I have missed so many exciting things to post about. The first one is a link to the Clog interview mentioned in the previous post - you can read it here
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Clog-a-riffic!
Well, I am pretty behind on all my posting here, blame a hectic making schedule and recovering from jet-set interstate travel with the exhibition!
Thursday, 5 February 2009
clogtastic!
One of my very favourite blogs is CLOG from the wonderful Craft Victoria. Not only does it keep me up to date with all of the exhibitions and other goings on at Craft Victoria - it also presents profiles on the makers who exhibit in the gallery, window space and store. CLOG is informative, beautifully written and always jam packed with wonderful images.
Imagine my delight then at having my work featured! There have been several lovely posts about Take a ball of thread... including the wonderful essays written for the exhibition catalogue by Amber McCulloch and Debbie Pryor and a lovely review by Emily Bentley-Singh. I was also even more chuffed to be interviewed for CLOG! The interview should appear soon - I found responding to Kim's insightful questions about my work quite the challenge and agonised over my answers for ages... it is an excellent process to have to write (or present a talk) about your work - particularly responding to what other people see in it - which may sometimes be something that you have not noticed yourself because you are so immersed...
Monday, 26 January 2009
some sketches.
Here are some preparatory sketches done for the work made for the exhibition at Craft Victoria. Ever the obsessive drawer, I have begun drawing the work as a way of both documenting and planning as well as staying focussed on the project - previously the pieces were made intuitively, however now I am so familiar with process and materials I have been having ideas thick and fast - faster than I can make, so drawing has helped. It has been interesting that many of the designs that worked on paper have not been at all successful in reality. The painted drawings use the left over paint from some of the new work I have been making, I found some blocks of huon pine in a review of the contents of my studio and have started to work with this as a new material - I have been painting the backs and in some cases the front of this work. (I have also been developing a rather strong curiosity for the interior of envelopes recently...)
a new favourite!
This brooch is called Spill. It is my new favourite. It's made from a cut up plastic necklace I found at my beloved local market. I also made a horrible neckpiece using the necklace - I haven't photographed it yet as I hope to re-work it.
Towards the end of last year I kept finding pieces of old costume jewellery that look like the work I have been making for this project. If you look verrrry carefully at the picture of my studio below, you might see them displayed on the black neck stand to the right. I have been prompted to look around myself at the things I collect and examine how they both fit in with and influence my aesthetic - I plan to photograph and blog them in the future.
Towards the end of last year I kept finding pieces of old costume jewellery that look like the work I have been making for this project. If you look verrrry carefully at the picture of my studio below, you might see them displayed on the black neck stand to the right. I have been prompted to look around myself at the things I collect and examine how they both fit in with and influence my aesthetic - I plan to photograph and blog them in the future.exhibition opening at Craft Victoria
Here are some images of the exhibition opening for Take a ball of thread... at Craft Victoria on Thursday 22 January 2009. These images are from Craft Victoria's Facebook gallery, I will be uploading some of mine showing installation etc soon. A huge thank you to Nella Themelios and all at Craft Victoria for being so welcoming, helpful and generally wonderful! I would also like to thank Debbie Pryor for her wonderful opening speech; Eric, Debbie, Cesar & Nina for helping me to install the show as well as Mark & Francesca for being such a wonderful support as always.
Saturday, 17 January 2009
not quite how it was meant to be
This neckpiece is based on some of my drawings (I plan to post those soon too...). It looked so good on paper, but the reality was rather unfortunate! Needless to say it now only exists in this photo. I have chopped it up now and recycled it into some new pieces...
cry me a river
Update...
I have been a very slack blogger these past months. I have been very busy making for several group exhibitions - two were held in December at Pablo Fanque and metalab as well as finishing up the year at work - always hectic with the student exhbition and so on!I have ALSO been busy making new pieces for the Take a ball of thread... to be held at Craft Victoria in Melbourne. I am so excited about this exhibition. When I was a student I used to dream about having a solo exhibition at Craft Victoria and I am still pinching myself that it is actually going to happen. I am flying down on Monday to install and the exhibition opens on Thursday 22 January, running until 7 March. I am giving an artist talk on the 22nd of January at 5.30pm and a workshop on Saturday 6 March at Craft Victoria 31 FlindersLane Melbourne, if you are in the neighbourhood, please pop in and say 'Hello'!
I have lots of images of new work and some installation images from Pablo Fanque to post... I will try and get all this up in the next few weeks along with shots at Craft Victoria!
Meantime, here are some images of neckpieces that took a long time to complete. First, the Tumbleweed Neckpiece.
and below is the finished Cats Cradle neckpiece that I have blogged in progress a few times.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Take a Ball of Thread... exhibition open!
