CLOTH GARDEN -
play with fibre, textiles and mixed media
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
World Collage Day Workshop and Exhibition update - POLES APART
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Project planning, exhibiting and art
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Filling the creative well.
Breezy on the Brisbane River, Brisbane Qld |
Two posts ago I wrote about procrastination. With the benefit of hindsight I feel I was tired and just a bit overwhelmed with everything that I had achieved last year and all the thoughts swimming around my head as a result of it.
This post I feel revived.
I have been fortunate to have been travelling, resting and filling the
creative well.
We journeyed up the east coast of Australia between the Sunshine Coast and Townsville getting around by train and bus. It certainly offers a different perspective to driving by car and you see different things.
Fitzroy River, Rockhampton Qld |
Views , Ross Creek, Townsville |
Me and my little brother on Magnetic Island. I revert to childhhod pose when aware a photo is taken! |
Looking out to sea from The Strand, Townsville |
We took in water views on ferries on the Brisbane River and to Magnetic Island. We walked along the Fitzroy River and admired the substantial old buildings and wondered about the towns past history. We watched the changing landscape through the train window.
I was fortunate to be able to see POP MASTERS at HOTA . It featured works from Warhol, Haring & Basquiat together with works of artists I didn’t know. I fell in love with Mickalene Thomas’s large bold portraits and use of a bit of bling.
Keith Haring, Untitled |
Though I was familiar with the work Keith Haring seeing his
work real life rather than in a spread in a book really gave much more sense to
his work. There was inspiration in his
work which I could take forward in a textile and stitch format and inform some
projects I have in mind regarding text and textiles.
Embroidered detail on dress |
In Rockhampton we caught an exhibition of clothing by
Brisbane designers Easton Pearson just before it closed. It was a delightful
surprise.
We rested at Airlie Beach. I swam in the pool and watched swallows fly down in front of me and scoop water on the wing.
Birds were a big feature for me – looking for birds which I
would not see in my home environment. From
our balcony in Townsville we watched small flocks of Black Cockatoo’s fly by in
the distance, spotted Sea Eagles and Kites circling over Ross Creek and were
entertained by small birds on the wires in front of us. And there were familiars like the Ibis, Honeyeaters,
Galahs and Cockatoos.
I went with a small sketch book, a glue stick, scissors and water-soluble
graphite. I did a couple of collages but mostly I just soaked
up the sights and contemplated. And filled the well. 😊
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Musings at the end of the month
Resting on the Rocky Shore - collage. I don't much like cutting up artbooks but I had one on Titian's works which was water damaged |
... and a frog jumped onto the page. Collage using papers woven seeking design inspiration for an earlier project. Waste not ,,. |
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Procastination, paying attention to intention and a bit of collage
Greeting card .... collage ... fish and chips? |
January has been a bit of an odd month I’ve been regrouping
and trying to focus on a couple of calls for entry. And procrastination seems to have come into
play.
I have at least managed to start working on some mixed media
and paper collages – small items such as cards and A4 works for framing. And I have come up with a potential
series. But, I haven’t progressed on
the works for the call for entries ☹. . Time to reset intentions and pay attention
to them!
Greeting Card - collage - Blue budgie and blossom |
I propose to work harder on giving attention to my intentions and diarise studio days so that work gets done. Everything returns to normal after the January break and I know I work better to timelines.
Small play collage - Conversation with myself |
So now to work...its the first day of February. A precious day that will never come again. I will take full advatage of this opportunity.
Saturday, December 31, 2022
2022 - it's a wrap
Small concertina booklet - All the Letters of the Alphabet berbe |
Well, 2022 turned into a busy year. I keep pinching myself thinking how amazing this could all had have happened this year.
I was thrilled to have an application accepted for the Wodonga Ephemeral Art Program with three images being displayed outside the entrance to the Cub theatre for three bermonths from September , 2022.
The RE-create Collective, of which I am part, hung its works for From Where I Sit; Stories from within at the Albury Library Museum for nearly 6 months. It was a long haul completing works up to the eleventh hour! The exhibition opened in June and there were a number of associated activities with it I had a ball doing a couple of workshops. I wrote about about that in my last post. And I’m inspired to do more collage in the coming year.
Armchair travel series |
AIRspace - Oatlands |
When I applied for the residency at Oatlands I had a personal brief to develop mixed media substrates which I could stitch into. I mostly focused on fabrics which I built up with paint (mono prints, painting, printing and stenciling), applied paper and fabric and stitch. But there is so much more I want to do. 😊 The Enso Circle gave me a structure which kept me focused on this goal.
My feet had hardly touched the ground when I got home in November the Albury Wodonga Doll Bear and Hobby Show Inc had its first major event since 2019. The last two years events were cancelled, like all other events across the world, by the impact of Covid. Though our event was small it raised quite a bit of money which is earmarked for community operated charities in our region. I am so proud of the amazing people that have kept this organisation alive and continue to champion involvement in arts and crafts. Since November monies have been donated to a food charity, a women’s refuge and an animal rescue and re-homing organisation. They are all not for profits which are also kept functioning through the efforts of volunteers, fundraising and donations. Food care has 140 volunteers help pack and distribute food.
Then to finish off the year I attended a symposium at the Wagga Wagga campus of Charles Sturt University run by the Creative Practice Circle. The work that I did at Oatlands was on display and I did a presentation. But the best of it was sitting listening to like minded people present and talk about their work ranging across purely artistic to academic endevours. All presentations were different but the synchronicity of themes and thought was striking. The week was finished by partaking in a short altered book workshop run by Barbel Ullrich. A fabulous way to wind down.
Some of the participants work at the Altered Book Workshop |
The icing on the cake was to spend Christmas with some of my extended family in Melbourne. It has been six years since we spent a Chritsmas together. They went out all stops to welcome us. Here's my gingerbread place mark for the table.
Wishing you all a fabulous 2023.
Much metta
Donna
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Story Telling through Collage
I had a fabulous day last Sunday. I was invited to run a collage workshop at the Write Around the Murray Festival. At the end of the day, I posted of FaceBook:
A fabulous day. A fabulous workshop. Fabulous people. Says it all. Had a ball faciltating a collage workshop as part of the Write Around the Murray festival.
My fabulous workshop participants made it work. I thank them all for their enthusiasm, laughter and sharing with me and fellow participants. I have been given permission to share their work and here are a couple of photos. Every one was so engaged to the last minute I forgot to get a group shot and photos of all the works made. (Please seek permission before resharing these images).
Here is what we had up on the white board - a tad neater and clearer than it was on the day
STORY TELLING WITH CREATIVE COLLAGE
Collage – torn and or/ cut paper and glue Paper – heavy enough to hold collage
Photo montage – magazine images& photos Cardboard
Assemblage – above/orand found objects Timber
Mixed media collage – “the kitchen sink” What else ? Natural substrates
Booklets, postcards, concertina, scroll, min, maxi Archival – acid fee
Found papers not archival
How will you tell your story: GLUES:
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Realist - Glue Stick
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Surreal - PVA (White Glue)
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Cubist -
Aleene’s Tacky Glue (if heavy)
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Abstract -
Paper Cement - bookmakers glue
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Fantasy -
Gel medium - glue and glaze
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Geometric
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What other style or format can you think of ?
What is your story? How do you want to tell it?
TRUST THE PROCESS