After

AFTER
KASIA TONS
Craft ACT Craft + Design Centre

Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre is supported by the ACT
Government, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy – an initiative
of the Australian State and Territory Governments, and the
Australia Council for the Arts – the Australian Government’s arts
funding and advisory body.
CRAFT ACT CRAFT + DESIGN CENTRE
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Saturdays 12–4pm
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Cover: Kasia Tons, Untitled #3, 2020. Photo: Dave Laslett
Page 4-5: Kasia Tons, Untitled #1, 2020.
Photo: Dave Laslett

AFTER
KASIA TONS
Craft ACT Craft + Design Centre
27 August - 17 October 2020
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After
Exhibition statement
Who knew that over the course of this year
our world would become even closer to
the one described in the book that inspired
me to create After. 1
I set off at the end of 2019 for two months
of walking. Embroidery in tow, for the
purpose of plunging myself into a digitally
reduced experience. Hiking up and down
mountains, crossing rivers and having
many conversations with fellow hikers
about food, pack weight, weather and
distance. Weather updates were hand
written and left in huts by rangers who
had walked in for this purpose and others.
We were all having a direct experience
of nature, each other and ourselves. An
ever-changing community of intention. At
times I was alone for days. My walking,
punctuated by meals, tea, making fire,
letter writing and embroidery.
A couple of weeks after returning from
the walk the pandemic hit. Life went
from feeling infinite in a natural sense to
infinite in a digital sense. The internet was
utilised like never before to socialise, to
entertain and to document ourselves into
mundanity.
I have always been aware of my screen
addiction tendencies, partly why ‘The
Machine Stops’ captured my attention
so strongly as a text of foreboding.
But I didn’t resist. I became as internet
dependent as everyone else. I went to the
theatre online, documented my attempts
at food growing, documented my dog,
documented myself and spoke most
days with a different friend either through
messaging or video calls. Only to feel a bit
empty.
These two opposing experiences have
fed into the work produced for this show.
I have been interested in what I’ve heard
from others during these times from a
mental health perspective in addition to
my own experience. This imagining of a
future world where nature is valued and
central, where there is deep connection
with others and ourselves and where there
is a return to handmade crafts is not a
new idea. It is an image of Utopia that has
been imagined with slight variations since
ancient times. 2
The recurring motifs of nature throughout
the pieces are inspired both by the art of
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floriography 3 and William Morris 4 , who,
could very well be the environmental
soothsayer as Forster is for digital
technology. I wanted environmental
connection to be the central force
in this post screen addicted society.
Alongside mask and costume that can
provide both comfort, decoration and
psychological expression as the wearer
eases themselves from a world where they
are very much in control of how they are
seen with the plethora of filters and digital
adornments to a world where they may
feel a sense of exposure and nakedness.
The masks vary from obscuring the face
entirely to being quite transparent and
acting more as an adornment or real-life
filter.
and create is at the core of our nature and
when we explore by choice or necessity
these aspects of our self it can leads to a
more satisfying experience.
[1] The Machine Stops, E.M Forster, 1909
[2] Utopia, the history of an idea, Gregory Claeys,
2020
[3] Daffodil: new beginnings and also the common
name for the genus scientifically known as Narcissus.
Nasturtium: Impetuous love. Chrysanthemum: Truth.
Bougainvillea: Passion; The Language of flowers,
Mandy Kirby 2011
The role constructive chaos plays in
transformation of society is a recurring
theme I work with and is present here as
well. We’ve seen this year how quickly life
can change, the way we function, what
we prioritize and what is meaningful. Both
hiking in the mountains and living through
a worldwide pandemic lockdown has
shown that security in life is an illusion but
our ability to problem solve, adapt
Page 8-9: Kasia Tons, Untitled #4, 2020.
Photo: Dave Laslett
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Exhibition essay
Catalogue essay: Valerie Kirk
The title of the show begs the
question……but what came before? Was
there an event? What happened?
Textile Artist, Kasia Tons was inspired
by the science fiction short story, “The
Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster. The
novella presents a future world where
humans live underground, governed by
a machine. When it was published in
1909, the ideas presented must have
seemed like a total fantasy: people
ruled by a device made by humans,
technology; completely removed from
