Padraic Fisher, Director of the National Wool Museum, joins us for our June Talking History. He will draw from the museum’s extensive collection to examine the art of making do and the creation of the bush blanket, or Wagga Quilt.
Quilts, the lost art that was never lost. For over 60,000 years humans have been joining together two pieces of something to make something else. Something bigger, stronger, warmer, softer or more beautiful. Nowhere is this more evident than in the quilt - a textile of two or more layers stitched through all thicknesses. With the backdrop of the National Wool Museum’s collection of over 145 quilts, waggas, rugs, tapestries and blankets he will explore the wagga, or bush blanket, a uniquely Australian art form born from necessity.
Padraic is the Director of the multi-award-winning National Wool Museum, Geelong. He has over 40 years’ experience in arts, culture, heritage and entertainment across three continents as a writer, actor, manager, producer, artist, curator, collector and educator. He is a decorative arts generalist, with an extensive private collection exceeding 3000 objects. He is a member of the Executive Committee the Victorian Branch of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association and the Collections and Programs Committee of the National Trust of Australia, Victoria, and a Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International. A Hudson Valley native New Yorker, he moved to Australia in 2010.
Attend Talking History in person at the Eureka Centre (no booking required). Past lectures can be viewed on YouTube by clicking this link.
Image: Child's quilt wagga, c1930, National Wool Museum Collection
