Kay Lawrence

Prof Kay Lawrence

Office of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Available For Media Comment.

Welcome to Kay Lawrence's Home page. Formerly Head of the South Australian School of Art, I am now Emeritus Professor in the School of Art Architecture and Design. I am also a postgraduate supervisor for students enrolled in the PhD in Visual Art by Major Project, the Master of Visual Arts (research) and the Master of Design (research).
My particular interest and expertise is in the area of textiles practice and theory and in working with communities to address issues of public concern through textiles projects. I have an international profile as a tapestry weaver and have completed a number of major commissions for public spaces in Australia and overseas. My writing, published in catalogues, scholarly journals and books, focuses on the materiality and making practices that underpin contemporary craft.

My research interests are in the area of gender identity, place and representation, developed through drawing, woven tapestry and text. The position of textiles within the visual arts and crafts. The development of the community tapestry movement in Australia. The development of an international network of artists writers and theorists working in the area of woven tapestry.

Year Citation
2015 Lawrence, K. (2015). Jane Whiteley: body of work [book review]. Textile: the journal of cloth and culture, 13(1), 130-133.
DOI
2015 Lawrence, K. (2015). Introduction: landscape place and identity in craft and design. Craft + design enquiry, (7), 1-8.
DOI
2013 Lawrence, K. (2013). Stitched in the margins. Architectural theory review, 18(2), 164-174.
DOI WoS1
2012 Lawrence, K. (2012). Gathering threads. Word of mouth, 63, 8-11.
2011 Lawrence, K. (2011). Can't you get a machine to do it?. Australian Tapestry Workshop News, 27, 5.
2009 Lawrence, A. K. (2009). Listening when others talk back. Craft and design enquiry, 1(2009), 1-34.
2007 Lawrence, A. K. (2007). Annie Trevillian : handprint design on fabric and paper selected work 1983-2006. Object.
2006 Lawrence, A. K. (2006). In the World: head, hand, heart. 716 Craft Design.
2005 Lawrence, A. K. (2005). Weaving the Murray : mapping connection and loss. Textile : the journal of cloth and culture, 3(2), 130-149.
DOI
2004 Lawrence, A. K. (2004). The Library Commission. International tapestry yearbook.
2000 Lawrence, A. K. (2000). Elsje van Keppel - Catalogue essay. Return of Beauty.
2000 Lawrence, A. K. (2000). Lake Mungo and the garden at Zanci. International tapestry journal.
2000 Lawrence, A. K. (2000). Kay Lawrence O tkaninie australijskiej i wtasnej tworczosci. ASP.
2000 Lawrence, A. K. (2000). The Barbara Hanrahan Community Tapestries. Textile Fibre Forum.
2000 Lawrence, A. K., & Brokensha, S. B. (2000). Interview: Susan Maffei. International tapestry journal.
1999 Lawrence, A. K. (1999). Losing and finding, loss and reparation. Fibrearts (Summer) 1999.
1999 Lawrence, A. K. (1999). The Barbara Hanrahan community tapestries. International tapestry journal.
1997 Lawrence, A. K. (1997). Second Look - Prospect Textile Biennial. Textile Fibre Forum.
1997 Lawrence, A. K. (1997). Reading and Weaving. International tapestry journal.

Year Citation
2019 Lawrence, K. (2019). Bodily cloth: the making process in artworks by Elsje van Keppel and Jane Whiteley. In A. Collett, & L. Dale (Eds.), Source details - Title: Postcolonial Past & Present: Negotiating Literary and Cultural Geographies (pp. 134-149). Netherlands: Brill.
2016 Lawrence, K. (2016). Adventure and ambition: the weaving process. In A. Workshop (Ed.), Source details - Title: Many Hands: The first 40 years of the Australian Tapestry Workshop (pp. 95-101). Australia: Harper Collins.
2013 Lawrence, K. (2013). Suffrage tapestries. In A. Bartlett, & M. Henderson (Eds.), Source details - Title: Things that liberate: an Australian feminist wunderkamer (pp. 167-182). UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2007 Lawrence, A. K., & Zeplin, P. J. (2007). Critical difference : cultural diversity and regionality. In Source details - Title: ACAUDS [Australian Council of Art and Design Schools] research 07/08 (pp. 34-35). Australian Council of Art and Design Schools.
2007 Lawrence, A. K., & Cumpston, N. J. V. (2007). A story is like a river : weaving the Murray. In Source details - Title: Fresh water : new perspectives on water in Australia (pp. 234-245). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
2004 Lawrence, A. K. (2004). Weaving : an encounter between the Ngarrindjeri, the British and the French. In P. Sharrad (Ed.), Source details - Title: Postcolonialism and creativity (pp. 123-139). Bristol: Telos Art Publishing.
2001 Lawrence, A. K., & Obermeyer, L. (2001). Voyage : home is where to start from. In J. Jeffries (Ed.), Source details - Title: Reinventing Textiles, Volume 2 : Gender and Identity (pp. 61-75). United Kingdom: Telos Art Publishing.

