Scarf Festival 2013

Amongst the leafy green - Scarf entry for 2013 Scarf Festival by Morgan Wills

Now in its fifth year in Geelong at the National Wool Museum (formerly held at Craft Victoria, Melbourne) – the Scarf Festival once again celebrates all manner of scarves, with hundreds of entries in this year’s competition.

Each year there is a new theme to interpret and this year the theme was ‘Home’.

What does home mean to you? How would you say it in a scarf?

Whatever it means to you, however you define it, shape it and live it, this was an opportunity to create a scarf that explains, explores and explodes the myths and realities of what it means to belong.

The theme traveled around with me in my head for quite a long time before I settled on how to best manifest my thoughts. In the end I decided to talk about our ‘tree change’ a couple of years ago from inner city Melbourne to the regional city of Ballarat. The change has been fully embraced not only by me but my whole family.

Recently an old school friend visited for a lovely Sunday lunch and she remarked as I showed her around my new home and shop – ‘You know you’re living the dream – don’t you?’ This comment really struck a chord with me. Life is good – made all the better by our sense of belonging within our new community and our new home.

Here is my artistic statement that accompanied my scarf entry:

Amongst the leafy green

From the heart of inner city,

to amongst the leafy green.

A spark from the metropolis,

a new life can be seen.

A settling of roots,

in home’s fertile ground.

A tree change sought,

a forest of love’s been found.

The Scarf Festival is on exhibition at the National Wool Museum, Geelong. Open daily from 7 June to 25 August 2013. More than 300 scarves will be on display submitted by individual craft-makers from around Australia and overseas. Most of the scarves will be available for purchase, although all will remain on display until the end of the exhibition. 

There’s also an exciting program of craft demonstrations running throughout the Festival, daily from 10am to 4pm. Well worth a visit!