Project planning, exhibiting and art

April has flown by. It has been a busy month but not a lot to show for it in terms of artwork. I framed some works for the Albury Wodonga Branch of the Embroiderers Guild Victoria (including West Wind -shown above) and help set up the creative stitch and play group table. It was a wonderful event that showcsae a multitude of embroidered textiles. And I am facilitating a collage workshop at GIGS ARtists Studios in a fortnightr

My focus this coming month is to complete some small collaged and stitched booklets for an exhibition with RE-Create Collective. There has been a lot of behind the scenes work and we have an exhibition coming up and it will be on show in two venues. I am very happy to be able to tell you all that POLES APART will be opening in Creators Artspace Gallery on Gateway Island in Albury Wodonga on 5 July 2023 and then be travel to HR Gallop Gallery, Charles Sturt University Campus, Wagga Wagga in August. It features work done by Jnnie Munday and myself in residencies in October last year and the Collective and invited artists' responses to our blog. My works respond to the sandstone walls that surrounded me in Oatlands Tasmania where I undertook my residency. More details about the exhibition in my next post.

I’ve also been looking to the future and done a heap of brainstorming for both continuing and new projects. It’s very satisfying to get the thoughts out of my head and into some semblance of order on a piece of butcher’s paper. (You know, those large sheets of white paper used to wrap (or once were) product in). The beauty of butcher’s paper is that its cheap. I can scribble, jot, mind map or list to my heart’s content and feel that nothing is fixed: ideas can still move,be fluid and grow according to what is happening in my life. This coming month is full. I’m running a collage workshop in a fortnight, need to be in Sydney for a couple of days, and have my usual meetups with art and craft friends and groups. And of course, working on those booklets.

Filling the creative well.

 

Breezy on the Brisbane River, Brisbane Qld

Two posts ago I wrote about procrastination.   With the benefit of hindsight I feel I was tired and just a bit overwhelmed with everything that I had achieved last year and all the thoughts swimming around my head as a result of it.

This post I feel revived.   I have been fortunate to have been travelling, resting and filling the creative well.

We journeyed up the east coast of Australia between the Sunshine Coast and Townsville getting around by train and bus.  It certainly offers a different perspective to driving by car and you see different things.

 

Fitzroy River, Rockhampton Qld

Views , Ross Creek, Townsville

Me and my little brother on Magnetic Island.  I revert to childhhod pose when aware a photo is taken!

Looking out to sea from The Strand, Townsville

We took in water views on ferries on the Brisbane River and to Magnetic Island.  We walked along the Fitzroy River and admired the substantial old buildings and wondered about the towns past history.  We watched the changing landscape through the train window. 

I was fortunate to be able to see POP MASTERS at HOTA . It featured works from Warhol, Haring & Basquiat together with works of artists I didn’t know.  I fell in love with Mickalene Thomas’s large bold portraits and use of a bit of bling.

Keith Haring, Untitled

Though I was familiar with the work Keith Haring seeing his work real life rather than in a spread in a book really gave much more sense to his work.   There was inspiration in his work which I could take forward in a textile and stitch format and inform some projects I have in mind regarding text and textiles.

Embroidered detail on dress

In Rockhampton we caught an exhibition of clothing by Brisbane designers Easton Pearson just before it closed. It was a delightful surprise.

We rested at Airlie Beach.  I swam in the pool and watched swallows fly down in front of me and scoop water on the wing.   

Birds were a big feature for me – looking for birds which I would not see in my home environment.  From our balcony in Townsville we watched small flocks of Black Cockatoo’s fly by in the distance, spotted Sea Eagles and Kites circling over Ross Creek and were entertained by small birds on the wires in front of us.    And there were familiars like the Ibis, Honeyeaters, Galahs and Cockatoos.

I went with a small sketch book, a glue stick, scissors and water-soluble graphite.   I did a couple of collages but mostly I just soaked up the sights and contemplated. And filled the well. 😊

Exhibition anxiety, worthyness and words

Green & Blue Series 

 

Life has been bus.  My colleagues and I (RE-create Collective) are at the pointy end of our exhibition From Where I Sit – Stories from within which will be launched at the Albury Library Museum on 25 June, 2020.

Super excited and over it all at the same time!

I have prepared a series of textile works and have been umming and ahing about whether to submit them. Exhibition anxierty.  Are they worthy? I have decided to offer them up for the exhibition and let the Albury Library Museum make the curatorial decision.   

The works are an interpretation of a poem by Lesbia Harford which I wanted to do for some time:

            Green and blue
            First-named of colours believe these two.
            They first of colours by men were seen
            This grass colour, tree colour,
            Sky colour, sea colour,
            Magic-named, mystic-souled, blue and green.
            Later came
            Small subtle colours like tongues of flame,
            Small jewel colours for treasure trove,
            Not fruit colour, flower colour,
            Cloud colour, shower colour,
            But purple, amethyst, violet and mauve.
            These remain,
            Two broad fair colours for our larger gain
            Stretched underfoot or spreading wide on high,
            Green beech colour, vine colour,
            Gum colour, pine colour,

            Blue of the noonday and the moonlit sky.

Why did I change my mind?   Because when I sit at my table and gaze out the window I see green and blue.  When I rest in my garden I see green and blue.   These colours are restful and calming and often observed whilst sitting and pondering. My artists statement will reflect this.

Translating text to textiles

Green Lovers - Marc Chagall 

                    Green and blue 

                    First-named of colours believe these two. 

                    They first of colours by men were seen 

                    This grass colour, tree colour, 

                    Sky colour, sea colour, 

                    Magic-named, mystic-souled, blue and green.

                    Later came 

                    Small subtle colours like tongues of flame, 

                    Small jewel colours for treasure trove, 

                    Not fruit colour, flower colour, 

                    Cloud colour, shower colour, 

                    But purple, amethyst, violet and mauve. 

                    These remain, 

                    Two broad fair colours for our larger gain

                    Stretched underfoot or spreading wide on high, 

                    Green beech colour, vine colour, 

                    Gum colour, pine colour,

                    Blue of the noonday and the moonlit sky. 

I’ve been thinking about how to interpret this poem by Lesbia Harford in a textile format. 

The words have the same effect on my brain that the feel of textiles has in my hands.

Can words be tactile? 

Palpable. A synonym of tactile: a feeling or atmosphere so intense as to seem almost tangible. 

I’ve been exploring artists too. 

Modernist Marc Chagall uses a lot of blue and green and interesting vistas and skies.  (The Tate has a great teachers pack for an introduction and a little self-directed learning.) 

A further poke around the Tate online brought me back to Wassily Kandinsky and his inspiring use of colour and line. 

 Circles in Squares - Wassily Kandinsky

I’ve been pondering on how to express this poem in fabric and stitch for a fair while now. I have silk sari strips and threads. A few days ago I found some interesting wire frames tucked away in the garage. They may be just the thing to help create a work that is either flat of 3D – or both?