Selling Yarns Library

An archive of presentations and papers made at past Selling Yarns conferences

2013 – Selling Yarns 3 Weaving the nation's story

Old and new: the story of Selling Yarns 3 – Dr Louise Hamby: Selling Yarns 3: Weaving the nation's story was starting to be told by an amazing group of people who live across Australia and overseas. The group was welcomed by many people including Aunty Agnes Shea who represented the Ngunnawal people of the Canberra region.

2009 – Selling Yarns 2 Innovation for sustainability

Moving to China – Kevin Murray: Dr. Kevin Murray's presentation from the Selling Yarns 2 conference examining ethical steps towards a sustainable world craft.
Art beyond the canvas – Alison Page: Designer Alison Page's key note presentation from Selling Yarns 2 conference in which she outlines her proposal for a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Design School.
More than money – Trish Barnard: Senior Curator of Indigenous Studies at the Queensland Musuem Trish Barnard's presentation from the Selling Yarns 2 conference in which she critiques the authenticity of Indigenous arts and craft objects made for the tourist market. She argues that appropriation of Indigenous motifs can disadvantage Indigenous artists with respect to the integrity of their represented cultures.
Selling Yarns 2 conference video – Catrina Vignando: The Selling Yarns 2: Innovation for sustainability conference held at the National Museum of Australia on the week-end was a huge success. The conference was fully booked and thanks to the Museum for opening the Studio to accommodate those who would have otherwise missed out.
Cross cultural exchanges in craft and design edited by Louise Hamby: craft+design enquiry, Issue 2, 2010. ANU ePress; Cross-cultural exchanges in craft and design are the focus for the second issue of craft + design enquiry. Members of the Craft Australia Research Centre initiated the theme for this issue based on outcomes from the successful conference and workshop, Selling Yarns 2: Innovation for sustainability presented by The Australian National University, Craft Australia and the National Museum of Australia in March 2009. Indigenous textiles and fibre practice were at the heart of this event dedicated to all aspects of the economic expressions of fibre primarily by Aboriginal Australian artists.

2006 – Selling Yarns 1 Australian Indigenous textiles and good business in the 21st century

A guide to pricing shell and seed necklaces – Alice Whish: Jeweller Alice Whish discusses a methodology for pricing shell and seed necklaces based on her experiences working with Indigenous artists in Maningrida, Elcho Island and Milingimbi.
Reclaiming culture in south-eastern Australia – Lorraine Coutts: Lorraine Coutts is the Roving Curator, Indigenous Cultures Department at Museum Victoria and her paper looked at the Museums development of cultural workshops for Indigenous artists and the Roving Curator program that has been instrumental in developing cultural projects and workshops organized specifically to develop art and craft practice for the Victorian Aboriginal community.
Patterns of practice: Indigenous fibre art and museums – Lindy Allen: Lindy Allen is Senior Curator for Northern Australian Collections at Museum Victoria, including the important historical ethnographic, manuscript and image collections of Baldwin Spencer and Donald Thomson. Her paper addressed the potential that museums and galleries in Australia have in the promotion and development of Indigenous fibre practice.
Raising the profile of Indigenous artists – Lola Greeno: Raising the profile of Indigenous artists by Lola Greeno was presented at the Selling Yarns conference in Darwin in 2006. Greeno's paper looked at the transitional stage from community to emerging artist, focusing on traditional Aboriginal women's craft and how it has made significant contributions to raising the profile of Tasmanian Aboriginal women.
Native weaving: enduring traditions of life and commerce – Richard West: Delivered by W. Richard West, Jr., this was the keynote address at the Selling Yarns conference held in Darwin in 2006. Director of the National Museum of the American Indian, W. Richard West Jr., a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a Peace Chief of the Southern Cheyenne, is founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. His keynote address focused on, from a Native American perspective, the arts of basket-weaving - and how in the United States and Native America, a commercial context has been developed for the sustainability weaving traditions.
It's all art, but still we have a fibre problem – Tim Acker and Jon Altman: Tim Acker and Jon Altman's paper argues that Indigenous art and craft is all art, but that some forms have greater market demand and associated value, and that the community art centre model and public patronage remain essential to ensure the maintenance of robust arts practice at remote Indigenous communities.
Buying with insight: the value of research – Louise Hamby: Hamby's paper argues that much of the 'text' required to substantiate, authenticate and provide insights to the value of Indigenous fibre work in Australia is lacking, and that more resources need to be directed to research in the fibre area in order for substantial texts to be produced.
How Manangrida artists market their work – Apolline Kohen: Kohen's paper demonstrated how Maningrida fibre artists adapted their skills and invented new forms of fibre art to gain further recognition as artists and to get a greater financial return.