Take a ball of thread... opened two weeks ago at Pablo Fanque. It was a fantastic exhibition opening, I couldn't have hoped for a more lovely night and my warmest thanks to everyone who came along not just to the opening, but to everyone who has been to the exhibition since. I have been quite overwhelmed by the lovely feedback from people who have seen Take a ball of thread...
I would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been involved with the project, my extended family and friends. Most particularly, thank you to Mark for putting up with me being all about the jewels for the past few weeks, Francesca at Pablo Fanque and Debbie for being so supportive and helping out in so many ways and to Suzanne and Martin for the stunning catalogue.
I will post some installation shots soon, in the meantime, here are some pictures from the opening night:
As you can see, I look really nervous and there is still lots of thread left... I decided to show the rest of the ball as it gives context to the work made from it on the opposite wall of the gallery. Despite probably needing a break from pink, I miss having it in my studio and am itching to keep making with it - the enforced separation has been quite strange.
I have been playing with black thread since the exhibition opened - all the funny little half used black spools of thread lying around in my sewing box and various other, more unexpected places in my house. The thread I have been playing with has no precise place of origin - there is no real memory of it coming into my life, unlike other found objects I have used in the past which are very specifically located in time and place. I know some of them probably belonged to my Grandmother and Mother, to ex-partners or flatmates perhaps, who can say. They remind me a little bit of the black umbrellas that seem to come in and out of my life. I am excited about using black and very interested in how the colour works with the forms - the black looks a lot like hair - an ongoing fascination for me and the initial notion behind the pieces I have been sketching and sampling is a meditation on loss.
I pretty much used up all the black thread lying about the house on the weekend and so, to fill the thready gap in my life, today I bought 5 kilometes of black thread (oddly enough I have just discovered that I walk past a sewing thread wholesaler every day on my way to work). This ball of black is no where near the size of the pink one when I started and much smaller than what is left of the pink... maybe a third of the size, I am not sure how to feel about this. The vastness of the pink is overwhelming at times.
The black thread is being used to make some pieces for Pablo Fanque's next exhibition which I have been invited to participate in, the exhibition is called Recycled, renewed, reborn
I would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been involved with the project, my extended family and friends. Most particularly, thank you to Mark for putting up with me being all about the jewels for the past few weeks, Francesca at Pablo Fanque and Debbie for being so supportive and helping out in so many ways and to Suzanne and Martin for the stunning catalogue.
I will post some installation shots soon, in the meantime, here are some pictures from the opening night:
As you can see, I look really nervous and there is still lots of thread left... I decided to show the rest of the ball as it gives context to the work made from it on the opposite wall of the gallery. Despite probably needing a break from pink, I miss having it in my studio and am itching to keep making with it - the enforced separation has been quite strange. I have been playing with black thread since the exhibition opened - all the funny little half used black spools of thread lying around in my sewing box and various other, more unexpected places in my house. The thread I have been playing with has no precise place of origin - there is no real memory of it coming into my life, unlike other found objects I have used in the past which are very specifically located in time and place. I know some of them probably belonged to my Grandmother and Mother, to ex-partners or flatmates perhaps, who can say. They remind me a little bit of the black umbrellas that seem to come in and out of my life. I am excited about using black and very interested in how the colour works with the forms - the black looks a lot like hair - an ongoing fascination for me and the initial notion behind the pieces I have been sketching and sampling is a meditation on loss.
I pretty much used up all the black thread lying about the house on the weekend and so, to fill the thready gap in my life, today I bought 5 kilometes of black thread (oddly enough I have just discovered that I walk past a sewing thread wholesaler every day on my way to work). This ball of black is no where near the size of the pink one when I started and much smaller than what is left of the pink... maybe a third of the size, I am not sure how to feel about this. The vastness of the pink is overwhelming at times.
The black thread is being used to make some pieces for Pablo Fanque's next exhibition which I have been invited to participate in, the exhibition is called Recycled, renewed, reborn
Post Script: Not half an hour after I posted this, I lost my bag containing not only my latest black umbrella, but also the ball of black thread. I was so preoccupied, sitting on the bus writing and doodling away about ideas of loss and how to attack the new black thread, that I left my bag on the seat. Now I really have something to think about.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
dripping berry
I have been making lots of neckpieces using the wax dripped over thread and strings of various thicknesses like beads, returning to some of the techniques and ideas I was exploring at the end of last year (this is the only one I have photographed so far). The little wax conglomerations are very raspberry-like on many of the pieces and on this neckpiece I am enjoying the contrast between the fine thread, the weight of the wax and the little drip of pearls oozing out the bottom.
droplet (or suffering for one's craft)
Still on the leaky theme. This neckpiece is called Droplet. I was inspired to add the red as I stabbed my self quite badly with the needle while I was stiching this together. I have strings and strings of these beautiful vintage glass beads that I bought a few years ago in Barcelona, Spain and until I saw the droplet of blood on my finger tip the same size as one of them, I hadn't thought to use them. I am glad I did.
