Friday, April 21, 2017

2015 & 2016 - Explorations in newspaper and form

These works were exhibited as part of the Art Educators of the NT members shows in 2015 and 2016.

Rebecca Arbon. Newspaper VIII. Newspaper, hemp thread, shellac. 2016
Exhibited as part of Art Works

Rebecca Arbon. Newspaper VII. Newspaper, hemp thread, shellac. 2015
Exhibited as part of Art @ Work

Rebecca Arbon. Newspaper VII detail. Newspaper, hemp thread, shellac. 2015
Exhibited as part of Art @ Work



2014 - Past Time - Linden Art Space

 Rebecca Arbon & Siying Zhou. 2014. Past Time installation view 1
Rebecca Arbon & Siying Zhou. 2014. Past Time installation view 2
Rebecca Arbon & Siying Zhou. 2014. Past Time installation view 3



Past-time was a live performance by Rebecca Arbon (NT) and Siying Zhou (NT/VIC). Staged inside Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Arbon and Zhou explored, through acts of repetitive knitting and rolling, the psychological re-connections that can be drawn from an individual’s experience of emotional loss by reinvesting your time in day-to-day life. Imitating and reapplying these actions in a contrived gallery environment, we intended to discover the philosophical and paradoxical meanings imbedded in the mundane.


2013 Collaborative work with Siying Zhou - Build-down

Build-down was the start of a performance and installation work Past Time that later occurred at Linden Art Space in 2014.
Build-down was a performance that celebrated the connection of two artists through knitting. During the hot hand humid performance I knit while Siying slowly pulled the knitting apart at the opposite end and rolled it meticulously into a new ball of wool.
Rebecca Arbon & Siying Zhou. 2013. Build-down – Holmes Jungle (performance)
2013 - Knitting with crocodiles

Haven't posted in a ridiculously long time!!!
Here are some images from 2013 :)

Subaqueous Knit
Rebecca Arbon. 2013. Subaqueous Knitter. Performance Still.

Like a pixel is the smallest, controllable element of a picture represented on a screen, a stitch is the smallest, controllable element in a knitted work. The composition of both stitches in a knitting pattern, and the pixel composition of digital images, is arranged as a grid of squares[1]. Through pixilating images of my knitted works I am attempting to explore the relationship between the handmade form and the digital image.


Rebecca Arbon. 2013. Subaqeuous Knit 3. Digital still

Embroidery is constructed (mostly by women) in hundreds of tiny stitches which are visible on the front of the fabric…Software is constructed (mostly by men) in hundreds of tiny pieces of code, which form the hidden structure of the programme or interface…[2]




Rebecca Arbon. 2013. Subaqeuous Knit 1 and 2. Digital stills

Each of my knitted works narrates the laborious studio process. I indulge in a state of meditation, using the monotonous motion of the hand relevant to the traditional process of knitting to connect with the unconscious. For me the oddity of knitting in a tropical region exaggerates the delicacy of the connection I am trying to maintain with traditional crafts. I have begun photographing my knitted works underwater – in pools and natural bodies of water. I became drawn to incorporating water with my knitted works for its subconscious, transformational, reflective and motional properties; seeing the knitted work underwater seemed to reconnect my tropical surroundings with my process.
As a process driven object maker, I am intrigued by the symbiotic connection between the hand and the form. I am fascinated by the importance of the hand in art history and how the relationship between the artist and the hand is evolving with technology as we become more removed from first-hand traditional craft experience and more oriented towards observing the world through a screen. For me, contemporary drawing and sculptural practices are cumulative processes; wholes that are comprised of many small parts, akin to pixels.[3]

Like a pixel is the smallest, controllable element of a picture represented on a screen, a stitch is the smallest, controllable element in a knitted work. Morphing pixelated images of my knitted works allows me to explore the interrelationship between these ‘smallest controllable element’ and the role they play in the identity of an object.

The composition of both these ‘smallest controllable elements’, such as stitches in a knitting pattern, and the pixel composition of digital images, is arranged as a grid of squares[4]. By pixilation of images of my knitted works I am attempting to explore the relationship between the handmade form and the digital image.


[1] http://knittingpatternsfree.net/
[2] Ele Carpenter, Open Source, 2005
[3] Shannon Stratton, Reconstructive Surgery: Re-imaging the Body in Fibre, Catalogue essay for exhibition The Body in Fibre, 2006
[4] http://knittingpatternsfree.net/


 Rebecca Arbon. 2013. Subaquesous Knit - Morphing