MONTHLY MISSIVE

RADIO ROUND UP

So once again we've been off the radar for a few weeks, but this month we've actually been out and about learning more about making ceramics, seeing new exhibitions, launching new creative endevours and putting the finishing touches (at last) on the Craft Companion. We hope you're all looking forward to August which as usual promises to be THE BIG ONE for the Craft community in Melbourne with the launch of Craft Victoria's annual Craft Cubed festival. We're on The Grapevine RRR again this morning around 10:15 and we'll be bringing you a choice selection of what's happening in the craftiverse.

SoCa THE SCHOOL OF CLAY AND ART

Theres a new school in town. Shane Kent, one of Melbourne's premier ceramicists is quickly becoming the poster boy (man) for modern artisans - regularly collaborating with chefs on large commercial commissions, maintaing a vibrant personal artistic practice and encouraging and inspiring aspiring clay mavens through both formal educational settings and short courses in specialist clay centres and continually showcasing the kind of life that can be sustained through creative endeavour. The latest string to his bow is the new School of Clay and Art which is offering up a unique mix of wheel thrown and hand building classes as well as career advice and perceptual skill building. We're excited and we will be signing up.

MEREDITH TURNBULL

One of Melbourne's finest (the lovely Ms Meredith Turnbull) has curated a new show called Form and Flex which we are really looking forward to. Makers who create interactive wearables that examine the physical connection of body, ornament and environment really push our buttons, often literally, playing with notions of performance, functionality and adornment. In this exhibition the spotlight will be on the conceptual artistry and manual skill of Bridie Lunney, Sanne Mestom, Anna Varendorff and Benjamin Woods as they take centre stage. We can't wait.
Opens Tuesday July 28, 6-8pm
Pieces of Eight Gallery

DOMESTIC FRONTIER

This August will see the second iteration of this wonderfully curated temporary retail space that focuses on a select range of works that skilfully embody the skill and inherent beauty of purpose built functional objects. Baskets, ceramics, metal, wood and textiles come to life as hand dyed, hand sewn and hand wrought tableware, napery, aprons and utensils. This year sees the original collective of Sophie Moran, Bridget Bodenham, Sandra Bowkett, Adriana Christianson and Vic Pemberton expand to include a new list of makers joining the team presenting a selection of modern classics that will be seriously hard to resist. We highly recommend getting in early.

Opening night Wed August 5 6-8pm
466 Smith St. Collingwood
Runs from 5-16 August, Wednesday to Sunay 11-6pm.

POP CRAFT CAKE SALE

Northsiders with a liking for fibre arts and baking can combine their activities for a good cause this month. Pop Craft are hosting a cake sale to both raise money for their Craft Cubed chunky weaving public access project. The results from which will be auctioned off once complete to raise money for both The Lighthouse Foundation and the ASRC. Sign up your support here and get your apron on! We should also mention that the fabulous monthly feast has a Caribbean flavour this month and takes place THIS FRIDAY the 31st of July. We'll be there enjoying the festivities and no doubt drooling stoop idly at the deliciousness NOM NOM NOM.

AND NOW FOR THE BIGGEST SHOW IN TOWN...

CRAFT CUBED (the festivus for the restofus)

Make no mistake this festival is a big deal for anyone involved in the craft sector. This is sixth year Craft Victoria has presented Craft Cubed and it will bring together over 150 events all over Victoria during an extended 7 week schedule that starts on August 1 and finishes up on September 22. For a small arts organisation that literally runs on the smell of an oily rag, the scope of the festival is enormous and its impact profound. All media, all skill levels and all makers are celebrated and encouraged to participate in a program rich with exhibitions, open studios, public events, skill sharing, markets, open access activities, a curated window walk, Koori Showcase at Fed Square, collaborations with Radiant Pavilion and the inaugural Victorian Craft Award.

This year the festival finally has its own mobile friendly website making it even easier to work out your own program of must sees, which we advise doing in advance because the program is HUGE. It has been incredible to see the development of this event into one that is completely unique and that attracts an audience of over 150,000 visitors! It would be even more fantastic to see it receive a whopping great lump of cash (are you listening Mr. Brandis) to take it Australia wide in the future. But enough of our grandstanding… whats on!

