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

FINAL LISTEN OF THE YEAR

It's that time of year already? Yes this morning is our last appearance on The Grapevine for 2014. We've been sharing craft goodness with Kulja and Dylan all year so we though it fitting to have a bit of a wrap up of the year that was and give you the low down on the year that will be. 

We'll tell you all about what we've made for Christmas. We not completely sure where we found the time and energy to whip this haul up, but we do know coffee and panic are great last minute motivators! We actually managed to pull together a one day craft marathon where presents were made for just about all our nearest and dearest (see above) so it just goes to show that last minute miracles are possible and it pays to keep your craft cupboard full.

We'll look back on our workshop adventures and tell you which ones have sparked new craft love and what we hope to learn in 2015.

We'll tell you our top five craft shows of the year, but seriously we could actually give you a top 20 it was that good. 2014 was one of the best years we've seen for professional makers in an exhibition context. Beck has crowned 2014 the Year of the Textile and looking at our top 5 I tend to agree. Which is not to say that our tiny minds weren't blown by other media and methods, just that there is definitely some fibre fuelled magic going on at the moment.

We'll also cast our gaze ahead with our craft forecasting antennae up and ready. What will our predictions be? Listen in to 102.7 at around 10.15 this morning to find out. On a personal note we'd also like to say sorry for the long gaps between posts. We are writing a VERY BIG BOOK and are pretty close to deadline, so you'll have to forgive us. We'll be back to full strength in the new year. RAMONA& BECK

SHOWS OF THE WEEK - GERRY WEDD, KATE JONES, SARAH O'SULLIVAN

Pot Heads

Right now there are three of the best ceramic exhibitions we've seen in an age gracing the hallowed exhibition spaces of Craft. Seriously great exhibitions. Shows that have surprised us, moved us and surpassed our expectations on many levels. We're pretty amazed, and as Craft moves from artist initiated exhibitions to curated shows for 2015, the three highly individual voices of Kate Jones, Sarah O'Sullivan and Gerry Wedd sing loud and clear. Considered alongside the new school naive 'wonk' of the hand-built ceramic works by Paradise Structures on show in the Craft window, you have what could probably be described as a perfect primer delivering the incredible diversity of contemporary ceramic practice in Australia.  

KATE JONES BEING

The term 'hotly anticipated' doesn't even come close to the way Ramona's been feeling about this show. Entitled Being, this new collection of large scale slab built ceramic pots builds upon the aesthetics, construction, techniques and conceptual framing showcased in Kates exhibition practice over the past two years and concentrates specifically upon the 'spaces' between two dimensional painting and sculpture. 

Kate says of her work  "The combination of painted surface and sculptural form creates an ambiguity that questions assumptions about both genres. this allows my work to sit in a liminal space that affords a realm of possibility in which new configurations of ideas and relations can occur." The resulting works within this show are a testament to the hours of investigation and skillfull restraint of Kate's painting technique. There is a definitive ambiguity in the pieces -  the mark making and brush strokes are intimately connected with contemporary abstract art, the scale and form of the sculptures lends itself to abstracted industrial architecture, while the drips and splashes immediately bring graf tagging to mind.

The scale of these works is impressive, both technically and literally. Some fold and bend like fabric sacks, while others stand upright at ungainly angles like totems and tree trunks. Their solidity is either softened by the layered of pastel colour washes or given a menacing bulk with dark paint and glossy glazes. These paintings in the round are like landscapes with each aspect offering a different perspective to the viewer. Glorious stuff.

SARAH O'SULLIVAN VESTIGE

This exhibition has provided us with one of our biggest surprises for the year so far. Deep and rich with historical references, masterful in its technique, sharply clever in concept and heady with nostalgia the show has completely blown us away. Sarah's work is an ongoing investigation of how "decoration is used in domestic ceramics to navigate relationships between people, and the natural Australian environment" 

Vestige is a brilliant articulation of these themes that elicits an intensely personal response from the viewer. Regular readers know that we're both keen ceramic collectors with shelves and mantles covered with coveted objects made by our favourite makers that say as much about us as they do about the maker. Ramona's collection reflects her deep love of poetry and the many hues of blue, while mine is full of Japanese earthenware and mid-century west german pottery.

