photographer PEN TAYLER
Rebecca Kissling is a stylish example of her own wonderful creativity. Unlike most of us, who wear ready-made mass produced clothing, Kissling creates much of what she wears, which includes wearable felt art. She manufactures the fabric by hand from natural fibres combined with silks and raw wool. Each piece is an individual creation. “In a world of manufactured synthetic material and mass production, there is nothing more satisfying than working as sustainably as possible,” she says.
A creative artist as well as an entrepreneurial business woman, she has been able to support herself this way for 15 years. Her work has been recognised by Brand Tasmania: this year she was one of 17 women chosen to represent the state in line with International Women’s Day.
Before Kissling returned home to Tasmania in 2008, she ran her own landscaping business in Melbourne, but “felt-making came to me just at a time when I was looking for something softer and less strenuous in my life”. She saw a beautiful wall hanging at her children’s school made by one of the art teachers and her students. “I was mesmerised by it. I immediately decided it was my next journey to explore. When I found I could incorporate all the other creative things that I loved to do, like stitching and dyeing, that made the journey more intriguing.”
“Felt-making is very much like painting only with a different medium. I love the tactile nature of the fibre and the resulting product.” Instead of thinking about the canvas, the paint colours and the types of paint, Kissling thinks about her choice of fibre, its colour and the process needed to achieve her desired outcome.
After years of a high-stress workload, running a gallery in Battery Point and a stall at Salamanca Market, Kissling felt burnt out and decided to move to Oatlands where she imagined she might stay for a couple of years. That was nine years ago. “Oatlands somehow bewitches you with its colonial history along with the attractive street scape and Georgian sandstone houses. Sometimes you feel like you are truly living on a movie set!”
The pull to stay in Oatlands is also exerted by her home, built in 1828 as the Commandant’s Residence. “I have fallen in love with it. Being the home of the most important man of the town at the time, it’s a privilege to be the new caretaker and be part of the ongoing history. It’s the very reason I have stayed so long. If these walls could only speak!”
Like other Tasmanian artists, Kissling is motivated to create some of her work by the extraordinary natural world of our island state. “I’ve been inspired to create other collections of work such as my ‘Tassie Tails’ range, a collection of felt pelts, and individual pieces. These are inspired by the many different patterns found on the unique animals we have here in Tasmania.”
Standing just over two metres high with two hinged panels each 780cm wide, is a beautiful screen inspired by those patterns. “The fabric is handmade emulating the look of animal skin without any animal dying for the cause. It’s made from natural organic fibre only, alpaca and sheep wool. It’s vegan!” To create such a large and stunning piece of art, “takes a lot of time and thought. I don’t rush into a lot of things. I like to think things through before I start although sometimes I can be impromptu and just let the process happen but if I want to start something new like the screens, it can take quite a while.”
In 2020 a building on the main street of Oatlands came up for sale. After some thought she decided to buy it with a view to creating a gallery, although, “it was plagued with water and mould issues, with threadbare carpets; it was totally unloved through lack of maintenance”.
It’s hard to believe now as I step into An Artistic Affair, her beautiful, light-filled gallery which contains her own work in addition to artworks by some of Tasmania’s most talented artists. Kissling’s passion for the arts can be seen very clearly in this lovely space.
As regards living in Oatlands, “I find it very soothing to wake up to the birds every morning instead of the sound of traffic and I’ve seen some breathtaking sunrises and sunsets on the surrounding hills. On a clear night I feel as though I can almost pluck the stars out of the sky.”
For more information, search "An Artistic Affair" on Facebook, or visit 67 High Street, Oatlands.
Pen Tayler is a Tasmanian writer and photographer. She photographed 12 towns for Towns of Tasmania, written by Bert Spinks, and has written and provided images for Hop Kilns of Tasmania (both Forty South Publishing). She has also written a book about Prospect House and Belmont House in the Coal River Valley.