THE VICTORIAN CRAFT AWARD
What can we say - this will be amazing. A selection of over 100 of Victoria's top craft works running at 4 different venues and featuring some of the most skilled craftspeople across all media. This is a unique event showcasing the best craft our state has to offer and is the first of what will become a biennial event. The prizes are big and the stakes are high. Unmissable. More information on the craft website here 1-15 August

WINDOW WALK

Fellow window shoppers rejoice! This years festival will feature a series of collaborations between leading artists and retailers to present site specific exhibitions and in-store events that showcase some of our favourite makers in some of our favourite spaces. Like The Golden Opportunity Shop (pictured above) which includes live gilding of op shop finds at Alpha 60, Volcanic Landscapes by the incredible Megan Nicholson at Print City (pictured below) and Dear Plastic's Peace Bunnies Victory Land  at new docklands book hub Library at the Dock.

SATELLITE EVENTS and OPEN STUDIOS
The list is long and pretty much everyone in the community has something on or is opening their doors. If you've ever had even the slightest interest in finding out more about anything about local craft nows your chance.

Some of our top pics include Wild Weaving at Pop Craft and Twilight Textiles at the Handspinners and Weavers Guild and the welcome-home weaving project at Home Work in brunswick.

Newcomers Handmakers Factory  are putting on some Mini Workshops  that have us hooked as well as the Upcycling jewellery class with the Ethical Makers Movement at Radiant Pavillion.

For clay lovers the best known learning centres Northcote Potters, Carlton Ceramics and Slow Clay Centre but a raft of smaller studios as well as the new School of Clay and Art in Brunswick are also opening up for public viewing.

EXHIBITIONS

Too many to mention. Just go on the website and look - we're not kidding we couldn't possibly fit them all in. Collage, books, photography, jewellery, ornaments, glass, ceramics, jewellery, wood, mixed media, jewellery, ceramics and textiles, textiles textiles. Emerging makers to the most revered masters of their craft offer up works showing the diversity of concerns and skills present in todays contemporary craft landscape.

Our short list already includes Electric, Elise Sheehan, Anna Varendorf and Meredith Turnbull, Roseanne Bartley, Surface and Structure, Illuminate, Multiple Signatures and Hothouse. The list is sure to grow as our families become festival orphans once again.

TALKS

As part of the festival there is also a flurry of discussion groups from small highly specific round tables to key note day long seminars (our top pick - Craft and Design as a Career), and Craft The Australian Story presented by the World Crafts Council at which our very own Ramona will be speaking. Scan the festival guide and find your topic or people and get on board. Nothing like being among like minded people discussing the intricacies of your favourite hobby or profession. There is also the super expensive and highly contentious Parallells gab fest at NGV timed to coincide with Craft Cubed but presented by the NGV and the National Craft Initiative that is causing conversation ripples (make that tidal waves) of its own... But that's a whole other story we'll get to next month!

Don't take our word for it though, head over to the website and see for yourself.
BECK and RAMONA

RECAP OF THE WEEK - SLOW CLAY, SUPERMARKET, BIG DESIGN MARKET

CRAFT EVERYWHERE CRAFT EVERYWHERE*

Wow what a weekend! Honestly we were blown away with how spoilt we are in Melbourne when it comes to makers, locations and events. We might bitch and moan occasionally about being too busy but seriously who would have it any other way, we are so lucky to live in such a supportive and creative city. Props Melbounre! As you know we had an itinerary that included Slow Clay in collingwood, Supermarket at CV in the City, and The Big Design Market in Fitzroy - no mean feat, but we were hydrated and ready.

SLOW CLAY

The pop up at Slow Clay didn't disappoint, the shop space was filled with fantastic work by some of our favourite wheel people, we were bewitched by the garden furniture of Greg Hatton and the light pouring into the studio space made us realise that we were definitely signing up for classes next year.  Special mention as well to the upcycled chandeliers by Sally Anne Mill which totally ruled the roost and left us gobsmacked. What a beautiful space Jane has created. We will be back.

SUPERMARKET

We had shopping lists for Supermarket at Craft Victoria, serious shopping lists. And let's just say we didn't leave empty handed. Such great work, so beautifully displayed we took home ceramic works by Kirsten Perry and both frocks and jewels by Alpha 60 but will are coming back for more at the opening festivus this Saturday (the 14th) where will also be filling our faces with free drinks and fairy floss - you have been warned!

BIG DESIGN MARKET

We're calling this years Big Design Market a super sized success. As punters we were thrilled with the array of booty, the excellent food and beverage choices and the open dining and kids play areas. Product of the event has to go to Cottage Industry with her felt suburb and 'state of mind' pennants which will probably also win the award for the most commercially copied product of 2014. Just brilliant (and still available in store until christmas!) Most important however was seeing the collection of woven stars from Maryann Talia-Pau's million stars to end violence project. We seriously believe that having the results of this beautiful project at the centre of the space watching over everyone just totally changed the vibe of the event. Self conscious young hipsters (see above) and suburban mannas mingled happily without a sharp elbow in sight. Mind blowingly good. The old building never looked better, and we felt privileged to have seen them all together lighting up the room. there were so many peeps snapping pics we think Maryann might just have broken Instagram over the weekend. Top job team, bring on the next one!

