Wednesday 12 May 2010

I heart Craft Australia

I am looking forward to the May 2010 issue of Craft Australia's e-news as it will have a contemporary jewellery focus and roundup of the JMGA conference held in Perth 2010. Sadly I couldn't make it to Perth, so I'm very excited to read all about it...
I am a huge fan of Craft Australia, not only are they an amazing organisation in support of crafts people around Australia, but their website is a fantastic resource. Craft Australia have always been super supportive of my practice - so I'm going to give them a little plug!

Craft Australia publishes its free online newsletter, CA enews every month, the newsletters are a terrific way of finding out what is on around the country, you can read it at: http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/enews/ The subscription to CA e-news is free, you can subscribe at: http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/subscribe/ and there is an archive link to previous newsletters at: http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/newsroom/newsletter.php?id=index
This year Craft Australia is celebrating its 40year anniversary in 2010 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) and as part of the celebration they have set up a flickr page to showcase Australian studio craft and design. They continually uploading images to this site and a number jewellery and object images has been uploaded with many more to come... you can check it out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/craftaustralia/

There is also the Craft Australia calendar, which promotes contemporary craft and design through publicising exhibitions, workshops, opportunities, conferences and trade fairs, it is a fantastic resource and way of staying in touch with what is happening: http://craftaustralia.org.au/calendars/about

Thank you Craft Australia for being so wonderful and here's to the next 40 years!

Sunday 2 May 2010

make believe

May marks the annual 'make' exhibition at gaffa gallery featuring work by a whole bunch of us who work at, or have worked at Object, Australian Centre for Craft and Design. It is always a really fun exhibition to be a part of and a great opportunity for us all to catch up on each others news and of course artistic endeavours of the past year. The exhibition is also a chance for some of us to step outside the comfort zone of our day-to-day practice and experiment with new media, materials and messages in our making.
This year I have been working on a fun photographic collaboration with Kylie Johnston which poses a tongue in cheek challenge to the catch cry of 'sustainability' that seems to permeate the creative landscape and social media. It seems to us that sustainability has become a fashion statement rather than a desire to actually be sustainable.

Our work is titled Sustainability... is it all make believe. Here is our little 'manifesto':
Sustainability has become a term that informs our choice of what to buy, wear, make, travel and communiacte in our contemporary lives. Are we in danger of over-use, to the point where it is a meaningless term? Have we made sustainability unsustainable?

Each generation has a catch-cry that reflects the ideas that were at the forefront of peoples minds... is this ours? And how will it look in 50 years... were we all hopeful of massive change under a slogan, or is it simply a soundbite? You be the judge... become an urban agitator and pose the question yourself.
And here is an image: