Of bowl making workshops, exhibitions at GOMA and Heide, and finishing off unfinished objects (UFOs)

Mainly due to friends, I have returned to creating and viewing the creations of others.  Thank goodness!  I was beginning to get quite depressed at the way that household duties have managed to eat into creating time.

On a short return to Brisbane, some of my friends asked me to teach them how to make bowls.   It was so much fun, it felt like being in kindergarten again. We gathered some vessels, and protected them with cling wrap.  Then, we used various mulberry papers, wrapping papers, string, jute and newspaper to create different effects, coating each lavishly in PVA glue, which was diluted in the case of the papers, to create a firm bond.

As you can see, we got quite a good variety of effects.  Because of the extreme humidity, they dried very slowly, so I didn't get to see the final effect, and was unable to give them a final coat of varnish or estapol or laquer.  That makes it even more important that I return to Brisbane.

I also caught up with the Brisbane knitting projects.  This one is a patchwork rug using old tapestry wool.

Also in Brisbane, I was  taken to an exhibition that I have been wanting to see, Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth, at GOMA.  In spite of some glowing reviews from friends, I was a little disappointed in "Heritage 2013", though it was interesting.  I guess that my personal dislike of taxidermied animals and the fact that the animals were neither clearly unrealistic nor realistic could have something to do with my reaction.  I found it clever but not exciting.  A bit contrived.

I did like "Eucalyptus 2013", and marvelled that they had been able to .such a large specimen of a tree into the gallery, but I liked it  more as an inspiration for my own art, than as a piece of  the artist's art.

I was more impressed by "Falling Back to Earth", because I liked the flow of it and the sense of cycle it depicted, though again, I was a bit irritated by the feeling that the taxidermy was slightly wonky.

Feel free to love it, but, as you can tell, although I was glad to have seen it, this exhibiton didn't really excite me.

However, we really enjoyed the accompanying Children's Art Centre, and brought back some of their kits for the grandchildren, and took photos for inspiration.  His expressions with gunpowder looked like something I would like to try.

In Melbourne, I finally finished my scroll, and decided to use it as a table runner.  Even if we spill stuff on it, it will only add to the patina!

Another friend and I went to see the  exhibitions at Heide Museum of Modern Art ( formerly the home of Sunday and John Reed). Again, we were a bit disappointed at a lot of the work, which sometimes seemed pretentious and amateurish, and in our opinion, not very good!  There were however some exceptions.

Future Primitive had work  by Daniel Boyd, Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley, Sarah Contos, Mikala Dwyer, Graham Fletcher, David Griggs, Fiona Hall, Newell Harry, Siri Hayes, Brendan Huntley, Jess Johnson, Narelle Jubelin, Dylan Martorell, Alasdair McLuckie, Sanne Mestrom, TV Moore, Michelle Nikou, Ricky Swallow and Rohan Wealleans.  Some of my favourites which are depicted here, include Alasdair McLuckis's beadworks and  Fiona Hall's works.

Poetry, Dream and the Cosmos: the Heide Collection explored the idea of creativity and included works by Charles Blackman, Sweeney Reed, Sidney Nolan, James Gleesom, Jean Langlkey, Mike Brown, Mirka Mora, Asher Bilu, Dale Frank, MaGerber, Mikala Dwyer, Micky Allan and Paul Yore.  My favourites here were the black and white work of  Mirka Mora and Paul Yore's tapestry 

   Albert Tucker: Explorers and Intruders revealed a lot of familiar images.  Not my favourite artist but interesting.

My favourite collection was in Erica Mc Gilchrist: Selected Works 1951-1995.  I loved the variety of techniques in much of her work, her use of colour and the energy in her works.  Must  learn more about her.

We also wandered round the vegetable  gardens and visited the sculpture park at Heide and had fun posing among the exhibits.  A nice day, in spite of not liking a lot of the work displayed.

Well, folks, this is my last post before Christmas, so I wish all of you a very happy, loving and safe Christmas  period with your loved ones.  In my next posts, expect to see the results of my experiments with painting on fabric with bleach, using ink, pastels and conte on my rusted paper, pen and waterolour ink drawings,  a handmade doll...........and more!

Discovering being an artist in Melbourne

My long absence from my blog is, as you might have guessed, due to moving my home from Brisbane to Melbourne.  I thought I would be saying goodbye to outside living, only checking the weather to see if would rain or not, living in shorts and t shirts, walking every morning along Kedron Creek, geckoes in the house, lizards in the garden, travelling by ferry and  bougainvilleas

 

 as well bush turkeys, ibis, floods, poinsiannas, frangipanis, jacarandas

 

 

and less pleasant experiences, such as workmen starting hammering at 6.30 am, no daylight saving, cane toads and days of high humidity. 

 

I thought I would be reacquainting myself with daylight saving, the adventure of Melbourne weather, unexpected sculptures in suburban gardens

 

 

roses,

 

 

European style gardens

 

 

 

familiar eucalypts, walking along Back Creek, plus chilling or baking winds, starlings, blackbirds, gulls and sparrows. 

 

 Instead, circumstances mean that I am still flitting between the two cities, which is great in that I am saying au revoir and not adieu to friends in Brisbane and  I am reacquainting myself with my Melbourne friends and family, but fairly stressful as far as creating every day goes.

 

Still, I have managed to catch an exhibition in Fernbank, Victoria, of work by the East Gippsland Potters, with featured artists Malcolm Boyd, Wendy Reeve and  Paul Gennings.

 

 

 

(Of course, I succumbed to temptation there.)

 

I also rediscovered the revamped Sky High Gardens in the Dandenongs with a Jamaican friend.  She loved the sculptures

 

 

 

 

and was lucky enough to see a very laid-back foraging echidna.

 

I discovered that I am apparently responsible for a friend in Brisbane creating this piece of crocheting as she was inspired by one of my Pinterest posts.

 

 

At home, I have managed to unpack all my equipment but have discovered that I have more than can fit in the room that I designated as my studio.  Ah well, it is back to the dining room table!

 

In spite of the aforementioned stress, I am managing to finally get some knitting and embroidery done, resume sketching, and  start on an art doll.  Things are looking up! By next week, I hope to have some finished works to show you.  Cross your fingers!