Emerging artist redefined - exhibition of works by artist under 18 & over 35

A definition of emerging at Seaview Gallery, Seaview Street, Dulwich Hill NSW 

22- 26 October 1914  11 am - 4 pm

Opening 22 October 2014  6.00 pm to 8.00 pm

Bettleman - Apoxy sculpt and fabric sculpture with wire armature and Queensland Black Bean seed pods - 55 cm tall

Woman in Black - Air dry clay and fabric sculpture - 60 cm tall

I dropped off the above two works at  the Inaugural Inner west Women's Shed intergenerational exhibition themed Emerging.   It stemmed from a concept that there are on going calls across the art world for emerging artists to enter competitions and exhibitions where the artists must be between 18 - 35 years.

The aim of the exhibition is to open the opportunity for artists younger than 18 years and older than 35 years and to redefine the exhibition of emerging.  I definitely fall in the second group and welcome the discussion.  Many like me are of a generation where you got a 'real' job which you would hold for the rest of your life.  For me it was not until later in life that I had the confidence to make the time and give myself permission to make exploration into arts and crafts.

All entries will be eligible for the peoples choice award.  I saw some really interesting works when I dropped my pieces off .   I think it will be a good exhibition and commend it to you - go visit and vote if you can.

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.