Oh and in case you hadn't realised yet - only 14 days till christmas.

 *if you didnt get the title reference just sing it to the tune of AZZ EVERYWHERE, and yes I just put capital C Craft and Big Freedia in the same post. BECK

CRAFTERNOON OF THE WEEK - GEMMA JONES, EMMA GREENWOOD, HML

tea, baby shoes, skeining, looms and eccles cake

The ladies were well overdue for a crafternoon so we were pretty thrilled to get the call from Royal Melbourne Show open category embroidery first prize winner Emma Greenwood letting us know that she was opening the doors on Sunday. Interestingly I'd just been reading the Sunday Age cover article about the importance of adult play (no not that kind of play people) and considering how much good crafternooning is really all about putting the hard work aside and sitting with friends and food and playing about. Brilliant. 

Ramona and I packed our trusty kids tapestry looms, home made cheese sticks and garden picked spring flower bouquet and headed over to enjoy the company of some of Melbourne's finest. We were pretty thrilled when Gemma brought out a tray of ye olde eccles cakes, which are kind of like mince tarts but lighter and more gingery, and because they were made by Gemma, vegan. Yup - perfection right there -  I ate three. DELICIOUS.

Ramona hard at work

my weaving which is clearly channelling Gemma's eccles cake tray

It's always interesting to see what we end up bringing to the kitchen table to craft, old knitting, skeins long overdue for balling, last minute leather baby shoe production work and seventies inspired weaving. We're still finishing off the pieces that we started on the day, and pretty happy with the way they're going.

Ramona's Ryamania 

my Back in Blacktacular

Possibly the best bit however is Emma's killer soundtrack bee-bopping its way in the background of some seriously stream of conscious conversations on everything from contemporary feminist  pornography through the history of heavy metal and onto new options for kids school holiday activities. Thanks ladies, a perfect afternoon. Next time HML will host - who's up for an afternoon in the indigo vat? BECK

You can watch Emma at work here

or go and make your own Eccles Cakes (be warned you cant eat just one)

Craftist of the Week

gone to pot

Steve Wheen is a guerrilla green thumb making over the mess of London's roads and laneways. He's become quite the famous pothole gardener, with stories of his antics popping up almost as regularly as his miniature gardens. We love him because he turns this...

into this...

Genius idea, brilliantly executed. I especially love the way he uses weeny props to bring scale as well as wit to the little gardens.

Clearly a top bloke and our most definitely our craftist of the week. BECK

eat of the week

jam session 1.

Well, despite the fact that we lost half the tree this year and as a result didnt quite get the "bumper crop" we were hoping for, I still managed to make more jam than both past seasons combined. The trick? Picking early and often - and BEFORE the flying pests and weird summer hailstorms got to the fruit. Lucky really, because every year the list of "please can I have a jar" requests grows longer and longer. Ramona has already snaffled two jars, one for scones and one to whip together in her new fangled ice-cream machine to make apricot vanilla swirl which looked delicious NOT THAT I GOT ANY TO TASTE mind you!

I love making jam, its so easy one kg of fruit, one kg of sugar and the juice of two lemons... and it's especially delicious when you use locally grown in season fruit. So of course we've decided on yet another HML project for 2012, one we're calling The Jam Sessions.

Each month we're going to whip up some kind of jam, marmalade, compot or sticky preserve with whatever we can scrounge, barter or grow and let you lucky readers and listeners compete to win a 12 jar basket of the fruits of our labour...including a choice selection from January's Jam Session (as shown above). Over the holidays I've spied a number of excellent fig trees around the hood, as well as putting in dibs on my italian mother in law's trees... it appears that Feburary will be Fig month.

Oh and if anyone has an idea about what to do with a bucket of apricot kernals please let me know! BECK

WEEKEND SPECIALS

twist of fete

Never let it be said we didnt warn you. This weekend there are no less than three fetes offering up everthing from pirate pits to devonshire teas. Of course because its Westgarth, Clifton Hill and Collingwood primary schools involved you can also expect excellent food, excellent craft and cake stalls and truckloads of second hand books, clothes and toys...not to mention to tappin musical performances that span David Bridie and the recalcitrants to long haired eight year olds belting out black metal. Fun for all the family. We've attended all three over the years and believe me we've always left empty walleted rather than empty handed.

