Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Supplied

The Celebration of SAORI Exhibition has returned to Clunes, showcasing more than 100 works by over 30 artists from across Australia.

The exhibition launched at the Clunes Warehouse on Saturday, June 7 and is now continuing through to Sunday, June 22 offering art lovers and textiles fans a unique chance to revel in the colours, textures and forms that are part of this unique hand-weaving method.

A celebration of texture, fibre and colour, along with the SAORI method of weaving itself, the exhibition showcases the work of over 30 artists from across Australia.

Co-ordinated and curated by accredited local SAORI teacher, Clunes’ Prue Simmons (pictured above) of Dyeing To Weave studio, the exhibition brings together students from across Australia who are supported through her studio weaving programs.

Showcasing more than 100 woven artworks, it is the largest SAORI weaving exhibition ever held in Australia.

Visitors can explore this expressive, niche art form, meet the artists, and even try SAORI weaving themselves.

Many of the distinctive works, ranging from garments to home décor, will be available for purchase, offering original pieces to art lovers and creative inspiration for fellow textile artists alike.

SAORI is a freestyle weaving style which originated in Japan during the 1960’s. A modern take on traditional weaving, it celebrates self-expression, mindfulness, and innovation over rules or repetition.

Often described as “weaving meditation,” it encourages intuitive creativity, where artists use texture, colour, and freestyle techniques to create truly one-of-a-kind pieces.

Celebration of SAORI Exhibition is open from Saturday 7th to Sunday 22nd June 2025. Open daily (closed Tuesdays) from 10am to 4pm.

The exhibition is being held in the Esmond Gallery (upstairs/lift available) at The Warehouse – 36 Fraser Street Clunes, Victoria 3370

with Eve Lamb

Clunes-based Prue Simmons is a zoologist turned SAORI weaver who revels in colour and in this meditative form of creativity. Having discovered this beautiful form of Japanese weaving whilst exploring the mountains of Japan in 2007, Prue was instantly hooked. She has gone on to establish her Dyeing To Weave business and, as one of only three accredited SAORI teachers in Australia, is very busy sharing her love of the unique art-form through workshops, immersive retreats and special events throughout the district and way beyond.

Eve: Prue your journey to becoming a SAORI weaving textile artist and teacher is pretty interesting, and I get the impression it’s pretty much taken over your life.

Prue: Yes it has completely taken over my life in a wonderful way. I had worked as a zoologist for 10 years and if you’d said to me 20 years ago that I’d be teaching a meditative form of weaving I wouldn’t have believed you. It was not on my radar at all. I was very much a straight-laced scientist. And I didn’t come from a textile background. My poor mother tried to teach me to knit and I was terrible at it.

Eve: But you discovered  SAORI in Japan.

Prue: Yes, in my 20s. I was in Japan, volunteering and immersing myself in the culture and language. I turned up at this beautiful old school that had become an arts and crafts village in a tiny little hamlet in the middle of nowhere. I turned up to build a pizza oven. As a thank-you my first mentor, Toyomi, taught me SAORI and it opened up this incredible ability for me to see that I could be creative. It’s completely taken over my life in a beautiful way…

Eve: And you have gone on from learning the art of SAORI weaving to becoming a teacher of it as well, one of only a very few accredited in Australia?

Prue: Yes there are only three of us here in Australia  accredited to teach. I went back and did training to teach over a decade ago now. I trained with  Sensai Misao Jo who has since passed away just shy of her 105^th birthday.

Eve: What is it that about SAORI  weaving that so captivated you, Prue?

Prue: The SAORI loom is actually designed to be a moving mediation where you get a chance to get into that flow state and drop down into that creative space in your heart and it’s lovely to see that unlock for other people too. I am on a one-woman mission to share it with as many people as possible.

I don’t like having to concentrate when I create.  I want to create from the heart not the head.I want to just relax and enjoy my creativity, not feel pressured to recreate a particular pattern, to copy someone else’s work, to be worried if I’m doing it ‘right’. I never considered weaving in the past, as it seemed too complicated, too mathematical and too structured for me.

SAORI is not about repeating patterns. It comes from a person’s own inner source of creativity. The Japanese call it Kansei which translates to your inner creative spirit. No two pieces of SAORI weaving are ever going to be the same. It’s about self expression. And then you get to wear a part of your personality. You get to wear this tangible moment in time.

It’s been such a such an honour and privilege to teach hundreds of people. For me it’s not just a form of textiles I’m teaching, it actually offers people an amazing awareness of their own creative potential.

Eve: And I believe that you also happen to run llamas on your property at Clunes. Do you use the llama fibre in your work?

Prue: Yes. The llama fibre is a specialty fibre for me and I am getting my llama fibre commercially processed. But you can do SAORI weaving with any fibre. You can weave with wool, cotton, cashmere, silk, paper, even things like dried material from your garden… And it’s a very sustainable form of weaving which is something else that I love about it.

Eve: So now that SAORI weaving has pretty much taken over your life, through your own creative practice and teaching others, and also as one of only two people in Australia accredited to import SAORI looms, is it what you do full time now?

Prue: Yes. I had another part-time job at the library for 11 years, singing to young babies, and I loved it. But I had to give it up this year.

Eve: I know that you have plenty of workshops and teaching retreats on your calendar ahead, both in this area and interstate. Do you also have any exhibitions coming up?

Prue: Well the exhibition we held in June this year (at the Clunes Warehouse) was so successful that we’re going to make it an annual event now. We had people visiting from all over Australia. It was the largest exhibition of SAORI weaving ever in Australia.

A unique, freestyle form of Japanese artistic weaving will be on display in Clunes this month, from today, June 8 to 23.

The Celebration of SAORI exhibition will bring together over 30 saori artists from across Australia in a colourful celebration of individual creative expression through cloth.

Saori is a creative form of contemporary weaving that originated in Japan, focusing on colour and texture rather than repeatable patterns. The woven items are then made into a range of original garments, wall hangings, soft furnishings and accessories – all of which will be on display at the event.

Clunes resident Prue Simmons, above, one of only three people in Australia accredited to teach this Japanese craft, will be curating and coordinating the exhibition, enabling her students located right across Australia to showcase their original work. The exhibiting artists are part of her online program through her studio Dyeing To Weave, designed to guide and mentor saori artists throughout Australia.

“Saori weaving is actually a moving meditation – you just happen to be making an incredible piece of woven cloth as you do it. Each piece represents a captured moment in time at the loom and an opportunity for self-reflection for the weaver, giving every woven item a story and making each piece completely unique,” Prue said.

Jayne Newgreen, a saori weaver based in Evansford, is looking forward to displaying her work as part of the creative collective. “It’s such a wonderful opportunity to showcase this incredible form of creativity – saori weaving is so relaxing, and I love the freedom that I find at the loom,” Jayne said.

Prue is excited to be hosting the exhibition in the charming historical town that she calls home.

“Clunes has such a rich history of textiles and bringing an exhibition resplendent in colour and creativity will be a wonderful offering for a day trip in early winter.

“With over 50 woven items on display, this is a rare opportunity to view so many saori artists’ work and to learn more about this lesser-known Japanese weaving craft. Lots of beautiful pieces will be on display and for sale.”

There will also be free saori weaving demonstrations, talks and special weaving workshops held during the exhibition for visitors to enjoy.

Link: www.dyeingtoweave.com.au/exhibition

Words & image: Contributed