Year Citation
2018 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Here we are sisters. Extent: Woven tapestry in 3 sections, Dimensions: 75 x 3470mm.
2017 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Rant. Extent: woven tapestry, Dimensions: 5 x 7830mm.
2016 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: On translation. Extent: 2 pages.
2014 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: No words for the River 1 & 2. Description: First Showing. Extent: series of paintings.
2013 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: The Third Space: Intercultural Crafting. Extent: N/A.
2012 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Day by day. Description: First Showing. Extent: artwork.
2011 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: The subversive stitch: embroidery and the making of the feminine, Rozsika Parker 2010. Extent: 3 pages.
DOI WoS1
2011 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: A garland for a friend. Extent: participant text and photographs.
2011 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Your heart's desire. Extent: visual artwork.
2011 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Pool. Extent: 1 artwork.
2010 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: The artist weaver and the community. Extent: N/A.
2010 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: House/self 1989. Extent: woven tapestry, cotton, wool, linen.
2010 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Reflections from the field... the artist-weaver and the community. Extent: N/A.
2010 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: About Time: Australian studio Tapestry 1975-2005. Extent: N/A.
2010 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Power Cloths of the Commonwealth. Extent: N/A.
2009 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Lineage. Extent: Woven tapestry,tea towels, cotton, wool, linen (first showing).
2009 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Distilled Matter. Extent: N/A.
2009 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Whitework. Extent: N/A.
2009 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: This is rain - detail. Extent: N/A.
2008 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Catalogue essay: this everything water. Extent: N/A.
2008 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: White-work. Extent: N/A.
2008 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Water is everything; This is rain; Bitter as brine; Rising salt. Extent: N/A.
2008 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Thinking and making : five bodies of work. Extent: N/A.
2006 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: No work for a white man. Extent: N/A.
2004 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: String Ellipse. Extent: N/A.
2004 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Folded. Extent: N/A.
2004 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Folded: All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie. Extent: N/A.
2003 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Drawing for 'Mother'. 'Mother' Tapestry. Extent: N/A.
2003 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Text, textile and a coil of string. Extent: N/A.
2002 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: Weaving the Murray. Extent: N/A.
2002 Authors: Lawrence AK, Nowland J. Title: Glazed entry of the State Library of South Australia. Extent: N/A.
2001 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Rust. Extent: cotton, wool, linen.
2000 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Uncertain Ground. Extent: N/A.
2000 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Daughter. Extent: N/A.
1998 Authors: Lawrence K. Title: Spill - Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery. Extent: woven tapestry.
1997 Authors: Lawrence AK. Title: National Craft Acquisition Award. Extent: N/A.

