Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh member Ris? Nagin's "Confection" is among 50 works by Guild members that complement 50 others by members of the Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association in "Up Over and Down Under" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Nagin's silk, thread, acrylic and gouache piece was awarded the 3 Doudens' Prize for the best botanically inspired work. Click photo for larger image. Review 'Up Over and Down Under' Where: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, 6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside. When: Through April 23. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission: $5 suggested, members free; 412-361-0873 or www.pittsburgharts.org. Catalog: In CD-Rom format, includes illustrations of all exhibition art, packaged with thumbnail color printouts and brief juror comments ($10). Talks: March 16, 6 p.m. -- artist's talks by guild members. Feb. 28, 7 p.m. -- Rise Nagin on "Change Is Good" at the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Squirrel Hill ($5; information, 412-392-4832). Information: www.fiberartspgh.org or www.atasda.org.au (which displays the Australian entries).

It's my baby," Australian Diane Groenewegen told an audience of fiber artists at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts earlier this month, to explain why her husband had encouraged her to fly here for the opening of "Up Over and Down Under."

The gregarious and manifoldly talented artist organized the Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association portion of the handsome exhibition, which is a collaboration with the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh and has 50 entries from each organization.

Audience members laughed knowingly, fully aware of the amount of effort that goes into coordinating an international show. After all, the Pittsburgh guild has produced 18 successful "Fiberart Internationals" (the next will be held next year) with volunteer labor. This bi-hemispheric exhibition arose from contacts made during the Internationals.

ATASDA, which originated in 1974 as the more localized Batik Association, now counts 700 members across Australia and in New Zealand and publishes the quarterly Fibreline.

To make shipping and insuring the show easier, a size limitation of 12 by 12 inches (12 inches deep for three-dimensional) was placed on work. One juror selected from 115 submissions in Pittsburgh, and three jurors reviewed 93 works in Australia.

A surprising array of expression is displayed, the most successful showcasing fiber's unique qualities including tactility, color range and malleability.

"Australian Desert Flowers," by ATASDA artist Elizabeth Shirley, includes Australian cotton and felted Australian merino wool, both hand-dyed with Australian and New Zealand dyes. Click photo for larger image.

Notable among many outstanding works are Doris Lees' "Crimson Transitions," a sophisticated red, white and blue composition in silk shibori and embroidery; Fuyuko Matsubara's complex weavings, "A Phase of Light," 2 and 3; Ris? Nagin's "Confection," its painted flora swelling with unrestrained life force; Shirley McKernan's "Rhyolite" and "Crocoite" Specimens, which tease the eye with their mineral mimicry; and the blue sub-dermal units of Alison Muir's "Skin Deep."

Stitching wizardry draws the eye to painstakingly constructed works like Elizabeth Low's landscape "Flotsam," Angela Pasquale's figural "Take My Picture" and Lyn Castle's nesting "Crested Grebe."

Two sculptures are exceptional examples of the continually expanding definition of fiber art: Adrienne Heinrich's ambiguous "Fruit of the Womb" and Amy Lipshie's cardboard and bead "Iced Amusement," as are layered and stitched monoprints "Storm Surge," "Eye of the Storm" and "Forest for the Trees 1" by Michelle Browne, the latter a collaboration with Laura Tabakman.

Brent Ruka's clever, beautifully realized "Van Gogh's Guestroom at Arles" is in a class of its own, recasting the haunting painting in a happier light.

The show is more about aesthetics than issues, but those aren't excluded. For example, gender concerns are raised through the 1950s homemakers of Penny Mateer's sprightly appliqueed "Food Pyramid" and the veiled Muslim woman of vibrantly colored and beaded "Lips but No Voice" by Marie-Alice Kuliffay, at 89 the senior ATASDA member.

Traditional works have their own challenges, as with working the tiny, precise corner tucks of Charlotte Haupt Broscious' fine "Butterfly Log."

Groenewegen, who works with vintage fabrics, had three pieces chosen for the show, her expression ranging, remarkably, from nostalgic to abstract.

Along with fabric, she collects aprons and buttons -- she has 10,000 of the latter -- to give discarded materials "new life." She makes finds at "op shops" (opportunity, or what we'd call thrift stores), but she's also given things by people, such as an elderly neighbor who brought by silk threads variously colored according to the plants her mother had fed the silk worms she once raised.

"I've never had a lot of money," Groenewegen says, "but I've been clever," collecting things that others don't see value in.

Groenewegen noted similarities between the American and Australian artists, such as a current interest in beadwork. But there are also distinctions. "Our light is different, the colors are different," she said.

She was, for example, concerned that the submissions she received predominantly featured purples and pinks. However, she didn't recognize the prevalence of orange that Pittsburgh visitors noticed in such glowing works as Elizabeth Shirley's "Australian Desert Flowers" and Toni Valentine's "Eucalyptus Kaleidoscope."

The exhibition will travel to Sydney's prestigious Parliament House, Australia's oldest building, and to the Gap Gallery, Brisbane.

For feedback on what characterizes Pittsburgh work, the artists will have to wait until the show opens Down Under.

ATASDA member Elizabeth Low's "Flotsam," detail above, comprises countless hand-embroidered stitches.