vivonne thwaites
curator
dawn kanost
Dawn Kanost
Practice like your hair's on fire, 2014
reclaimed materials: silk (scarves, clothing, sari), cotton
2680 x 1950 mm
Photography by Jeremy Dillon
The piece is a ‘kantha’ (an Indian traditional quilt that reworks worn saris.)
The work is made from reclaimed materials of silk (scarves, clothing, a sari) and cotton (stitching). Uncounted layers of silk have been hand-stitched together – by studying the edge areas, overlays of at least 6 separate textiles can be identified in parts.
Words are formed by the stitching – these words are the ten Buddhist 'paramis': generosity VIRTUE wisdom renunciation ENERGY patience truthfulness rESoLVE loving kindness EQUANIMITY
FLY (brooch) 2010
reclaimed materials: tableware (epns)
new materials: 925 sterling silver, stainless steel
13 cm x 13 cm x 2.5 cm
Photo: Jeremy Dillon
Annular (brooch) 2010
reclaimed materials: tableware (epns)
new materials: 925 sterling silver, stainless steel
16.5 cm x 16.5 cm x 2 cm
Photo: Jeremy Dillon
HOUSEHOLDER (brooch) 2010
reclaimed materials: tableware(EPNS)
new materials: 925 sterling silver, stainless steel
4 x 17 x 3 cm
Photo: Jeremy Dillon
HEROINE (two-finger ring) 2010
reclaimed materials: tableware (EPNS)
3.5 cm x 9.5 cm x 4 cm
Photo: Jeremy Dillon
dawn kanost
My work represents several loves intertwined. I was engaged, from my childhood, with the worlds my parents recalled to me. Harold's childhood, with backdrop of the American Depression and a sole parent, full of bean dishes, wild asparagus, blueberries sorted and preserved. My Finnish mother, Aune, whose x-rays showed childhood tuberculosis calcified within her lungs, wove into me Finnish forests, rag rugs and threads of fearlessness. My own memories of mushrooming in wet paddock grasses and late-summer, fly-maddening days spent with enormous creek-grown blackberries, fingers and mouths purpled, skin traced with thorn signatures.
These loves have at their centre the notion of a peasant culture. I can't help myself – I'm in love with the way people who owned one dress for 'working', and another 'for best', clothed themselves. I'm captivated by their inventive, and often large, adornments: traditional designs that marked your origins, marital status and were, before banks came into existence, their wealth worn.
And into the current day, where the revolution of an ecologically-sound approach to daily living seems obvious, I find myself using reclaimed materials to speak of my wish for this change.
dawn kanost - cv
| EDUCATION | |
| 2011 | Diploma of Engineering Technology – Jewellery. NMIT. |
| 2007 | Diploma of Anthroposophical Studies. Melbourne Rudolf Steiner Seminar Ltd. |
| 1996 | Doctor of Philosophy (Immunology). Monash Medical School, Monash University. |
| 1989 | Bachelor of Science (Hons 1). Monash University. |
| SOLO EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2005 | Let something go: change, NGV moat, Melbourne |
| SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2013 | Home. Reframing craft and domesticity, Hatch Contemporary Arts Space, Ivanhoe |
| 2011 | Linden Postcard Show 2011, Linden St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda. |
| 2008 | Expressions 2008: The Wool Quilt Prize, National Wool Museum, Geelong. |
| 2006 | Lexicon, Gallery @ City Library, Melbourne. |
| 2004 | Expressions 2004: The Wool Quilt Prize, National Wool Museum, Geelong. |
| 2004 | Real. Not Real, artroom5, Adelaide. |
| 2003 | Linden Postcard Show 2003, Linden St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda. |
| 1999 | Doll, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide; Object Galleries, Sydney, Pt Pirie Tourism Arts Centre, Pt Pirie. |
| 1998 | Home is where the art is, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide. |
| 1994 | Courtship & dating: things your grandparents never told you, Adelaide Details. |
| GRANTS AND AWARDS | |
| 2004 | Coffin Bay Art and Craft Gallery’s Winter Hat and Beanie exhibition. |
| Two prizes: Most Surprising / Unexpected Hat; Most Innovative Hat. | |
| 1989 | Australian Postgraduate Research Award. |
| 1991 | Australian Society for Immunology Student Bursary. |
| 1988 | Anti-Cancer Council Vacation Studentship. |
| SELECTED PUBLICATIONS | |
| 2004 | Trzcinski, J. ‘Trash and treasure’ Herald Sun Home Magazine. May 29, 2004:16 |
| 2004 | Radok, S. ‘Real not real’ The Adelaide Review. 247 (April 2004). |
| 1999 | Harms, L. ‘Doll’ Artlink. 1999, 19(2):84–85 |
| 1994 | Kanost, D. and McCluskey, J. 1994. ‘Anergic B cells constitutively present self antigen: enhanced immunoglobulin receptor-mediated presentation of antigenic determinants by B cells is hierarchical’ Eur. J. Immunol. 24:1186–1193. |
| 1993 | Kanost, D., Basten, A., and McCluskey, J. 1993. ‘Threshold detection of self-antigen/MHC class II complexes formed in vivo: constitutive presentation of an immunodomiant epitope of hen egg lysozyme (HEL) in HEL-transgenic mice’ Int. Immunol. 5(8):893–902. |
| 1991 | McCluskey, J., Blok, R., Brooks, A., Chen, W., Kanost, D., and Kjer-Nielsen, L. 1991. ‘The biology of antigen processing and presentation.’ In James McCluskey (ed) Antigen Processing and Recognition, p. 1–54, CRC Press, Boca Raton (ISBN 0-8493-6932-0) |
| COLLECTIONS | |
| The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, University of Western Australia | |
| J. D. Somerville Oral History Collection, State Library of South Australia | |
| Private collections | |