Year Citation
2019 Viven-Wilksch, J. A. (2019). Translation (Extent: 16) [Exhibition]. Springer Singapore.
2011 Lawrence, A. K. (2011). Dawn Kanost, Irmina van Niele, Kay Lawrence (Extent: Exhibition) [Exhibition]. Australia.
2010 Lawrence, A. K. (2010). Native and feral species #1 (Extent: gouache, pencila and chalk on watercolour paper) [Exhibition]. Pepper Street Gallery.
2010 Lawrence, A. K. (2010). From the black book of White Australia (Extent: silk organza, cotton thread, foam core, cotton cloth, pins) [Exhibition]. Adelaide: Adelaide Central Gallery.
2008 Lawrence, A. K. (2008). 40 Highlights from the Ararat Regional Art Gallery Textile Fibre Collection (Extent: Exhibition) [Exhibition]. Australia: Ararat Regional Art Gallery.
2008 Lawrence, A. K. (2008). Curator of exhibition: this everything water [Exhibition]. Adelaide, South Australia: University of South Australia.
2006 Richardson, T., Lawrence, A. K., Van Niele, I. G., Fuller, H., & Hodgeman, G. (2006). In The World : head, hand, heart - 17th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial [Exhibition]. Tamworth, NSW: Tamworth Regional Gallery.
2006 Lawrence, A. K. (2006). Celebrate Making Art [Exhibition]. Warrnambool, Victoria: Customs House Gallery.
2004 Lawrence, A. K. (2004). Fabrics of change : trading identities [Exhibition]. Wollongong, N.S.W.: Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong.
2004 Lawrence, A. K. (2004). String me a Story [Exhibition]. Perth, Western Australia: Edith Cowan University.
2003 Lawrence, A. K., & Neylon, J. (2003). Text, Textile and a Coil of String [Exhibition]. Adelaide, South Australia: State Library of South Australia.
2002 Lawrence, A. K. (2002). Translation : woven tapestry [Exhibition]. Canberra, Australia: National Gallery of Australia.
2002 Lawrence, A. K. (2002). Weaving the Murray : exhibition at Art Gallery of South Australia Jan 10-31, Prospect Gallery March 3-31, and at various regional S.A. centres (Extent: Exhibition) [Exhibition]. Australia: Art Gallery of South Australia.
2002 Lawrence, A. K. (2002). Unfolding Territories: Faculty of Creative Arts [Exhibition].
2002 Lawrence, A. K. (2002). Translation - woven tapestry [Exhibition]. Canberra, ACT.
2001 Lawrence, A. K. (2001). Lake Mungo Revisited : exhibition held at Flinders University Art Museum City Gallery, May 11 to June 16, 2001. [Exhibition]. South Australia: Flinders University Art Museum.
2001 Lawrence, A. K. (2001). Home is Where the Heart is : exhibition at the University of South Australia Art Museum, 13 September - 20 October, 2001 [Exhibition]. South Australia: University of South Australia - Art Museum.
2000 Lawrence, A. K. (2000). Frisson : 14th Tamworth fibre textile biennial [Exhibition]. Tamworth, N.S.W.: Tamworth City Gallery.
1999 Lawrence, A. K. (1999). Origins and new perspectives contemporary Australian textiles [Exhibition].
1998 Lawrence, A. K. (1998). 'Threefold' (Extent: 8 pages) [Exhibition].
1998 Lawrence, A. K. (1998). Memory & Materiality catalogue essay (Extent: 8 pages) [Exhibition]. Sydney: Queen Victoria Museum, Art Gallery Launceston.
1998 Lawrence, A. K. (1998). Textiles in Focus (Exhibition) (Extent: 8 pages) [Exhibition].

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2019 - 2025 Principal Supervisor Re-conceptions of uterine discourse through a print-based practice Master of Research (Visual Arts) Master Full Time Miss Angelica Harris-Faull
2014 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Genealogical ghostscapes: unsettling settler colonial home-making legacies in South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Sera Torchio
2013 - 2014 Co-Supervisor I love you, I hate you, I want to kill you: narcissistic fantasy as a narrative device in contemporary visual art Master of Visual Arts Master Full Time Ms Rachel Harris
2013 - 2014 Principal Supervisor In vitro: investigating time through the perception of the invisible Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Caroline Ouellette
2013 - 2017 Principal Supervisor There is no place like home/s: an investigation into immigration, belonging and the hand-made object Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Christopher Boha
2012 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Ambiguity makes sense: an exploration of the creative relationship between mothering and painting; featuring contemporary oil painting practice as an auto-ethnographic research methodology Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jasmine Symons
2012 - 2016 Principal Supervisor The distance within: investigating an experience of embodiment through glass making Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Naomi Hunter
2011 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Reimagining the mother: the horror and pleasure of reconstructing the 'self' in response to an absent mother. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Simone Kennedy
2010 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Making sens-ible : embodied cognition in sculptural practice Master of Visual Arts Master Full Time Ms Renate Nisi
2009 - 2014 Principal Supervisor The anatomical Venus. Exquisite disgust & desire: crafting the body in contemporary art practice Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Deborah Prior
2008 - 2012 Principal Supervisor Under the microscope: making art from science Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Angela Valamanesh
2007 - 2011 Co-Supervisor The loom as a stage for performing the social and cultural meanings of craft and making Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Kirsty Darlaston
2005 - 2007 Principal Supervisor Kidstuff! A creative investigation into the "child-made" artefact Master of Visual Arts Master Full Time Ms Helen Nieuwendijk
2004 - 2007 Principal Supervisor Embodied sensory perceptions explored through memory, materiality and tacit knowledge Master of Visual Arts Master Full Time Ms Leslie Matthews
2004 - 2011 Principal Supervisor Library of translation exercises Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Ruth Hadlow
2003 - 2006 Principal Supervisor Ambivalent Belonging Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Irmina Van Niele
1998 - 2004 Principal Supervisor A study through text and artifacts of the major factors that have influenced the development of studio glassmaking in Australia from a South Australian glassmakers perspective Master of Visual Arts Master Part Time Ms Barbara Cowie
1998 - 2006 Principal Supervisor Bewitched between borders, boundaries and building bridges Master of Visual Arts Master Full Time Ms Agnieszka Golda

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