Exploring plant fibres for textiles and sculptural works.
‘call & response’ exhibition – 2026 Artist in Residence, Fibre Makers Space, Brough House
Visit the page – ‘call & response’ for more details of the works in the exhibition – images, descriptions & background information.
‘call & response’ exhibition marks the culmination of Jane’s 3-month Artist in Residence at the Fibre Makers Space, a project of the National Trust’s Grossmann House & Brough Houses in Maitland, NSW.
Working in dialogue with the collection of Grossmann House, Jane responds to three nineteenth-century objects: a portrait of Mary Owen (Capper), a Victorian botanical wool-work vitrine, and Walter Cracknell’s 1878 bird’s-eye engraving of West Maitland. Rather than recreating these objects, the works become conversations across time, exploring the relationships between textiles, botany and the ecology of the area.
At the heart of the exhibition is Hibiscus heterophyllus (native rosella), a rainforest-edge species once common throughout the Lower Hunter Valley. Richens is both a visual artist and biodiversity farmer who has spent 26 years observing and conserving a dry rainforest near Dungog. The hibiscus used in this exhibition is from her own rainforest regeneration work, bringing the living material and ecological knowledge of that ecosystem into dialogue with the historic collection.
Its bast fibre is transformed into a life-sized sculptural garment that responds to the portrait, its stems are reimagined through textile millinery in dialogue with the botanical vitrine, and its lost habitat is reconstructed through textile maps of the pre-clearing vegetation surrounding Bo-un (Maitland) on Wonnarua Country.
Through contemporary fibre practice, ‘call & response’ reconnects this historic collections with the living landscapes that it is situated within, inviting visitors to consider what remains visible, what has been forgotten and how art can recover ecological and cultural stories embedded within place.
About the Fibre Makers Space Artist in Residence program
The Fibre Makers Space Artist in Residence program was established through a patron donation, uniquely inviting artists to engage creatively with Grossmann House’s historic collection. For three months, multidisciplinary artist Jane Richens worked from the Fibre Makers Space at Brough House, responding to objects, garments and stories from the collection. The residency provided a unique opportunity to practise contemporary fibre art alongside a significant historic collection, creating a living-history adjunct to Grossmann House and a new way for audiences to encounter the collection.
Jane used the setting as a springboard for questions about historic clothing and dress, the environmental history of Maitland and the Hunter, the vegetation and insects that once inhabited the region, and changing relationships between people, materials and the natural environment.
The project brought people into the process while the work was being developed. Through regular Open Studio sessions, organised and informal conversations, demonstrations, a fully subscribed hands-on workshop, organised studio tours, public Open Days, media coverage and a final exhibition and artist talk, visitors were invited to see how research becomes art.
Part of the National Trust – Grossmann & Brough Houses
During the Artist in Residence program there were Open Studio Days where the public was invited to view Jane’s processes and engage in the conversation – 8 March through to 26 May – Mondays & Tuesdays 10-3.
Visit the page – ‘call & response’ for more detailed descriptions & background information on the works in the exhibition.
Below • Some of the visitors to the studio including a small number of those who provided technical assistance: Martyn & Heather Kavanagh – rainforest; Renee McLean – Red Cedar Project; Silvia Da Rocha – Maitland library collections; Dr Bill McDonald – rainforest ecosystems; Chloe Coleman – Maitland Mercury; Lynn Morris & Misha Bevan Moon – garments & Victorian fashion; Renee McLean – Red Cedar Project; Peter Wilson – Hunter Region Landcare & rainforest vegetation; Meryl Swanson – MP for Paterson; Hon. Jenny Aitchison MP; Hon. Margaret Beazley Governor of NSW
Thank you to so many for your assistance and great discussions during the Artist in Residence and the exhibition: Fibre Makers Space & Grossmann House team – Vicki Cornish, Holly McNamee, Lynn Morris, Barbara Osmond, Fibre Makers Space past AIRs • Local promotion: Chloe Coleman – articles in the Maitland Mercury; Brian Doherty – Gresford News; Paterson Allyn Williams Science & Ideas Hub; Arts Upper Hunter • Exhibition assistance: Robina Booth – exhibition installation; Kim Blunt & Nathan MRAG • Technical discussions: Misha Bevan Moon – garments & Victorian fashion; Peter Wilson – Hunter Region Landcare & rainforest vegetation; Dr Bill McDonald – rainforest ecosystems; Martyn Robinson – entomology especially the difference between bugs & beetles; Silvia Da Rocha – Maitland library collections; Penny Kater – significant trees of Maitland; Renee McLean – Red Cedar Project; Sarah Crawford – prints; Dungog peeps, creatives & dancers that keep me going. Extra special: my forest for being my muse & research partner; John O’Brien & Donna Cavanough for your rainforest music at the opening; and Brian Doherty – 40 years of creative partnering, design & engineering.
• AIR & exhibition visitors for your great conversations and encouragement.
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Experiments with Hibiscus heterophyllus bast fibre – weaving, sewing, paper making
Hibiscus heterophyllus
Preparing Hibiscus heterophyllus for fibre – felling, debarking, removing the top layer of bark, retting (soaking in water for a few weeks – getting those bioenxymes to breakdown the pectin, lignin and hemicellulose).
Link to my video portrait – ‘Hibiscus heterophyllus portrait (growing + retting), Tabbil Forest’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPwd5QSWQHo –
Scraping the outer layer of bark exposes the periderm layer which is the layer that is used for fibre – bast fibre.
Retting & revealing the bast fibre
Below: past weaving – the fibre is very long and strong. Looking forward to more fibre experimentation.
Hibiscus heterophyllus is a local small tree that is found on the margins of our rainforest. It is an excellent pioneer species for rainforest restoration work.
