The Maharajah's Garden - Travelling Suitcase Exhibition 2010

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Travelling throughout Australia from March 2010 until March 2012

The Maharajah's Garden is ATASDA's 2010 Travelling Suitcase Exhibition and our members have prepared exquisite artworks to travel all over Australia to visit and delight students, all sorts of craft groups, and ATASDA individuals who are working alone.

The Maharajah's Garden is designed to show how textiles can be art, and art can be textiles - enthusing others to go home and try a new technique using textiles and fibres. The travelling exhibition is packed into a suitcase and posted to the next venue, with registration.

The theme "The Maharajah's Garden" has inspired members, offering scope for a broad range of interpretations - botanical, historical, fantastical - with a colourful and glitzy Bollywood "Wow!" factor. Just imagine the sumptuous, dazzling results, with rich, brilliantly coloured artworks, suggesting spices and jewels, myths and legends!

So what makes up The Maharajah's Garden?

The exhibition consists of a two brightly-decorated suitcases, Saffron and Jasmine, which will travel Australia independently, providing groups and schools with a portable exhibition and educational display in a suitcase, creating a visual array of textiles and promoting and fostering the textile and fibre arts.

Exhibition Pieces

Each suitcase contains about twenty-five exotic and vibrant textile works in a range of different media. The works are light but robust (to withstand the travelling process), ranging in size from 15cm square to 120cm x 200cm. They can be displayed both flat and/or hanging to suit the individual requirements of the exhibition recipients.

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Exhibition Pieces by Barbara McLennan (left) and Claire Brach (right)

Each work is accompanied by an A3 techniques board, explaining the inspiration for the work and one of the methods using in the construction of the piece. This documentation not only provides a valuable teaching resource for techniques but illustrates, in a simple form, the kind of documentation needed to accompany exhibited artworks. Some exhibitors have included links to online tutorials or other works.

Collaborative Bunting Project

In addition, visitors will be enticed into the exhibition with colourful and eye-catching individually-designed bunting, that can be tied together to form a flexible collaborative display. Made from kits to standard shapes, the bunting demonstrates the very individual work that textile artists can do, from the same starting point.

Visit the Gallery

If you'd like to take a peak at the wonderful bunting and artworks currently travelling Australia click here to view the Gallery!

Where has the Maharajah's Garden Been?

Click here to view a fantastic map that shows Saffron's and Jasmine's travels so far.

The Maharajah's Garden - Future Travels

Saffron

Sep 2-10 2010: NSW Ardlethan, three groups

Sep 14-17 2010: NSW Wagga Wagga, Embroiderers' Guild

Sep 20 –Oct 5 2010: NSW Parkes, Quilters’ and embroiderers’ groups

Oct 12-14 2010 NSW: Dubbo, Embroiderers' Guild

Oct 17–Nov 1 2010: NSW Port Macquarie region, Laurieton groups

Nov 3-10 2010: NSW Tweed Heads, multiple groups

Nov 10-22 2010: NSW Coffs Harbour, Woolgoolga Gallery

Nov 26-29 2010: NSW Buff Point, Lakeside Quilters

Dec 1-10 2010: NSW Tuggerah, school (private venue)

Christmas layover and repair

Feb 1-9 2011: NSW Narellan school, with Jasmine (private venue)

Feb 2011: NSW Sydney, Eastwood Quilters

Feb-Mar 2011: NSW Tweed Heads school (private venue)

Mar 2011: NSW school (private venue)

Mar 2011: NSW Port Macquarie TAFE

Apr 2011: TBC

May 2011: SA Riddoh Gallery, Mt Gambier

May 2011: WA, Mandurah

Jun 2011: WA ATASDA Group meeting

Jun 2011: SA Burra Gallery

Jul 2011: SA gallery near Burra

Jul 2011: QLD Toowoomba Embroiderer’s

Aug 2011: NT Arts Festival Katherine

Sep 7-12 2011: QLD Redlands Quilt Extravaganza

Sep 2011: QLD Bundaberg Quilters

Oct 2011: QLD Hawthorne school (private venue)

Jasmine

Sep 6-24 2010: SA three schools (private venues)

Sep 25-Oct 15 2010: TBC

Oct 21-Nov 3 2010: SA Mt Gambier Show and postage to QLD

Nov 4-10 2010: QLD Cannonvale Quilt group (multiple meetings)

Nov 17–Dec 12 2010: QLD Cairns Fibres of Life show

Christmas Layover and repair

Feb 1-9 2011: NSW Narellan school with Saffron (private venue)

Feb 11-Mar 3 2011: NSW Sydney TBC

Mar 5- 2011: NSW Southern Highlands venues TBC

Mar 2011: TBC

Apr 4–20 2011: VIC Wangaratta Handweavers and other groups

Apr 20-May 7 2011: VIC Corowa Quilters show and Upper Murray Regional Library

May 2011: VIC Rutherglen and groups

Jun-Jul 2011: TBC

Aug 8-19 2011: Moree, various groups and local schools

Sep 9-Oct 10 2011: NSW Gunnedah gallery

As you can see, there are still some empty slots, so feel free to suggest venues in SA in September 2010 for Jasmine, NSW city or south coast in Mar 2011 for Jasmine (though we are currently following up the many NSW schools who expressed interest at Darling Harbour), NSW in April 2011 for Saffron, VIC or NSW in Jun-July 2011 for Jasmine and QLD in August-September 2011 for Saffron.

Booking The Maharajah's Garden

The Maharajah's Garden is a complete textile art exhibition in a suitcase. From March 2010, it will be available for loan to schools, groups and communities across Australia. You do not need to be a member of ATASDA to book The Maharajah's Garden.

Along with the individual exhibition pieces and the bunting, the suitcase contains cotton gloves for handling the artworks, a catalogue list of works and bunting to be copied for visitors to the exhibition, and a guest book. We also include an album, so Saffron and Jasmine can collect postcards from their travels or take photos of the places they visit.

The only cost is the registered postage to the next venue. Generally, bookings are arranged geographically as much as possible, to minimise postage costs, and often our suitcases get five-start treatment, being chauffeured to their next destination.

For booking enquiries, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it the Maharajah's Garden Team.

The History of the Travelling Suitcase Exhibitions

ATASDA's Travelling Suitcase Exhibitions are an exciting, unique concept that have gained in popularity over the past 5 years.

The past two travelling suitcase exhibitions have both been roaring successes. The first -Illuminations - visited many country areas and often called in to the high schools, patchwork groups, embroiderers, the local library or art gallery, and sometimes even travelled in back seat comfort to the next town for a further outing! What a life he had for two years!

The second suitcase was Artrageous, in which famous art works inspired works in members' own favoured techniques. How could students fail to be excited by the range of artists and works? It travelled for three years and images of some of the works can be found in our Gallery section.

The feedback in the guests' book, the postcards from towns visited and emails and letters received showed the country audience to be ecstatic. In addition, the care and respect shown to the items meant that, amazingly, works were returned in almost pristine condition (we include a few pairs of white cotton gloves) and the old fashioned cases proved to be more than up to the job of providing strong Australia Post-proof luggage.