Irene Koroluk creates intricate fiber and textile art inspired by the sights and experiences around her in Australia. She enjoys experimenting with new techniques to translate her visions into 2D and 3D art.
How did you get started designing fiber? Always an artist, or was there a “moment”?
It was a combination in my mid-forties of going to art school initially for my late husband, trying to unsuccessfully make a similar quilt to one I wanted but could not buy, viewing textiles in a fine art context at the Istanbul Modern, and being introduced to Alice Kettle’s work.
My oldest friend who I have known since grade two has told me that for as long as she has known me, I have been doodling trees and faces. The moment I had an inkling I could become an artist was when Wild Island gallery wanted my textile piece Out There (below) and sold it for a price that reflected the true cost and time of making it.
The moment I felt like I was making inroads to becoming a professional artist was when I saw my name and exhibition title at the Winton Regional Gallery in Queensland after being invited to undertake a solo show. I could not believe that my work was in the same space that the National Photographic Portrait Prize had been a few days prior.
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What techniques and creative media are used to create your art?
The current media I use in my art practice includes black primed and linen canvas, fabric, thread, acrylic markers, bag batting, dissolvable fabric and repurposed doilies. I have also used shellac inks, bleach and acrylic paints.
My current techniques include drawing using a semi-industrial Janome sewing machine with a free motion foot and acrylic markers, fabric manipulation, and molding using glad wrap. In the past I have used linocut, mono and digital printing, and discharge.
I would describe most of my 2D work as predominantly machine thread drawing using repeated scribbles with the occasional addition of acrylic markers.
My 3D coral series is made up of hand manipulated free motion machine drawn small quilts that are machine sewn and multi layered onto a circular canvas base to create volume and depth.
My latest foray has been the creation of ceiling suspended 3D coastal sea kelp using free motion machine drawing, dissolvable fabric and molds made from glad wrap.
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
I am always inspired by seeing a wide range of art that makes me go wow, or how did they do that.
There is something about seeing other people’s work that spurs me on to want to make my own. I also find inspiration from my local stitching group which has an amazing talent pool.
My mentoring has also inspired me to think about my own practice in a broader way and to undertake greater experimentation.
My biggest inspiration however, is the Australian natural landscape; I love its diversity, patterns, forms and colours.
As a very young child growing up in the outer Melbourne urban fringe, I used to go walking in the surrounding bushland with the family cat until its destruction by urban sprawl. I also spent a lot of time perched in trees. I think those adventures sparked my obsession with drawing gum trees.
Does your work have stories to tell?
My work is usually about Australian natural environments that I have visited, explored and am drawn to, and the flora and organisms within those environments.
My works draw from my imagination and memory of those places and speak about their beauty, fragility and vulnerability.
Do you plan your work out ahead of time, or do you just dive in with your materials and start playing?
If I am doing work for the local gallery where I sell my work I do works with predominantly Tasmanian content. For that I plan what environment I will do, be it alpine, bushland, or coastal.
My recent exhibitions had themes, so again I had to work within those confines. Once the type of landscape is decided I then usually start with a bit of foreground vegetation and a tree, however I have no idea what the composition will look like when completed.
The work evolves as I keep adding flora and detail from my imagination. I continue with this strategy until I am happy with the work. I do not pre-sketch my canvas or work from a study. Occasionally, when I am unfamiliar with a particular plant form, I do resort to source material, usually my photos or a plant book of that region.
With my 3D work I absolutely had no idea how the work would look like when I started or what I could make it into. I just knew that I would eventually work out what to do.
Describe your creative space.
My creative space is my home’s television and book room. I do not have a designated space as my house is small. It is an intimate room filled with art, books, travel memorabilia, and cherished presents.
I work on a large white moveable and foldable table on wheels and sit on a top of the range desk chair with wheels. Next to the table I have a long bucket that fits the circuit breaker, sewing and TV cords, so I don’t accidentally run over them with the chair or table.
The room has windows on 3 sides, 3 purpose installed ceiling spotlights, and a free-standing lamp with 2 moveable bright light as I need very bright light to see what I am doing. I hang my work on the top of my diamond bookcase to see its progression using humongous clips.
How do you organize your creative supplies?
Storage space in my house is at a premium. The house is old and built when storage space was just not a priority.
I store my small thread reels in the piano chair in thread boxes in the hallway, my completed and in-progress work, canvas and back batting in the study cupboard in white pvc plumbing pipes, and my big thread reels in the top shelf of my dining room cupboard. Scissors, tweezers, brushes, and bobbins are in a plastic container next to the sewing machine.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
Before embarking on works for my last two solo shows I generally started a project only after a work had been sold or when there was an art prize I really wanted to enter.
The gallery I sell my work requires framing and I did not want to invest in the upfront cost of framing unless there was turnover of my work. I also don’t want framed works in the house as I don’t have spare storage, and every wall is already taken up with other people’s art.
