Panel in Appliqué

Ngarita Johnstone’s Panel in Appliqué was created during her time at the Canterbury College School of Art, most likely in her final year. Though she majored in embroidery, she was a talented draughtswoman and painter, despite her hesitations after criticisms from her father. Panel in Appliqué’s compositionis made up of almost solely curving lines and forms; it is even set into a curved outline. It shows three faceless girls, who prance daintily through rolling hills and meadows. Their full skirts swing as they walk with toes raised, and their arms link them together in a wave-like motion. The green, yellow and orange hills that they walk on, coupled with the flowers that are growing, give the viewer a feeling of joyous springtime. It is a playful and feminine pattern for an appliqué that unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately for Ngarita, who disliked the subject – was never realised.