Sally Roadknight

Driving out through the forest one comes upon a splendid vista of paddocks, grass and rocks overseen by Mount Tarrengower. Sally Roadknight’s light filled studio sits there with great views out of every window. Inside is an exciting display of works in various stages of development.

Sally’s studio is full of materials and tools for basket weaving, hand painting on fabric and wall hangings incorporating hand stitching, patchwork, appliqué and weaving.

Over the years her interests have changed and she is now very involved in working with natural fibres to weave baskets, recycling and reusing materials such as interesting fabrics, grasses, bones and other found objects like barbed wire, which she collects from the surrounding paddocks. Sally’s major influence and source of inspiration is from being out in nature amid the subtle colours of the earth, rocks and trees.

One particularly beautiful example of her work is a basket woven from spinifex with linen thread. Sally says that spinifex is very hard to work with, as it is sharp and strong with a ‘mind of its own’, so the shape of the basket is dictated by the material. The basket is a beautiful asymmetrical shape, finely woven with a downy drift of delicate birds’ feathers in the base.

Another lovely pot was made from more pliable grasses, collected from the property, wrapped in calico. The creamy white of the calico contrasts with dark brown linen thread French knots. Each of these works is very carefully constructed with lovely lines, subtle textures and shapes. The colours used in Sally’s works are the natural colours of the materials or vegetable and rust dyes.

Then there is a brilliant beanie entered in the ‘Beanie Festival’ in Alice Springs, which Sally attends annually. The beanie is an elegant shape made from natural materials including hand rust dyed fabric, textured wool, linen thread, bones, grass and seeds.

Click on an image to view a larger version. Click on either side of the expanded image to move forward to the next image or back.