Yarns 'n Tales
The beginnings of an adventure in Free Form Crochet
I have dabbled in painting and drawing from my earliest days and although I was interested in following a career in 'Commercial Art' I was encouraged to stay on at School and become a teacher.   Rebelling against  that idea I left school and became a secretary instead!  Although not a job that I have relished it has stood me in good stead over the years.
During the 'Secretary' years and whilst raising a family of three I undertook two years of a Bachelor of Arts degree at  University until the Newcastle Earthquake in 1988.   Then followed five years of hectic work in our home based building business.  
In 1995 I was finally free to take some time out for myself and undertook a two-year "Advanced Commercial Needlecraft" at TAFE.   I believe that this decision was synchronistic to events in my life and my increasing love of textiles and fibre.
A decision to join the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers' & Textile Artists Inc. group and to become the Newsletter Editor opened up an entire new world for me, creating new textile challenges and passions in free embroidery, felting and fabric dyeing.  It was during this time that I discovered (with great enthusiasm) the Textile Fibre Forums held at Mittagong and Geelong each year.
I finally returned to University in 1999 to start a new degree in Visual Arts and while taking eight months off for personal reason in 2001,  I rediscovered Crochet, a subject I "Absolutely Loathed" during my time at TAFE.   
This wasn't JUST CROCHET, though........I had discovered "Scrumbling" or Free Form.  I 'found' Prudence Mapstone and had a one day workshop with her in Sydney and became instantly 'HOOKED', discovered a free crochet list on the net and met dozens of new crofriends and met Jenny Dowde and James Walters. 
To my delight, NCETA, Inc asked me to a tutor in Free-Form Crochet at their residential workshop held in Kurri Kurri TAFE in May 2002, where sixteen women became immediately addicted!   And I have been invited to be a tutor at the Geelong Fibre Forum in 2003 along with Prudence, Jenny and James.
Susie at the Mittagong Fibre Forum 2002
Susan Bowring-Miller
bowmil@hunterlink.net.au
My Favorite Links:
Fibre Forum 2003
Jenny Dowde - Fibre Artist
Prudence Mapstone - Fibre Artist
James Walter
Free Form Crocheted Art Work (Scrumling)
After 'discovering' the artist Hundertwasser in 2001 I became entranced by his art work.

This scrumbled rug came out of my research into him.  

The photo doesn't really do it justice (well I think so anyway!)   In real life it is like a landscape, which Hundertwasser so richly ascribed to.
The LuvBugRug - Inspired by Hundertwasser -
Susan Bowring-Miller 2002
Scrumbled Cupcakes.
Out of the Box Travelling Exhibition.
Susan Bowring-Miller 2002
I belong to a Fibre Artists Group in Newcastle called NCEATA, Inc.  Every year we have a Travelling Suitcase Exhibition which travels around NSW and Queensland to various textile and fibre groups and schools. 
The cupcakes represent myself - always endeavouring to creep out of my box that I so "willingly", at times, constrain myself in.

Exhibited 2002