Two Central Queensland artists, bound together like strands of a double helix by their use of fibre as a primary medium within their arts practice. While their finished works may differ in form and focus, both artists have spent years honing their individual crafts, holding in common a deep understanding of both material and process. 

Boyne Island based Christine Holden’s sculptural works are woven from a unique blend of marine debris and recycled materials. With a focus on ethically sourced materials, including ghost netting, discarded fishing line and rope; foraged from local surroundings, Christine’s pieces seek to convey an important environmental message. 

Julie Thornton is a long-standing Rockhampton artist who has been pushing the boundaries and pioneering fibre art, in its wearable form, for many years. Julie uses a technique that fuses various fibres together to form bespoke fabrics. These materials act as the palette for Julie’s wearable works, creating a fluid dynamic that is only fully activated by the motion of moving bodies. 

From Christine Holden’s reclaimed marine waste weavings of whale tails and sushi to Julie Thornton’s fabulous hand-realised fabrics and wearable art, Double Helix is an opportunity to experience weft and warp, and fibre and fashion, in surprising and refreshing forms.

MATILDA by Julie Thornton 

Matilda was created in 2013 as part of a joint exhibition in Rockhampton called Trace: Poetry, Art and the Built Environment. 

Originally exhibited in Mater Rockhampton’s Kenmore House (the mansion originally built by John Ferguson in 1894 with the intention of it becoming the home of the mooted Governor of the colony of Central Queensland, as part of the push for secession from the greater state of Queensland); Julie’s glorious gown incorporates scroll images of the women’s branch of the Central Queensland Separation League petition of over 3,000 signatures to Queen Victoria to form a separate state of Central Queensland. 

Well before women achieved national suffrage in 1901, this 1892-93 petition (the original document being held as part of The State Library of Queensland’s collection) provides fascinating evidence of women’s awareness and activity in political endeavours in Central Queensland’s early history. 

As well as incorporating carved woodwork by sculptor, Brendon Tohill, the piece also contains a poem, ‘Song of Separation’ by artist, Kristin Hannaford which was written in response to Rockhampton poet Lala Fisher’s 1890s poem of the same name: commissioned over a hundred years earlier.