With regards to producing work for my solo shows, I usually only work on one project at a time. I like to finish something before I start something else. Occasionally when I can’t resolve a problem with a work, I hang it on my bookshelf and start a new project. As my skills improve with each project, I usually can resolve it before the newer work is finished.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
My Coral Reef series came about because I had become bored with my 2D landscape works and wanted to do something new and sculptural.
My daughter, who is an artist, had also been encouraging me to do more organic and experimental work. Wanting a change, I just randomly started making little shaped quilts with patterns without really working out what I was going to do with them.
I wanted to use up my excess fabric and threads. I knew from experiments at Uni, almost anything can be made into a decent artwork with imagination and grit.
However, making the little quilts into a decent artwork proved harder than I thought it would. It took many iterations and forms before I was happy with the outcome.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
The final stage, when after hanging my finished work on my bookcase and viewing my completed work for an extended period I am satisfied with how it looks, and the work requires no further changes.
The most challenging part is balancing the composition of a work when you can’t see what you are stitching/drawing when it is scrunched up in the sewing machine.
How has your work evolved over the years? Is there a common thread (pun intended!) across the years?
As a young teenager I used to draw predominantly in pen and ink and primarily focused on rocky outcrops, eucalypts and native flora.
At 22, I completed my last four drawings that I would do for over two decades. In my mid 40’s, my late and second husband, encouraged me to start again after seeing my work. I enrolled in a short university art course but ended up doing a full degree part time over several years.
Taking advantage of what was offered, I undertook painting, drawing, and printmaking and explored unfamiliar themes, content, and mediums.
In my third year of printmaking, I started lino and mono printing on fabric in combination with free motion machine drawing after being inspired by an exhibition of fine art textiles at the Istanbul modern in Turkey.
After graduation, I made my first work using bleach applied with a brush on black fabric with thread and ink overlays. After selling it and a further few pieces in quick succession and no longer having access to large printing presses I decided that thread was going to be my medium of choice.
I had found a niche market that wanted Tasmanian bushland and flora works. From there, I also experimented with thread drawing on white canvas with black and coloured thread. Most of my current work is on black primed canvas with either white and grey or coloured thread.
Drawing eucalypts has been my common thread over the years.
Do you prefer the kind of project that is challenging and requires attention, or the kind where you get in your meditative zone and enjoy the process?
For me there is no meditative zone when I use a sewing machine to draw with primed canvas, as it is thick, inflexible and difficult to work with. There are constant interruptions with having to replace bobbin thread, clear the machine of black paint dust, fix tangles, replace broken or blunt needles, thread needles, change thread colours, and deal with noise.
The work also often needs to be scrunched to fit into the machine which can be difficult to manage.
My brain is wired to solve problems, so I do like the challenge of resolving how to make something look good.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
I have a bucket list of goals that I am motivated to achieve and tick them off one by one as I achieve them. I make work to accomplish those goals and to work towards achieving my more difficult goals as I am predominantly motivated by achievement.
When creating work, I use sound-blocking wireless earphones that are connected to the tv, so I do not suffer permanent hearing loss. Watching TV relaxes me and allows me to better focus on creating work. It is also a good distraction when you are doing hours of repetitive scribbles.
What advice would you give to emerging artists?
I have been mentoring a fellow textile artist for close to a year and a half. After reflecting on what worked best for us, the best advice I would give to emerging artists is to explore and experiment with different mediums, techniques and styles to discover what works best.
Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn as much as you can from other people and be patient. Practice, practice, practice. You will improve.
I remember one of the young talented art school students telling a mature age student who was complaining about their lack of skill, that if they had done 10,000 drawings of the same thing they too would be talented.
Learn from other artworks and artists. Get a mentor. If you quilt, join SAQA and get a mentor. Surround yourself with people more skilled than you. They will inspire you to achieve. Success does rub off.
Join a local group where you see other members’ work. Be a bull at a gate if you want something; don’t give up. Get used to failure if you want to be selected for shows or receive grants.
Do you feel that you chose your “passion,” or did it choose you?
My passion chose me as a child and teenager, but I think it was damaged along the way by toxic negativity.
Without a solid foundation, advice and confidence to draw from, I had no idea as an 18-year-old how to navigate the steps required to do art as a career or believe that I could make it.
It was only once I had a support structure of kindness, assistance, mentoring and confidence building in place, something that happened in my forties, that I was able to learn, develop, fail, and begin to succeed as an emerging artist.
Where can people see your work?
People can see my work at the Henry Jones Art Hotel in Hobart, or at an exhibition as listed on my website cv https://www.irenekoroluk.com/about . Look for the (current) listing next to exhibition venues. Online, people can see my work on my website https://www.irenekoroluk.com/ , or on the SAQA website.
Interview posted June 2025
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