While I was doing the workshop in Ballarat, we had an afternoon off, and one of my fellow students and I had a quick explore of the town.
First we visited the incredible Gail's Patchwork Emporium in Sebastapol to get some sewing supplies from her quilting and patchwork store. It is simply amazingly full of everything from fabric to threads to lace to patterns to buttons and more. I think you could wander around it for two hours and still not see everything.
Our next trip was to Gallery On Sturt/ Accent Framing which was for holding an exhibition of Lucila Zentner's paintings. Not to my taste generally, but I did like some of her portraits. On the other hand, I liked Peter Misic's desktop sculptures made out of hard drive circuit boards, stator coils, crystal, gooseneck and copperplate.
We next visited the Robert Clark Conservatory which was holding an exhibition of the work of local fibre artists, the Ballarat Textile Network - "From the Garden". These cute birds are the work of Ollie Fraser:
but this bright felted totem pole is by Pam Morgan.
I was rather taken by Lyn Dickson's work: "Long Legged Birds", which are made from stitched grasses and sticks,
and her "Collecting Basket".
There were other works which were quite good:
but it was a small exhibition and the plants were doing their best to overshadow the art with their colour.
We also visited the Adam Lindsay Gordon Craft Cottage, where I picked up some very cheap, beautifully hand knitted, natural wool beanies. The craft varied from felted works to wood and deer antler horn walking sticks. Some of the work was very good and some a bit amateurish. You have to pick through it.
We ran out of time, but I would like to visit the regional Art Gallery on a future visit. It has an excellent reputation.
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