Tamara’s Selfie with Senior Alison McShanag
Alison is my textile art mentor.
Her creativity and her community-mindedness inspires me.
Spending time with Alison is always about having fun, trying something new and sharing her talents.
Alison McShanag was one of my first new friends upon moving to the Top End in 2019. We met at an indigo-dyeing course and found we shared a passion for literature and the arts.
I loved hearing her stories about Darwin over the decades and was inspired by her creativity and award winning works. We bonded over a love of fabric and I learned from Alison every time we met.
Alison invited me to join her book club at Darwin City Library and generously shared a whole group of wonderful Territorian friends with me.
When I was unwell for a period and spent a lot of time at home Alison would come to visit with snacks and projects. She has taught me about cyanotype printing, eco-dyeing, free motion appliqué, and hand stitching techniques.
Alison encouraged me to join her as a member of Tactile Arts where we enjoy meeting other local artists, volunteering and even selling some of the items we create.
Recently, Alison co-founded NT’s Textile Traveling Suitcase community initiative and invited me to be one of the sewing tutors.
Selfie with a Senior sponsored by COTA NT.
