List of finalists out!

Main Street is now conveying the list of the 20 finalists, chosen from 249 participants to the public competition “DHG Art Factory, Prize for contemporary art”, intended to promote contemporary art and strengthen the link between industry and territory , in the name of research and creativity.

 “Quality, research, coherence with the subject, innovation and the state of being contemporary” as indicated in the announcement of public competition, (Article n. 11), were the basic judging critiria to pick out the finalists. The managers of the company declare:  “Just like the strenght of our materials , usable at any latitude, we chose the works with an immediate communicative strenght, able to join textile tradition – that is where we come from – together with our vision of this job, because Dyeinghousegallery is a work in progress that loves different cultural influences. We get convinced and seduced by what is new and different, by original points of view, because we want to develop and change, following new inspirations. It was a difficult selection, but what matters is that, whatever the professional Jury will decide, it will be definitely satisfactory, since each and every work has a strong personality. They were so satisfactory for us as to cherish the idea of proposing future cooperations to many of those artists”

 The 19 projects, selected by the Company, together with Anna Luana Tallarita’s – voted by ondine users, will be judged by a professional Jury, conprised of Gaia Gualtieri (Managing Director  of Main Street Srl) , Francesco Funghi (Director of the Vault Contemporary Art Gallery), Lorenzo Giusti (Curator of EX3 Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Firenze), Livia Savorelli (Editorial Manager of Espoarte Contemporary Art Magazine) and Massimiliano Tonelli (Director of Artribune). By April 24^th they will decide who the winner is. The publication on www.dyeinghousegallery.com/artfactory will have to be considered official .

“DHG Art Factory, Prize for contemporary art” constitutes just the first of a series of initiatives that will make DHG - dyeinghousegallery brand (www.dyeinghousegallery.com) meet the art and culture world, new ideas and possible links between industry and creativity.

The finalists are: Ben Brown, Richard Biancalani, Francesca Bruni, Bunker108, Carlo Colli, Fausto Della Villa, diLo - Eugenia, Di.Segno studio creativo, Daniele Fabiani, Ettore Favini, Giulia Gaccione, Dario Paolo Insabella, Lato Zanetti, Kate McCarthy, Franco Menicagli, Elena Piccolboni, Nicoletta Scilimati, Alessia Silvestrelli, Spogo and Anna Luana Tallarita.

The Wool

We decided to create some in-depth articles for each of our products. These articles will soon be available also on our website.

Australian Sheeps

We are going to start from fibres, obviously from wool.

Wool can be grouped into 3 big categories:

1)       Merino wool: short, extra-fine, very crimped and used for clothing.

2)       Crossbred wool: medium fine, not much crimped, used for the production of textiles for furnishings.

3)       Ordinary wool: long, bristled, used for particular products such as making mattresses.

Shearing

Sheep are typically shorn once a year and in some places twice.

Old-style Shearing

In the traditional way, still used in many countries, the woolen fleece of a sheep is cut off with blade shears or with machine shears (known as hand-pieces).  In Australia, big sheep farms can reach 10.00 head of cattle. Big flocks of sheep are shorn by machine shearing operating a power-driven toothed blade quickly and efficiently for a maximum shearing of the animal.

Once the fleece has been removed from the sheep, the fleece is collected and brought to another area for the selection. The first process is the skirting: the removal of pieces  which are placed in separate containers. Then the fleece is folded, rolled with its best part above and it is examined for its quality in a process known as wool classing considering fine crimp, length, colour and general conditions. 

Shear fleece is split up into:
- yolky wool: exactly as when cut from the animal;
- washed wool: sheep are washed prior to shearing;
- scoured wool: wool is washed after shearing (therefore wool maintains its natural grease, useful for preserving it;
- wool that has been washed thoroughly

Famous Lambswool is wool shorn from young sheep at around  the age of eight months that have been shorn for the first time. It is  a very good wool (19.5 micron), and a registered trademark (LAMBSWOOL) patented in 1984 by I.W.S (International Wool Secretariat) matched to the Woolmark brand to ensure the preservation of the extra-fine lamb's wool.

Characteristics and morphology

Raw fleece, called greasy wool, is made of fibres agglutinated by grease and sweat residue as well as dirt, straw and other fibres. The semi-grease wool, free from impurities, is made of long fibres from 4/6 to 40 cm.

 It is a poor heat conductor, therefore it is very much appreciated for making warm fabrics. Wool is actually very nonconducting and protecting because of its structure that allows to keep air in the tangle of its elementary fibres.

Wool fiber has the highest degree of moisture absorption, but in the meantime it is highly water-repellent. If a drop of water falls on a wool fabric, once it has been removed, it does not leave any damp. Wool can absorb moisture almost up to the 33per cent of its own weight without giving the feeling of dampness. The reason is a chemical reaction: the fiber gives off heat while its molecules absorb moist – therefore the human body is best protected against any sudden jumps in temperature.

Wool fiber is the less inflammable fiber overall, it has low heat of combustion, when it burns it forms a  swollen and spongy char which is insulating and self-extinguishing.

 

Under the microscope, three basic layers are shown:

- The outer layer, made of very small flat cells in the shape of scales, lied like flat roof tiles.

- The middle layer, made of thin fusiform cells.

- The inner layer, the medulla, that can, sometimes be not present, leaving a hollow canal.

Wool is made of keratin, a protein rich in sulfur, an essential constituent of nails, hair and horns and by fats that – once purified – are known as lanolin. 

The quality and use of wool is determined by its fiber diameter, length  crimp,  elasticity, tensile strength and colour. Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining its spinnable grade, that is the length of a spun yarn obtainable with a certain weight of wool. Therefore, the finer the wool, the richer it is.

The finest wool are also shorter and more crimp, such as Merino wool.

Short fibres are typically 6-7 cm in length, while long fibres are superior (English long-wools can reach up to 40 cm!).

Crimp gives wool softness, smoothness, elasticity, adhesion in spinning. The finer the wool, the more frequent and regular is its crimp.

The most common colour is ivory white, but there are also gray, dark, black and reddish sheep.

DHG Art Factory Prize Public competition closed - selections are starting