Jam packed day

Well I have crossed a few things off the list today, but it took me so much longer than normal. I lasted these uppers, it usually takes an hour, but with all my visitors, and amazing conversations it took me about three times as long.

Plus I kept going out on the fire escape to use my stinky glue, and then the door closed and I was stuck outside, so I had to go down all the stairs and around the block and come back in the front door, I'm sure Kim and Rose in front of house wondered if I was an escape artist!

Thanks Pene for the delivery of Haigh's treats, and to Nella for all her laughing, such a great sound, I have been cracking jokes just to hear her laugh.


The gallery has serious mood lighting, hence the darkness of my photos.



Speaking of lighting, get thee to the Klippel show at the NGV, a visitor who dropped by yesterday urged me to go, and it's amazing. The first room, above, is very dark, with what appears to be hundreds of tiny colourful maquettes made of found objects, bits of detritus and metal scraps, all housed in subtly lit cases. Mr Klippel's son, who is a composer, has produced an accompanying score, which makes some of the maquettes vibrate ever so slightly. My Leo would love to get his hands on them, he would probably pull them apart and re-figure them in his Lego-esqe way.


The second room is hardcore, and you need to prepare your eyes before you enter. The entire ceiling is one huge light, and the whole space is the brightest white you will ever see. Similarly there are a lot of cases housing maquettes, but these are all bronze, and so the shapes become much more obvious as they are silhouetted against the starkness of the room. There is a combination of really delicate with blunt, as the above photo shows.

It really is a clever exercise in contrast, completely opposite moods to display works which are quite similar. And it's free, and you can take photos.

To cap my busy day off, I went to a Salon discussion at the CAE City Library, about Craft and Design, where a few different makers and curators were talking about the 'intersections and connections between design and craft practices'.

Phew, it's been a barmy week and there is still more to go, tomorrow I'll be working away till three and then jetting over to the museum for the tail end of another Craft and Design as a Career seminar. These are always worth attending, and tend to sell out, so put it in your calendar for next August.

And there is a mini capoeira festival this weekend, with workshops from two different styles of capoeira. I am worn out already but will be learning some Capoeira Angola moves on Saturday afternoon. Then I'll probably collapse in theatrics.

In situ

A few images of my home away from home, Gallery 3 at Craft Vic. My 4 hours went by too fast today, didn't get to everything on my list, I think maybe I need to be a bit more realistic!

It's funny when you are on exhibit, some people won't come into the space because they know I'm in there - I said hello to a few people who poked their heads around the corner and they mumbled hello and then disappeared. I'm hoping that at least they will come back after I've left for the day, and have a good sticky beak at all the things on my desk.

Some brave souls just marched right on in, we got acquainted and I let them know what I was doing, today it was a bit of patternmaking.

I can also hear what people are saying about the In The Making show as they make their way down the gallery, a few exclamations of joy, a few pooh-poohings of the pricelist; maybe that's why they don't come and visit me, they've been busted!


Anyway I might get there a bit earlier tomorrow, to tackle a few extra things on the list, plus I'm having a fancy lunch at Cumulus, Andrew McConnell's new venture. It's all a bit of a carnival for me, I've been let out of the home studio! There's a city out there dammit!

Setting up shop

It's been a bit chaotic round here in recent days, preparing for my temporary studio at Craft Vic this week. Hence the mess in the above home studio photo.
I'm all installed today, can't wait to get in there tomorrow and work away.


I'll be doing a bit of patternmaking, some shoemaking, the above uppers will be lasted sometime during the week, and a whole lotta crafting! There will be cups of tea, and aprons and hammers aplenty, and I have even installed a little library if you care for some inspirational browsing.
Do come and visit!
Craft Vic is at 31 Flinders Lane, and I'll be there from 11am-3pm from Tuesday to Saturday.

Pieces of Eight

I've just got home from a lovely visit to my favourite jewellery shop/gallery/studio, Pieces of Eight. This afternoon they are having an open studio, as part of Craft Victoria's Month About Making program.

I love having a peek into other people's studios, and this space has about 7-ish jewellers in residence, who were on hand today with cups of tea, tasty treats and the answers to many of my questions.

The cross-pollination between members of this studio must be something really special, I work on my own and sometimes wish I had a posse to get feedback and inspiration from. I spoke to Rachel Gorman for a while and this is her space below, a riot of colour, looking onto a communal soldering area, and further back to the desk of Melanie Katsalidis, who is the director of Pieces of Eight.


I love the idea of supporting a network of practitioners in such a direct way, paying their rent by purchasing their wares, which I am hoping to do in coming months, I'm saving my pennies now! (Maybe they would be keen on a contra deal?)

On My Desk

It's all getting a bit frenzied in preparation for my week's work at Craft Vic, which starts next Tuesday. I'm doing a bit of leg-work now, so that I can have a few different things to make, in various stages.

The above pic shows a selection of brocade fabrics, I am having to choose which one to use in a version of the Chinoiserie shoes that I'm making for myself. I am such a fusspot with colour, it's taking me far too long to decide.

There's also a great book on cowboy boots, I have never made any but am feeling like I might try it soon, and a handful of souvenir spoons; I seem to be buying them at op-shops lately.

Also pictured is a pair of lasts for Leo, next week I'll be making a pattern for a new pair of trainers for him.


These are Leo's lasts, with a build-up on the front for a bit of extra toe room.