Both of us however are united in our love of the undisputed king of decorative ceramics, Wedgewood. And its here in the pocket of the traditionally coloured clay where Sarah's years of technical and historical investigation in decorative textiles intersect with our own personal stories. I'm doubly invested: having inherited my grandmothers vast collection and with a distant ancestor who worked there as potter. However nearly everyone anyone can draw familial links with the special display objects  that were only used looking or for 'good'. That this show so closely referenced our own family histories and then played them out on wall-mounted, plinth-white furniture against a perfect museum grey literally took our breath way. Clever, clear and moving.

GERRY WEDD POT CULTURE

I'm gonna come straight out and call myself a Weddophile. Gerry's keen observations, wry wit, humble leanings and excellent musical tastes are right up my alley. The fact that he's also a brilliant illustrator,super skilled clay maven and Delft aficionado is icing on the proverbial cake.

In his new show Pot Culture he's pretty much written a ceramic love letter to the Melbourne Music Mafia, connecting the dots from Paul Kelly (see what I did there) to the Drones in a commemorative collection of decorated plates that charts the family tree from Hank Williams, to Evil Graham Lee (who in a little known MMM fact actually played pedal steel on KLF's album Chill Out - see I really am a music geek).

Name checking lyrics from the Underground Lovers and Black Eyed Susans in hand-carved and hand painted letters he draws pertinent parallels between the crafting of music and objects. His vessel based documentation of the drug dependant decline of so many great talents links back to the urn storytelling of ancient Greece (and maybe the Old Greek) in a perfectly pitched rendition of 'happy sad'. This show is SO close to my heart... Dad played alongside The Loved Ones in the garage days of 1960's Australia and I fulfilled a countdown fueled childhood dream by working at INpress mag for just over a decade throughout the 90's, before coming back to craft. Nostalgia overload wrapped up pop pun genius.

PARADISE STRUCTURES KEEP FLUSHIN'

Melbourne based sibling collaborators Paradise Structures have somehow managed to merge Anthony Robbins motivational language with basketball culture AND toilet humour in their new show Keep Flushin'.

Drawing connections between everyday actions and sporting achievements they look at how we might re-position daily acts as small wins. Bringing together digitally printed fabric garments and incredibly naive ceramic tableware they mix both metaphors and materials. Weirdly compelling. BECK

Being, Vestige and Pot Culture on Monday to Saturday at Craft until November 29

Keep Flushin' on 24/7 in the window until December 1

All images by Beck Jobson.

SHOW OF THE WEEK - SANDRA ETEROVIC

mind blown

Seeing new work by Sandra Eterovic is always exciting. Long time favourite of handmadelife, this hard working and talented illustrator/artist just gets better and better. A sense of humour dryer than a desert married with the prettiest of palettes ramps up the sarcasm to 11 without being too clever clogs.

Her new table tennis paddle paintings (all sold by the time I got to the opening) are pitch perfect. People lie awake, their minds racing with the knowledge life just doesn't live up to expectations.
There's always a smattering of self deprecation to keep the ego in check. Above all this sardonic sloganism there is an undeniable beauty in her work. We never know if this is just a way to seduce us as viewers, a way of tricking us into believing that everything will be all right in the end, when in fact reality is far more complicated than that.

, 

Despite this lack of apparent optimism, the work is ultimately funny and open hearted. Eterovic seems to be saying that even if things aren't all rosy, at least we are in it together and that will make it more than bearable in the end. We can have fun in the lifeboat together despite being such a motley crew.

Still Waiting to be Blown Away  

by Sandra Eterovic

until November 12

HUT 13

79 Swan Street 

Richmond

SHOW OF THE WEEK - LORI KIRK

Apology of the week

Ok people we really owe you an apology. Blame the school holiday madness, weird illnesses, surprise parties, daylight savings and a looming deadline for our absence. The truth is we haven't had much to say, we haven't been able to see much or do much either. You get that sometimes, life just gets crazy. But we should have let you know, and for that we bow our heads down and ask for your forgiveness and patience while we get our act together. We are going to see the above show this week, looks beautiful and we promise to write you a full review. Beck and Ramona

SHOW OF THE WEEK - CARLY FISCHER

wasted

The ladies of HML are enormous fans of paper-craft, origami, silhouettes, paper-cuts, embossing, we love it all. Ramona even has a thing for quilling. But we seriously love paper when its used as a clever and confounding construction material. And Carly Fischer's new show Magic Dirt, currently on at Craft does this in spades.

