As part of Craft Contemporary 2023, KHT invites you to join Aunty Glenda Nicholls (Waddi Waddi, Ngarrindjeri and Yorta Yorta) in a very special and exclusive opportunity to learn the art of Pine Needle Weaving and discover the Cultural significance of this craft, material, and the importance of Country.
The use of pine needles as a weaving fibre emerged in the 1960s among First Peoples women living in the Swan Hill area of Western Victoria. Many of these women were displaced from their own lands as a result of Government child removal policies but brought with them coiling weaving techniques that they continued to practice. The main fibres the women used in their weaving were cumbungi (bulrush) and various sedges. As development pressure reduced access to these sources of raw materials, the women innovated with a fibre that was found in great abundance – pine needles. Aunty Glenda learnt how to incorporate pine needles into traditional coiling weaving techniques through her maternal storyline.
All materials (and light catering) will be supplied and no prior knowledge or skill is needed, though fine motor-skills are required.
Date: 2:00pm-5:00pm Saturday, October 7, 2023
Location: Craft
Cost: Free (limited availability, registrations essential)
About Aunty Glenda
As a Wadi Wadi, Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindgeri artist, Aunty Glenda Nicholls grew up around the Swan Hill area. Glenda watched her mother and Grandmother make feather flowers and do basket weaving. Her cultural name is Jule Yarra Minj (‘little river girl’) and her maternal Ngarrindjeri totem is the Writcharuki (willy-willy wagtail). She is a master weaver, constructing elaborate sculptural works that connect the present with her ancestral past. She applies cultural weaving techniques acquired from her ancestors alongside intimate knowledge of the waterways, plants and grasses on her Country
She believes in community, as it will share these traditions with future generations and her work is represented in the Koorie Heritage Trust Collection.
Aunty Glenda Nicholls
Image credit: Henry Trumble