Central Coast Quakers will exhibit 10 of the 24 completed panels of the Australian Quaker Narrative Embroidery in the Kariong Arts Barn on January 21-22.
The panels beautifully depict the story of Quakers in Australia, ranging from the Sydney Parkinson panel, telling the story of the first Quaker to set foot on the land we now call Australia, to the panel about the Silver Wattle Quaker Centre on the edge of Lake George.
The project was inspired by the Quaker Tapestry in the UK.
Local Quaker Lisa Wriley visited the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal (UK) in 1994 and returned to volunteer there for a week in 2014.
“I was so inspired by the 40 or so tapestry panels in Kendal,” she said.
“I had only met one Quaker before stumbling across them – when I did a course in Peace Studies at Macquarie University.
“My tutor, Sabine Erika, was a Quaker and told us about her activism with women at Greenham Common.
“I was drawn to this faith community of people who ‘let their life speak’ and worship in silence.”
Wriley said each panel was a unique work of art telling a story.
“Many hands and hearts have worked on each of the panels,” she said.
“I stitched some of the Creating a Sacred Space panel and … have also joined the silent vigil for justice for Indigenous Australians that the panel describes.”
The Australian Quaker Narrative embroideries can be seen in the Arts Barn, 2 Dandaloo St, Kariong, from 10am-4pm on Saturday, January 21, and 11.30am-2pm on Sunday, January 22.
For more information call 0429 431 889.
Central Coast Quakers meet at the Arts Barn at 10am on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
Source:
Media release, Jan 12
Lisa Wriley