We are also considering having a bit of a 'yard' sale on Sunday (weather and energy permitting) in our front yard to find new homes for our own collection of excess stereo equipment, vintage chairs, vinyl rekkids (like the one above), cd's, craft books, magazines, clothes and god knows what else on Sunday to co-incide with the Westgarth Primary School Fete. We'll post on Sunday morning and let you all know if we've managed to muster the enthusiasm needed to pull it together after being woken up at 6am by small people jumping on our heads demanding breakfast and thomas movies. BECK

Saturday 22 October
Tempting Fete 2011
Spensley St Primary School
193 Spensley st. Clifton Hill
10am to 4pm

Sunday 23 October
Whopping Great Fete
Westgarth Primary School
Clarke St. Northcote
10am to 4pm

Spring Fair and Open Day
Collingwood College
11am-4pm

OUTING OF THE WEEK

for the win

Last week I was lucky enough to win two tickets to Heide's Pick and Eat Winter Harvest Lunch. This was terribly exciting as it's like the perfect present for me! I love Heide and I love eating out and I don't get to do either as often as I'd like. We were all give baskets and instructed to pick from Sunday's lovely garden up at Heide 1 - what a treat! Above is me getting some lemon thyme.

Here is my beloved looking for potatoes (he and head gardener Dougal got on like a house on fire!)

Here is Dougal (doesn't he look like a gardener?) getting ready to eat our harvest. Actually they cheated in the kitchen and picked everything the day before. We got all our veges in a gift bag instead.

One of the chefs popped out to tell us about the daube of beef method (10 hours in the oven at 80c) and we all felt rather special!

We were also given free entry into the Callum Morton show which was just amazing. Mind you I was so content after lunch everything seemed amazing for a few hours. I do like winning prizes. RAMONA

SHOWS OF THE WEEK

Nanny State

So it's State of Design time again. This year, as always i've been up to my eyeballs for months getting things organised for Craft Victoria's contribution to the festivus. With pod of trade stands by some of our favourite peeps there will be loads of beautiful wares for sale and show. Both of us agree Design Made Trade is always worth a look, and not just becuase over the past three years we've both been involved. Ramona is also wearing her Craft Victoria to the event by officially launching Craft Victoria's new business portal Craft Work (another labour of love) in her offical 'Chair' capacity on Friday.

This time round CV is also presenting the Open Studio program: twelve makers, six studios and four days of talented individuals making 'live' from the heart of the cardboard souk. Old friends and new faves alike will provide a rotating schedule in collaborative studio spaces that will provide a nice 'fingerfied' counterpoint to the more machine made parts of the show. I have to send a big shout out to supergirl Milly Flemming who had to pick up the maternity leave baton and get this project completed after I absconded to give birth to Finn - she's done a cracking job and these Open Studios promise to be the highlight of the show, I can't encourage you enough to make the effort to get up close and personal with this amazing line up of crafting superstars.

Also tied to the fest is Harvest Textiles mini program of satellite events called Make up, there are least three unmissable workshops, including weaving, chair making and teepee building which we'd love to be attending. And of course because its Melbourne and we all know each other, there is a lovely link to the open studios at DMT presented by Craft Victoria with the gobsmackingly brilliant Maryann Talia Pau appearing on both bills.

                            

There are loads of activities for kids which look fantastic including Junk Puppets, the Makedo marvellous life size Maze, and a repeat of last years Paper Plane accademy  which we hope both our big boys will be attending.

And of course then there's the exhibitions... we want to see Bus Projects Critical Mobility , The Housing Project at hml fave venue the Compound interest, but we'll have to see if our families let us out of the house. Oh and if you're in the mood for some art but don't want to miss out on some retail therapy while you're perusing you'd be a fool to miss the Look. Stop.Shop window installations.

And because all that festivalling will no doubt make you hungry theres also food... Dining with Strangers, Design O' Pizza at Ladro Broadsheet's pop up Micro-Kitchen and for those that want a little highbrow action theres always From Buildings to Food at Heide.

Ah Melbourne...always a festival. So much to do, so little time.

State of Design festival runs 20 - 31 July
check out the website to make sure you at least know what you'll be missing.
Design Made Trade runs from 21 - 24 July
opening tonight for invited guests, tomorrow for trade and saturday and sunday for regular peeps
Harvest Workshops 23 - 31 July
book now to make sure you get in
BECK