Adelaide artist Margaret Koo awarded Order of Australia for contributions to the creative arts

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Adelaide-based artist Margaret Koo has been awarded an Order of Australia for her services to the creative arts. A world-renowned embroidery teacher and author of four books on the craft, she hopes to inspire younger people to take up these delicate skills to ensure the craft remains alive.

Transcript

00:00I was flabbergasted at first to have received it, and I hope this will be an inspiration

00:11to other embroiderers, especially to the young people.

00:15We need to have more young people, especially in today's society when there's a lot of pressures

00:21on life, just on daily living, and for them to be able to experience and know that there

00:28is an activity that can help them find their inner peace.

00:35So when you're sitting there with that needle, just going through that fabric, you find something

00:39within yourself.

00:43When you get together to embroider with other ladies as well, you form a community, and

00:48that community supports each other as well.

00:53One of my passions, obviously, with the traditional embroidery that I do, is to make sure that

00:59I pass on the art in its best integrity.

01:02A lot of it is being lost, commercialism has taken over.

01:08I do have a couple of younger people around the world who I am hoping to mentor, that

01:15they will then in turn pass on this embroidery skill, and not just a skill, but really that

01:22understanding of what it does for the inner being.

01:27I am very much honoured to be receiving this.

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