In these two photos you can see that I've tacked leather over the lasts, before you do this you soak the leather in the sink, and then tack it on so that it holds it's shape. Once it's dry, you remove the tacks, and in the case of Leo's lasts, I'll glue the build-up back on and sand it into shape.

The smell takes me back to many workshops I've slaved away in, especially the smell of Leo's wooden lasts combined with the wet leather, very evocative.


This image is of the lasts I'll be using for Chinoiserie #2, and it shows the first stage in making an insole. These days commercial insoles are made from layers of laminated paper, because it's cheaper, but the old school method is to use layers of leather, with a shank in between. I'll show more pics as I go, I find this part very satisfying, like making your own yoghurt, being self-sufficient.

More On My Desk at Kootoyoo.

On my bedside table

I have been devouring the new Object magazine, titled Patterns, Prototypes and Blueprints. This is a bi-monthly mag, a frequency which appeals to me, and is always an eye-opener in terms of both Australian and International designers and makers.

Object is Sydney's leading centre for craft and design, and can be compared to Craft Victoria. Through exhibitions, education programs, publications and their esteemed retail space Collect, Object's mission is 'to play host to the best of Australian craft and design'.

This issue has me all in love with Sandra Backlund, whose work is pictured below. I am so impressed by the sculptural nature of her knitwear; she makes individual 'units' and joins them all together to form impressive shapes and silhouettes. Everything is made by her hands, and I am extremely envious of the amount of time she obviously has to create such a complete body of work.

I'm putting her in my Allstars Posse, which also includes the gobsmackingly talented Helen Amy Murray, whom I've raved on about before.

There is also a piece on Donna Marcus, an artist who uses op-shopped domestic objects (aluminium kitchenware) to create patterned geometric sculptures. I have loved her work for a while now, and it's great to see her inclusion in the show Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, Sept 2008 to April 2009.

Botanica

Finished!
I wonder if I should make a belt to match?

To celebrate I am off to Kazari to dose up on brocade fabrics, and to dream of endless rooms to fill with their wonderful furniture.

On My Desk

The desk I have mainly used in the past few days is the computer table in the house.
I've been madly finishing an application for Artisan's Cherish Showcase, which will at their retail space (m)art in Brisbane in the lead up to Christmas.
So I've been finessing the CV, writing Artist's Statements, taking up-to-date photos, including this one, of my Dahlia Brooches.
They are made from crocheted leather thonging, and are so robust that I can only make about three at a time, I get a bit of RSI in the ol' wrist!

Listening to Boogie Down Productions - Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop

I would if I could

I am such a fan of knee high socks, I pretty much wear them every day in the cooler months. So I squealed with joy to see the uniforms of the womens indoor volleyball teams in Beijing. I am so loving this look, I tell you if I had the legs I would rock this outfit with pleasure!

Let me break down the ingredients which make it so good in my eyes:
- I love a v-neck tshirt, with or without a collar,
- I LOVE a cap sleeve, tres flattering,
- navy and white are my favourite colour combo, add a bit of red and I'm in heaven,
- those shorts on those legs, eek!
- crisp white knee highs with trainers,
- a killer glossy ponytail to top it all off.

It's never going to happen for me, of course, these girls are over 6 ' tall. In fact a commentator was mentioning how good the 6'2" girls were doing, seeing as they were the shorter members of the team!

On My Desk

A belated post, things are hectic here.
We are getting packed for a quick weekend to Adelaide to visit family, and friends with a new baby.
Plus In The Making exhibition opening tonight, I feel a bit frazzled and unpresentable!

The above pics include some messy, messy activities, a dremel and attachments for sanding and getting microscopic bits of dust up your nose.
My glueing bench, very stinky indeed, I am still picking bits of glue off my fingers. The Botanica sneeks are nearly finished, I almost rushed them to wear to Adelaide, but I had that feeling I would have stuffed them up at the last minute, and exercised some rare restraint!

More On My Desk at Kootoyoo

Art Fair Faves

Well the Art Fair is pretty much all packed up now, a brief but frenzied weekend of show and tell. We visited on Saturday, and actually managed to spend two hours there, not a bad effort on behalf of the three year old!
Here are two of my favourite pieces/artists, there are probably so many more that I could include (Fiona Hall, Louise Weaver) but these really made me smile. I like a bit of humour with my art.


Kaori Kato, 'Drawing Machine', 2007
This was a cut and paste piece of genius. Small children gathered around in appreciation of its Meccano-like assemblage. Adults were likewise enthralled.
The whole thing was powered by an electric fan, which blew onto two small childrens' windmills. As these spun, they rotated the big cogs at the top of this picture, which led onto other cogs, finally resulting in one end of the machine drawing, and the other moving the paper along, creating the long tubular drawing you can see here.
The entire machine was made from cardboard, small timber struts, and coloured pencils, all held together with hot glue. Genius, recycling, humorous.



Penny Byrne, 'George and Laura simply adore the War on Terror', 2008
This lady takes the cake for me. She is a ceramicist and ceramics conservator, who has obviously got a lot to say, and in such a wry, decorative way!
Again I love the genius, the humour, and the recycled component. As someone who lives in a house strewn with toys, it's great to know that they can be re-used in this way, I wonder if she gets all the action man accessories in those big bags from Savers?
I mentioned to someone that I loved her work, and they asked, "But don't you find it a bit too 'crafty'?" It was like waving a red flag at a bull!
Have a look at her gallery, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art for more examples of her work.
All of her pieces were sold a number of times over, she will no doubt be busy for years, scouring the second hand shops for figurines. I'm sure she has her contacts.