Carly is a contemporary artist who brilliantly utilises the medium as both a conceptual and mechanical tool. Making models is not in and of itself new. However playing with the traditional context of model making as starting point for a finished piece of work and flipping it - by using the 'real' piece as the starting point and making a paper model as the finished piece, really is. Especially when said work is so realistic it gets your brain totally twisted up in chicken and egg knots.

Her mastery of mimicry is mental. Upon first sight the gallery space looks like its mid installation, with dirty plastic and green shopping bags strewn among cigarette butts and discarded soft drink cans. Of course under closer inspection the true nature and genius of the exhibition reveals itself. Honed on the visual cues of iconic cinematic representations of the 'outback' from films like Wake in Fright and Mad Max, Fischer deploys the interlopers associative aesthetic and spiritual mythology built around the landscape, contrasting it sharply against the reality of the land as it is actually inhabited. 

The soundscape that accompanies the exhibition continues Carly's collaborative work with Berlin Based composer Mieko Suzuki. Created from both site specific atmos recordings and film score samples it provides a poignant and evocative backdrop to one of this years most profound and compelling exhibitions.

Craft is recording an interview with Carly for their brilliant Craft TV channel, so keep your eyes peeled hear and learn more from this amazing artist. Or in the meantime check out the website for more details. BECK

Magic Dirt by Carly Fischer

Gallery one, Craft Victoria

31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

September 5 - October 18.

SHOWS OF THE WEEK - JASON HAUFE, SARAH CROWEST

visions of spring

Jason Haufe @ Stephen McLaughlan Gallery

The ladies of HML are big fans of makers seeing out inspiration from multiple sources. Whether it be gardens, food, architecture and in this week's slew of shows, visual art. We refuse to see boundaries between any of these things. Creativity is creativity, inspiration is everywhere right?

encredible multimedia work by Melinda Schawel at Flinders Lane Gallery

New colour ways, materials, thought processes, even settings can really fire up the brain. As the weather gets better it's good to push ourselves a little further afield. Don't forget that every university campus usually has an accompanying exhibition space or two that should be explored on a regular basis. 

Artist Books at George Paton Gallery UMSU

We find that makers of all disciplines can get very caught up in their own media and become a little tunnel visioned. To loosen things up there is nothing better that going to see work in unusual spaces and in unexplored territories. in the same way we recommend spending the odd day or two doing the blockbuster shows at the national galleries. You'll find yourselves refreshed and ready for making new Spring work.

always inspiring Sarah Crowest @C3 Gallery

All the captions have links to the galleries in them so you can grab the details. Some are finishing and some are starting this week so be sure to check the dates and opening times (which fluctuate wildly from space to space as seasoned gallery visitors will know). Happy inspiration trails people, back to more craft based shows next week. RAMONA

SHOWS OF THE WEEK - WAYNE GUEST, MARI FUNAKI AWARDS, NICHOLAS BASTIN

treasure trove

There are a number of fantastic jewellery/object shows on at the moment and we recommend seeing them all in one hit, make a day of it. Do a circuit starting in Brunswick Street walking up to Crossley Place and then heading down to Russell Place.  We always wish Studio Ingot put on more exhibitions, they have such a fantastic stable of makers. We are looking forward to seeing our reflection in the ever so shiny vessels of Wayne Guest.

Kiko Gianocca wins the Mari Funaki Award 2014

Mari Funaki Gallery hosts a truly international Award show this month which acts as an ultra sophisticated survey show of what is happening in the world of contemporary jewellery. It's a formidable world, full or rigorous ideas that challenge us and get us talking - you may need a coffee break at this point in the tour!

Nicholas Bastin creates small worlds at Pieces of Eight

One of our favourite makers Nicholas Bastin has set up a mini museum of small scale works that are both intricate and mysterious. Combining precious and non precious materials with saturated colours and alien like shapes, it's a quirky show that sits perfectly at Pieces of Eight. When was the last time you popped in to these amazing spaces? We highly recommend a refresher for a shot in the arm of inspiration. RAMONA