The artist conveys her concerns for Country through her textile sculptures of birds
According to Pamela See, Leanne Wicks’ knitted birds have much to tell about the impact of European settlement
The exhibition A Knitted Bird Told Me by Leanne Wicks at Warwick Art Gallery (WAG) presented a major talking point for the 20th Jumpers and Jazz Festival. The eighth-generation Australian with ‘Anglo’ heritage, is an emerging artist and a survivor of domestic violence. The ‘caring for Country’ she conveys through her artwork extends from the environmental to the social implications of European settlement. Her ornithology is a consummation of these concerns. Among the sentiments Wicks symbolises through her birds are freedom, resilience, and transcendence. When she was contacted by the WAG, she ‘decided to go big’ by increasing her needle size from 3.25mm to 6mm and filling a gallery with over 90 renditions of Australian birds.
An affecting combination of materials
Species like the stone curlew and superb fairy-wren are aptly articulated using a range of needlecrafts. The exhibition may evoke memories of encounters with the depicted birds for some visitors. Others might be given cause to recount receiving dolls lovingly stitched by long-departed relatives. However, this series could be described as a meeting point between nostalgia and trauma for the maker. Her third great-grandfather, Robert Wicks from Devon, donated eggs to the Australian Museum in 1837. But she also recalls discovering its ‘drawers’ containing ‘1000s of dead birds’ during a primary school excursion. The memory of this experience provoked her to consider the effects of European settlement.
She intends her creations to be a contemplation of its implications for First Nations people. Wool is a symbolically loaded material, carrying a legacy of colonialism that dates back to the formation of the British Isles. The Highland Clearances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries entailed the burning of Scottish villages. The evictions enabled the British to establish sheep farms. Wicks has opted to upcycle yarn and felt. The reclaiming of wool dates back a couple of centuries in Europe. During the 2nd World War, it was widely practised to address shortages of the material. But for Wicks, the decision reflects a desire to conserve the physical environment. It also symbolises a repurposing of Second Nations people, to prioritise the needs of the First.
Wicks selected species with which she believes Warwick’s residents might identify. Pelican (n.d.), in which the eponymously named subject is depicted consuming a fish, might speak to some visitors about the effects of washing synthetics. Eastern Rosella (n.d.) may conjure memories of the quintessentially Australian brand of tomato sauce. The widely deplored Masked Lapwing (n.d.) is depicted over a clutch. The surrounding egg-sized balls of yarn are labelled with words like, ‘Get lost’. They express sentiments that the territorial behaviour of the birds may suggest. The crescendo of the exhibition is a participatory artwork featuring a flock of pink galahs. During the festival, Wicks helped gallery-goers knit and secured their contributions to washing lines with wooden pegs. A galah is an Australian colloquialism for a person behaving in an unseemly fashion.
An adaptive process
The resident of the Capertee Valley in New South Wales was taught to knit by her mother using her grandmother’s needles. However, many of her birds were knitted using sticks salvaged from Wiradjuri Country. Around seven years ago, she became acquainted with a king parrot on her morning walks. This inspired her to begin adapting designs to capture the defining attributes of different avian species. Her repertoire now features more than 100 distinct patterns.
Wicks begins by photographing her subjects from multiple angles. At times, she dyes her reclaimed wool using natural pigments. The feathered features, like wings and tails, are stocking stitched to precise proportions. Details are added using intarsia, lark’s head knots, and running stitch. Protruding parts of the armatures, like legs, are twined. Some of the beaks are sewn using upcycled felt. Glass beads and plastic buttons augment as eyes. The stuffing is recycled PET. The material also makes an appearance in Satin Bower Bird (n.d.) as a bottle lid. Wicks offers it as an example of the blue items the subject tends to collect. By contrast, knitting needles are incorporated into this composition as long sleek forms. They denote the grass fibre with which the birds build their archlike nests.
An ascendant artistic voice
The artist taking research shots of Australian birds
With qualifications in Museum and Gallery Studies, Wicks has been coordinating art projects in regional New South Wales since 2013. From 2017, her passionate capturing of endangered Australian avian species in textiles has catalysed a career as an exhibiting artist. A Knitted Bird Told Me is her 5th solo presentation in the past two years. It was preceded by Birds Like Us at the prestigious Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
Wicks is presently collaborating with the North-East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre as a recipient of a Joyce Spencer Textile Fellowship. Led by the elders, she is meticulously documenting 42 avian species endemic to a reserve that they manage. The project will culminate with a solo exhibition at the centre in October.
Visitors to the Southern Downs Region can still catch A Knitted Bird Told Me at Warwick Art Gallery until 24 August 2004.
Further reading
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. (n.d). Leanne Wicks: Birds Like Us.
The Cad Factory. (n.d.). Joyce Spencer Textile Awards.
Culturemaps Central NSW. (n.d.). North East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre.
Fall, C. (2020, June 29). How to Work a Running Stitch. The Spruce Crafts.
Gardner, L. (2022, February 22). Wool Reclamation during WWII – a lesson for us all. University of Glasgow.
International Wool Textile Organisation. (2022, October 19). A Fresh Look at Wool Recycling.
Songlark Studio. (n.d.). Leanne Wicks Artist.
Vanbenschoten, J. (2020, June 20). How to Tie a Lark’s Head Knot. The Spruce Crafts.
Warwick Art Gallery. (n.d.). A Knitted Bird Told Me.
White, S. (2020, July 28). How to Knit the Stockinette Stitch. The Spruce Crafts.
Wray, M. (2020, November 30). Making Do During World War II: Exploring My Great-Grandmother’s Knitting Books. Piece Work Magazine.
Yarn Club. (n.d.). Fibre Fill Recycled PET Toy Stuffing.
Wallenfeldt, J. (2015, February 6). Highland Clearances. Britannica.
