hand

it sits snugly as if it was made to fit my palm

and I wonder how many hatchlings knew it as their home

before the wind blew it down from its hiding place

in the honeysuckle vine

Nest forms designed and made by Rita Summers using various yarns, beads, fishing swivels, metal tags and washers.

Rims worked using the hyperbolic crochet formula.

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2008 Rita Summers

Rita Summers

St. Mary's, Tasmania AU

http://groups.msn.com/GoneRusticQuiltStudioGallery

Mask for a Fire Ball

 This piece is part of a series of fire-related works I produced after a devastating bushfire in my area in northeastern Tasmania in December 2006, which destroyed 26 homes as well as many hectares of private property and bushland.  One life was also lost.  The mask idea came from the Through My Eyes challenge, as well as depicting the destruction and fear which comes when bushfires strike. I tried to include some humour too - a kind of visual pun. hence the name.  The rings which form the eye spaces came from the tops of plastic milk bottles.  The hot colours and flame shapes relate to the fire itself, and the green expresses hope and regrowth.  The mask format relates to how we try to put a brave face on things even when inside we might be finding life very difficult.

  Mask for a Fire Ball was included in the Regener8 Exhibition, held here to mark the first anniversary of the bushfire.

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