PROJECT OF THE WEEK (read year)

love you so long

I am nothing if not optimistic when it comes to embarking on craft projects. Even when I have had only a little or no experience at something, if it comes it kit form, I am pretty sure I can give it a whirl. I have to say I swooned a little when I saw these cross stitch iphone covers on the Purl Bee website many moons ago so I was very excited to find them in Morris and Sons. So I picked up some embroidery thread, drew up some ideas and off I went. Well...

It took me a year people. To cap it all off it's far from perfect. You can see the pattern got increasingly complicated as time went on. I learnt a lot about cross stitch and myself in that time. It's a deceptive craft in that it's simple but can go terribly wrong fairly quickly (knots!wrong direction!broken needle!broken heart!) and as for me well I may be very very very slow, but by god I will finish things. Might buy another one now...RAMONA

SHOW OF THE WEEK

signature of approval


Natalia Milosz-Piekarska/Katherine Doube and Tessa Blazey/Alexi Freeman

The ladies of HML know a thing or two about the nature of collaboration. It's been a bit of a buzzword the past couple of years, particularly in craft and design circles and we think the latest exhibition at Craft is a kind of zenith collaborative practice.


L2R clockwise:

Dani Maugeri/Milly Flemming, Nicholas Bastin/Matthew Dux and Katerine Wheeler/Polly van der Glas

First up of course is the collaboration between the curators of Signature Style Nella Themelios and Kim Brockett. Pairing up contemporary jewellers with each other and with makers in other disciplines (from dance to garden design) is an ingenious way of getting makers to rethink their own practice and to aim for what Beck always calls the 'Mind Meld' with another creative thinker.



Nina Oikawa/Bridget Bodenham

We fell completely in love with the work by ceramicist Bridget Bodenham and Jeweller Nina Oikawa. Their gorgeous interstellar landscape of glitter encrusted 'rocks' and bejewelled constellation was breathtaking. Both artists signature seemed to disappear into a beautiful vortex to emerge as that mysterious 'third' voice. We love their work as individuals and can only hope that they were as excited by their collab as we were. More please! Special mention should also go to the catalogue which is gorgeously produced by Simon Browne and enriches the viewing. An important show for 2013. RAMONA

Signature Style 
Until April 27
Monday - Saturday
Craft Victoria
31 Flinders Lane
Melb City

FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK

tgif

In her usual egalitarian fashion Liz Jones (aka Betty Jo Designs and Gleaners Inc proprietess) invited artists/makers to take a section of the same piece of cloth an interpret it any way they liked the result of which is an amazingly diverse exhibition that is united by palette and pattern;

Of course the very retro fabric has inspired some old school craft which is fantastic to see as part of this years Fashion Festival. I am particularly taken with that moustachioed softie.

If you have a love of vintage kitsch then Gleaners Inc is a treasure trove. Why not go along tonight to the opening party? It's the prefect venue to spill out onto the street, preferably with a cold beverage and a stripey straw. The ladies of HML congratulate all involved.  RAMONA

Show runs through March.
Gleaners Inc is at 2 Ballarat Rd Brunswick

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

this mortal coil 

WARNING CRAFT CONFESSION ALERT! Regular readers will know that last year I attended a basket making workshop at Harvest Textiles with MaryannTalia-Pau that pretty much single handedly re-kindled my textile practice, a practice which had forlornly lain dormant and discarded for almost a decade. I'd got to a point where I'd spent so much time reporting on other peoples work I'd literally forgotten that I actually made stuff myself, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I think it's hard sometimes to maintain momentum as a practitioner when life, work, relationships, budgets, health and family all do their best to impact on our ability to regularly make work. 

So it's been pretty amazing to find myself shifting gears from facilitator to maker again. Perhaps it's the hypnotic simplicity of the coiling technique or the ability to pick up and put down projects intermittently to fit around all the other things I do at home that appeals. No Matter. Either way it's now become second nature to me, an ongoing three dimensional textile collaging process that I can't let go. Being able to move beyond the graphic, two dimensional plane of print work, as well as the complex labouring and space demands of weaving has pretty much freed me to start playing again with materials, colour and form - in a whole new way. 

Weirdly surprising has been discovering how quickly this daily fabric handling, colour play and 'busy hands empty mind' meditation has got me identifying as a maker again... I'm now literally bursting with new ideas - including ones for both the woven structures and prints i'd originally moved away from. I'm actually working on my first product range in years, an unexpected result I find completely amazing... especially considering my current workload. BECK

HOT TICKET OF THE WEEK

show stopper

We have been huge fans of Visual artist Kate Rohde for years now (see here) and we are more than excited to see her new show Ornament Crimes opening tonight at Pieces of Eight Gallery as part of this year's L'oreal  Melbourne Fashion Festival.

If there is anyone who can examine the nature of excess and the corrupting influence of decoration it is Rohde. She has bewitched, bothered and bewildered us with he dazzling tableau of mystical and mythical creatures in the past (think Marie Antoinette on acid). 

To think now we can wear a bit of that magic, perhaps these chunks of colour could be a magic power key into her kaleidoscopic world. RAMONA

Ornament Crimes runs until April 18 (good grief this year is flying!)