Pop Up Exhibition

Form #1

I spent the day moving between my Garden Art stall and my exhibition space at the Croydon Park Street Fair on Saturday.   The statue above was one of the pieces in the exhibition space.   I had smaller pieces were on the stall.

It was a beautiful day and I got sun burnt standing at in the sun listening to music, chatting to happy people and making small Pot People.  My idea of heaven really.   I gave away more than I sold.  The pot people were a hit and easy to make on the spot.

I was a in a good spot as I was able to direct people to the art space where there were 13 other artists whose work covered a wide spectrum and it made for a high quality varied and interesting exhibition.   I didn't take any happy snaps of the exhibition as it was a little dark inside.

I learnt a couple of lessons from the day - especially in terms of exhibiting.   I had a selection of works in different sorts of media including a couple of art quilts, some embroidered works and my fabric sculptures.  I think I confused viewers and should I be invited to exhibit again will restrain myself and show only one 'type' of work.   Family members manned the space and reported back about what took peoples interest .  It seems that it was fairly well divided between the sculptures and the embroideries.

PS - for those of you  interested in making a Pot Person I will post a photo and instructions shortly. 

Garden Art Workshop at Azures Den, Concord NSW

I am rather excited - I have been asked to facilitate a Garden Art Workshop at Azures Den, Cabrabrita Road, Concord.

Azures Den is a cafe, gift shop and art gallery venue which carries (and sold :-)) some of my garden art.

I will be teaching a statute based on this little fellow on Sunday  2 November 2014.

The Garden Guardian stands approximately 45 cms tall.


Art and afternoon tea!  It couldn't get much better in my view.

The workshop starts at 1.00 pm and you will leave at the end of the day with your very own garden statue.    The workshop size will be limited to about ten people so you get the most from your afternoon.

If you want to learn how to make a garden statute this fun worshop is the one for you.

You can find out more details and book your place by contacting Azures Den directly on 02 9736 3358 or online here.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Donna

Salamander Bay

I was looking through photos and reminiscing about  a week spent holidaying at Salamander Bay (north of Newcastle).  It was a very quiet but enjoyable time spent taking in the view from our beachfront window.

Each morning was a delightful passing parade of low flying gulls, rosellas, corellas, pelicans and kookaburras, kayaks and  swimmers.  One morning a pod of dolphins swam past and did a return journey.  They were so close to the shore and it was so unexpected.  Locals told me I was very fortunate to see them.

I took a few photos from the front yard which featured a rather sad palm tree.  I didn’t really see its potential as a design element  until later in the week .  There was also some sort of  fruiting palm and a Norfolk pine which had been trimmed at the lower level and new branches had shot - both of which had lovely textural elements to them. 

I also had time to create an armature for a Paverpol statue and started a male figure.  I found a lovely piece of driftwood for it to stand on and it developed a  tilt.   I still haven't got much further with this statute other than to change it a bit with a view of turning it into a faun type character.  I will get to it again but perhaps not till Christmas holidays.

I the meantime I have been working on two statutes for an exhibition sponsored by the Inner West Womens' Shed in Marrackville.   The entries are due 15/10/14 and the exhibition is on 24/10/14.   Once I know whether they have been excepted and/or when the exhibition opens I will put up a couple of photos.

Cheers

Donna

circles and spirals

I have a fascination with circles  and spirals – the latter often come into play into my stitching.      

Recently, I have been working on Dorset buttons with a view to incorporating them into a piece.  The buttons formed part of my show and tell at tthe August Stitchers Plus meeting>

I tend to photograph interesting circles – 

or make things with circles -  this is a close up of a tree installation - the circles were originally part of a table cloth which became worn with time and found new life here.

I used paverpol to harden and weatherproof the fabric.  The fabric was strectched over purpose made rings and the paverpol acted as a glue as well.

sculpture at Noosa Botanic Gardens

This intriguing piece of marble is at the Noose Botanic Gardens.   Part of an acquisitive prize offered -  the artist is Hew Chee Fong and it is called "The Journey".

It is lovely.  You don't see the detail till you get close.  One side of the marble is polished and the balance rough and, until you get close to it you can 't really spot the stairway to heaven.

If you are interested in other prize winners have a look here.  Thae gardens have a marvelous ampitheatre which sits on the waters edge.  A great spot for a bit of contemplative thinking

ART DECO

Been researching the 1920’s for background and inspiration for a work for the Margaret Oppen Prize – a competition open to members of the Embroiderers’ Guild NSW Inc.  The theme is ‘The Roaring 20s’. 

When the theme was announced my mind immediately jumped to women’s costume and the Chrysler Building in New York.  Picture books were the first thing I looked at when I when to the library and I came home with a glorious tome called Art Deco – The Golden Age of Graphic Art & Illustration by Michael Robinson & Rosalind Ormiston (Flame Tree Publishing).

Since then I have done a little reading and thought I would share a bit of what of I learnt and do a sort of a book review at the same time J.

Over all Art Deco gives a gives a good but brief introduction to the influences of the period and talks about the development of the Art Deco movement in Britain, Europe and America.   It introduces novices like myself to artists, designers and craftsmen of the period.  There is enough information and more than enough images to spike my curiosity.  I will go on and investigate further.

What did I learn from this book?

·         Art Deco was a term first used in the 1960’s  

·         It covers the period between the First and Second World Wars

·         Its heyday depends on which continent you are in

·         That the Art Deco movement was influenced by or drew  upon or was the confluence of a number of artistic styles over time including;

o    oriental influences of Art Nouveau,

o   the success of the fine art poster like that created by Toulouse-Lautrec,

o    industrial changes effecting graph art printing

o   Work by cubist and futurist artists like George Braque, Roal Dufy & Pablo Picasso

o   Interest in graphics and typography leading to new fonts and borders

o   The Ballet Russe

o   And a lot of other things too such as hard defined lines and lots of bold colour. 

It is clear that there was an emphasis on what was regarded as good design, promotion of craftsmanship and it was applied across the board to fine art, graphic art, fashion and textiles, furnishings, consumer goods and architecture.

The book is chock full of enticing images.  It is a glorious visual feast and has sparked some ideas  for the competition which I will go on and play with.

On an art deco vein - I was at the Enmore Theatre not so long ago and it has some wonderful art deco inspiration plastered on its walls which invite exploration too.

Playing with Clay

I have been learning to play with clay and practising making faces at Sydney Community College.  I am keen to learn to make my own faces to incorporate into my own fibre art. The course has a focus on mould making.   As is the norm, one term is not enough for me to grasp even the basics so I will be back for another term.

To date I have learnt some basic concepts about working with clay to make a bust.  The first lesson I was taught was to build using tiny pieces of clay to build the form/shape I want and not to smooth the clay but just keep adding.  It is SO hard not to smooth the clay.  I now understand that when I smooth the clay I push the clay around and change my form somewhere else but still it is hard to be disciplined and remember this part of my lesson.

The class has students who have returned after doing one or more terms and it is wonderful to see what they are doing.  I had to keep reminding myself why I was there and not get distracted by other exciting ideas

It is funny how things come together.  I have been experimenting with a number of different media but find I keep coming back to fibre and want to incorporate other media into it.  Lately I have been concentrating on crazy patchwork and fabric collages with a view to incorporating faces into them.   To date I have been using commercial moulds or using the last of some faces made at a workshop with Pearl Moon a few years ago.

In the class I am working on a half face which I can hang on the wall.   If all goes to plan I will create a headdress to go with it.   Still thinking that idea through though.    J