The Jo Imison Story

THE JO IMISON STORY

Six weeks trapped in a Lincolnshire snow storm provided a lasting legacy for Deloraine textile artist Jo Imison. ``I was five years old and we got snowed in. That was when my grandmother taught me to knit,’’ Jo said.

The snowstorm was the trigger for a lifelong interest in textiles and design that saw her work as an art and craft teacher and eventually pursue life as a textile artist in Tasmania.
Jo lives and works in one of the state’s prettiest towns, Deloraine, 40-minutes north of Launceston in the Great Western Tiers. She produces some of the island’s most envied, original garments out of fabrics collected from around the world. ``I make slightly unusual, exotic clothes out of everything _ some are flowing and comfortable, others might be tight and sexy,’’ she said. Deloraine’s wilderness and farming landscapes remind Jo of her native England and the countryside around Lincolnshire. She has found life in the region enthralling for 20 years now.

The Great Western Tiers’s blend of wilderness against the manicured softness of its dairy and crop farms holds great appeal for Jo and the myriad of artists who have settled in the valley. ``When we arrived in Deloraine, the surrounding countryside was burned dry but the scenery on the town was soft and green,’’ she said.

Tasmania’s craggy Western Tiers are the town’s backdrop. It is just under two hours from Cradle Mountain.

The valley has evolved into a global reflection of the best of art and farming practices from Tasmanians, German and Swiss producing premium dairy and aquaculture products to artists such as Jo.
Her clothes are carefully made of a myriad of fabrics which are stored to overflowing on shelves in her studio. ``My giant bookshelves are overflowing with a collection of fabrics and embellishments such as tassles and buttons. I am a compulsive fabric collector and I think that’s why I sew because I can’t throw anything away,’’ she said. She creates many of her garments as commissions. Visitors are encouraged to make an appointment where Jo will create garments perfectly suited to capture the essence of the client. ``I love the sense of the unknown . When I cut something out and it starts to work; that is my greatest pleasure,’’ she said

Jo was one of the contributors to the town’s renowned Yarns artwork. The YARNS Artwork in Silk project at Deloraine captured the imaginations of some 500 of the township’s community 10 years ago. It is a superb silk embroidery that took some 10,000 hours to complete. There are four silk wall panels, each 4.4m by 3m, that cover 57 square metres and it portray the four seasons of the Meander Valley.

The summer panel depicts local industries such as poppies and the timber industry, the local agricultural show, a country wedding and some of the National Trust listed houses of the area such as Calstock. Winter is a rainforest dripping wet with caves, deeply ferned gullies, black cockatoos and of course, Tasmanian Tigers. The rural landscape of autumn shows a drover bringing cattle from paddocks, a honey factory and pigs and sheep on farms. Spring is the picturesque township of Deloraine.

Yarns is on permanent display at the Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre while Jo Imison’s designs are available at the Artists’ Garrett, (a collective) on Emu Bay Road, Deloraine.