Drawing with Threads and Textiles

Experiment with materiality and give shape to new ideas as Armando Chant leads you to incorporate textile techniques into your drawings. Learn how to employ methods of collage, assemblage, and stitching to modify surfaces and create distinctive grounds for sketching and painting.

Introducing students to influential artists working with textiles, Armando equips students with useful points of reference to deepen their understanding of how fibres, traces, and threads can merge with drawing and enrich visual outcomes. Through hands-on exercises and an explorative approach, students will be supported as they experiment with fusing the methods of diverse disciplines to create artworks as individual as they are.

Armando creates a welcoming and supportive environment for students who are new to this approach to drawing. The course also offers an opportunity for more experienced artists to deepen their practice, benefiting from mentorship and guidance that can help them refine their skills and take their work to the next level.

By the end of the course, students will have developed the technical skills to transform drawing surfaces through the creative use of textiles, while gaining the confidence to experiment across disciplines and materials. Equipped with new approaches, references, and ways of thinking, they will leave with a richer understanding of contemporary drawing practice and fresh possibilities for expanding their own artistic voice.

Course Schedule:
The following is an indicative course schedule only. The content and pace of the sessions may vary in response to the students in the program.

Day 1 – Orientation and Foundations
Introduction in the NAS studio, including overview of the week and orientation. Lecture introducing students to the usage of textiles in contemporary art practice and its relationship to drawing.

Outdoor exercises in tonal and textural studies. Introduction to textile technique and how to develop them through your own language, followed by group discussion and reflection.

Day 2 – Technique Development
Experimentation with materials and techniques. Visit to NAS library to understand textiles cultural and historical positioning within art history. Introduction of new textiles technique focusing on a construction approach.

Day 3 and 4 – Studio Practice
Working with a studio approach, students will translate their early experiments with technique into more sustained projects that align with their individual interests and creative direction.

Day 5 – Resolution and Presentation
Students will begin resolving the object and material-based images developed throughout the course into a final work or series of works. The workshop will conclude with a group critique and discussion of works in progress and completed pieces.

* NAS Short Courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years old.

* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au

* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.

Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.

Buy materials at Spotlight, Morris and Sons, Mitre 10, Parkers Fine Art Supplies or bring materials from your own home supplies.

• A3 cartridge paper pad
• Pencils – 2B, 4B and 6B
• 1 graphite stick
• 1 rubber eraser
• 3 sticks willow charcoal
• 1 bottle of water-based black ink
• 1 tube white acrylic paint
• Selection of cheap paint brushes – wide, mid and narrow sized brushes
• Scissors
• Retractable cutting blade
• Masking tape and sticky tape
• Fabrics – 2 metres of calico or white cotton, 1 metre of coloured or patterned fabric of your own choice, inexpensive
• Range of fabric pieces, scraps or offcuts if you have them.
• Threads – range of threads e.g. sewing, embroidery, wool etc
• Needles – range of sewing needs of different sizes
• Bottle of PVA glue
• Beads, buttons and sequins – if you have them

* Other materials will depend on individual students’ interests.

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

Within Australia, Armando has participated in exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne that have been part of arts festivals such as Sydney Art Month and Head-On Photography Festival.

Armando has also participated in major regional gallery exhibitions, such as the Tamworth Textile Triennial 2015, where the gallery acquired the work for its collection and its 2020 edition.

In 2023, his work was selected for the Hazelhurst Arts on Paper Award 2023 and the biennial Dobell Drawing Award 2023, Australia's premier showcase of contemporary drawing in all its forms. In 2024, Armando was a finalist in the Art Gallery of New South Wales Wynne Prize and Jacaranda Drawing Prize at Grafton Regional Gallery and was awarded the Highly commended prize at the Gosford Art Prize.

Internationally, Armando has participated in curated and solo exhibitions, installations, and symposiums in Florence, Finland and Paris.