the natural world, living alone under the
surface of the earth; restricted, locked
down and socially distanced. However,
in 2020, battling COVID 19 we are faced
with questions about our reliance on
technology, disregard for our natural
environment and coming to terms with
“the new normal”. Kasia searches for
answers to what we have lost through
dependence on the internet and social
media, distance from nature and people.
She values the work of William Morris
as a social activist and champion of
handmade textiles embodying nature.
Growing up in the country she enjoyed
freedom to explore and have adventures,
build shelters and learn navigation skills
through paying attention to the details
of nature. As an adult, Kasia returned
to this world by spending two months
walking in NZ, crossing rivers and
mountains, exposed to the elements, her
inner world and sometimes other hikers.
Her backpack contained a cloth for hand
embroidery as a constant companion.
Day by day she drew in pen on the
fabric as she walked, then stitched in
the evenings or while staying in one
place for a couple of days. Like a diary
it became a record of her thoughts and
responses, reflections and interactions
with others. It carries the physical patina
of being in the environment, not washed
clean but holding the experience and
memories.
Back in the Adelaide studio, new
work could develop using materials
and processes that are not so easily
transportable - beading, felting, stitching
into paper and three dimensional
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sculpting of materials. The mask form
with varying transparencies holds ideas
about opening up to other people face to
face in the real world. A new exploration
sewing on paper conveys a feeling of
rocks and being comforted or hugged by
the mountain.
“After” makes us think about the
possibilities beyond the world
of technology we have grown so
accustomed to. It encourages us to
reconnect with the freedom of selfexpression
through making, building on
our traditions to reflect our world and tell
new stories.
Valerie Kirk,
Artist and Tapestry Weaver, 2020.
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Kasia Tons
Biography
Kasia Tons, born Adelaide (1985), is
a Textile Artist living on Peramangk
country of the Adelaide Hills. She creates
colourful, chaotic soft sculptures,
wearables and 2D pieces with obscured
personal mythologies entwined with
more universal themes of home, identity,
belonging, connection and movement.
Her current areas of interest are futuristic
health, design and agriculture, the societal
implications of excessive technology use
as well as the traditions of story-telling
and daily life. Her artistic influences are
Judith Scott, Nick Cave and Anthony
Stevens.
the RSI that comes with years of doing
small, repetitive movements typical of
embroidery.
She holds a degree in Textile Design, RMIT
for which she received the DIA’s graduate
of the year award and also an honours
in Sculpture from UTAS. Her work has
been exhibited throughout Australia and
Eastern Europe and she has participated
in residencies and symposiums in Iceland,
USA, Latvia and the Slovak Republic. The
Mark Rothko Art Centre, Latvia holds two
of her pieces as part of their permanent
collection.
Hand embroidery has been central to her
work since first picking up a needle and
thread in 2006, but of recent years she
has been actively exploring the use of
larger movements with greater energetic
output both as a physical expression for
her feelings but also as a way to combat
Opposite: Kasia Tons, Untitled #2, 2020.
Photo: Dave Laslett
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List of works
1 After, 2019-20
hand embroidery, wool,
cotton, canvas base
$24,000
6 Bonnet, 2020
felt, needle felting, beading,
hand embroidery, wire, paint
$4,200
2 Screentime mask 1, 2020
hand embroidery, fly screen
base
$1,120
7 Tree, 2020
Desert commando tent,
machine sewing, hand
embroidery, beading, felt
$5,600
3 Screentime mask 2, 2020
hand embroidery, fly screen
base
$840
8 Nook, 2020
felt, needle felting, found
objects, paint, hand stitching
and beading, textas
$5,600
4 She is the Spirit of the
doorway leading out, 2017-18
hand embroidery, applique,
beading, assorted reclaimed
materials
$1,680
9 Mountain Blanket, 2019-20
water colour paper, hand
stitching, needle felting, wool,
paint
$3,500.00
5 The heavy mask, 2019-20
felt, needle felting, hand
embroidery, pebbles
$840
10 Kasia Tons + Dave Laslett
Untitled 1, 2020
Photographic print on Canson
platine fibre rag
$560
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11 Kasia Tons + Dave Laslett
Untitled 2, 2020
Photographic print on Canson
platine fibre rag
$365
13 Kasia Tons + Dave Laslett
Untitled 3, 2020
Photographic print on Canson
platine fibre rag
$365
14 Kasia Tons + Dave Laslett
Untitled 4, 2020
Photographic print on Canson
platine fibre rag
$620
15 Kasia Tons + Jonathan
Daw + Jeremy Conlon
Daffodil, 2019
stop motion animation
Page 14-15: She is the spirit, 2020. Photo: Craft ACT
Page 16-17: Nook, 2020. Photo: Craft ACT
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