Textiles workshop staff are all practising professional artists who have national and international reputations and actively maintain contact with other institutions, arts organisations and practitioners. They specialise in a diverse range of disciplines, from design and production to conceptual and image-based textiles. As teachers they are enthusiastic and passionate about textiles and are able to share their knowledge and experience.

Valerie Kirk
Valerie was born in Scotland and studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, and Goldsmith’s College, University of London. She first came to Australia in 1979 to work as a weaver at the Victorian Tapestry Workshop in Melbourne and subsequently was artist-in-residence in Portland, Victoria and Busselton, Western Australia, working on exhibitions, community tapestries and commissions.

In 1991 Valerie was appointed head of the ANU School of Art Textiles Workshop. Here she initiated the major projects Shift and Challenging Ideas of the Cloth. She continued to exhibit internationally and completed an MA (Hons). Valerie has held solo exhibitions in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004 with major works being purchased by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, The ACT Legislative Assembly, the Canberra Museum and Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia. In 1998 she received the Canberra Times Critics Award, in 1999 was named as the inaugural Muse Woman of the Year , and in 2000 she received an Australia Council New Work award.

Since 1995, Kirk has been a guest lecturer with Textiles tours of Laos and Vietnam. She has also given papers on Vietnamese textiles to the Asian Arts Society and at the National Gallery of Australia.

Current themes in Valerie’s studio work include migration, ideas of place and identity in relation to the global movement of people, and perceptions of self/home in a rapidly changing world.

More detail on Valerie Kirk's Portfolio Collection

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by Valerie Kirk

Annie Trevillian
Annie Trevillian is a textile artist and educator born and bred in Canberra, ACT, Australia. Since 1992 she has taught in the Textiles workshop at the ANU School of Art. Research in the area of chemical treatments of fabrics for Australian practitioners undertaken in collaboration with Jill Pettifer has been published as a resource manual called Bleach Buckle and Burn. She has long been associated with Megalo Access Arts as an access user, community project artist and board member. Her studio work involves the production of screen printed fabrics using pigments and dyes and the further exploration of chemical treatments of fabrics. As a complementary activity Annie continues her interest in computer aided design.

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by Annie Trevillian

Monique van Nieuwland
Since graduating at the ANU School of Art in 1988, Monique has exhibited regularly and for 10 years facilitated many community arts textile projects. Some of these art projects dealt with issues of health, living and dying. Following these experiences Monique is now enrolled as a candidate for Master of Philosophy in the Textiles Workshop where her research is focusing on the use of textiles at times of birth and death. Monique’s practical work (weaving, print, and mixed media) explores the concept of "Welcome" and "Farewell". Monique has been the Technical Officer in the Textiles Workshop since 1994.

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by Monique van Nieuwland