I like the back of this piece (second image) much better than the front.
I like the back of this piece (second image) much better than the front.
bubbling dewy leaks
The tiny beads spilling out of these pieces remind me of dew drops, bubbles and leaks... or links of tiny, tiny instestines...
tassels
A tassel neckpiece... I have been making quite a few tassels recently - they are difficult, on many levels.
this little piggy!
A very cute pig getting in on the pink action during the brochure photshoot - used as a stand in for pink things when setting up for the photos.
Behind the scenes and some thank yous
Behind the scenes while photographing pieces for my exhibition brochure at Boccalatte
A huge thankyou is due here to Suzanne and Martin at Boccalatte for their wonderful design and photography - and also for their patience in guiding me through the exhibition brochure process... also to Bruce at Peachy Print for printing assitance.
Enormous thank yous are also due to Debbie and Amber for their fabulous catalogue essays.
I feel really blessed to have been able to work with such amazing, talented and generous people on the production of the brochure. I can't wait to see the real printed thing!
Here is a sneak preview of one of the mock ups:
A huge thankyou is due here to Suzanne and Martin at Boccalatte for their wonderful design and photography - and also for their patience in guiding me through the exhibition brochure process... also to Bruce at Peachy Print for printing assitance.
Enormous thank yous are also due to Debbie and Amber for their fabulous catalogue essays.
I feel really blessed to have been able to work with such amazing, talented and generous people on the production of the brochure. I can't wait to see the real printed thing!
Here is a sneak preview of one of the mock ups:
...and a whole big pile of pinkness laid out at the end of the day.
more blooms...
I have re-made the Blossom neckpiece. It was one of the very first pieces I made as part of this project and one of the first pieces to use the NYC pink wax. At the time I made it I was really happy with it, but over the past few months it slipped from favour and ended up in my rejects box. Francesca from Pablo Fanque made a lovely comment about the original and this inspired me to take another look and resulted in this re-make. I think it has benefited from my increased confidence and skill level using the materials - particularly in the string-making department. The original was on untwined thread and this is on a nicely spun string. It is also double the size of the original - I am no longer afraid to go BIG!
Chrysanthemums
Spring is sprung and these neckpieces have a decidedly springy feel to them - they remind me of Chrysanthemums. I have been making lots of neckpieces recently as I felt like I was getting stuck in broochland...
catching up...
These are some piecs that I made a little while ago but haven't photographed until now.
The neckpiece below is called Gangs it is one of two neckpieces that have been French knitted. I posted about making them while watching Gangs of New York a while ago - it is extremely long...
This is Lure, a more recent brooch that was next to impossible to photograph - the beads oozing out of it are the most vividly eye hurting fluorescent pink... pilfered from a fishing tackle box many years ago, they have been glowing quietly in box of bits and bobs just waiting to be made into something alluring.
This is the result of an experiment gone wrong, but somehow ending up right - I was trying to make a big hollow ball using a condom. The glue ate through the condom as it was hanging out to dry overnight and the ball collapsed and set in this lovely nest shape. I have added a silver brooch back through the tangles, wax and pearls.
This brooch is called Muff. It's sister piece Merkin has a starring role in the brochure being produced to go with my exhibition. Muff is very, well, muffy really it has a lovely movement when worn.
The neckpiece below is called Gangs it is one of two neckpieces that have been French knitted. I posted about making them while watching Gangs of New York a while ago - it is extremely long...
This is Lure, a more recent brooch that was next to impossible to photograph - the beads oozing out of it are the most vividly eye hurting fluorescent pink... pilfered from a fishing tackle box many years ago, they have been glowing quietly in box of bits and bobs just waiting to be made into something alluring. 
This is the result of an experiment gone wrong, but somehow ending up right - I was trying to make a big hollow ball using a condom. The glue ate through the condom as it was hanging out to dry overnight and the ball collapsed and set in this lovely nest shape. I have added a silver brooch back through the tangles, wax and pearls.
This brooch is called Muff. It's sister piece Merkin has a starring role in the brochure being produced to go with my exhibition. Muff is very, well, muffy really it has a lovely movement when worn.
One of the very first looped thread pieces made way back in May - this is a transition from using pearls and coral to using thread ropes. It is very small and very loopy. It seems sparse and strange now against the denser looped pieces I have been making recently.
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