Popping Up

My pop-up studio....

It won't be this neat for long.  I 'styled' it for the gallery opening so everything is carefully placed, it's a shame I have to work in it! 

Autobiography

I'm doing a really interesting online course at the moment called 'A Crash Course on Creativity' taught by the amazing Tina Seelig from Stanford University.  For our first assignment we've had to design the cover of our autobiography and produce a 200 word synopsis - wow, that's hard!  Many of the other students seem to be whizz kids at using Photoshop but I'm so low tech despite my best efforts so I'm just going to embrace that rather than trying to change it.

 

Here's mine...

 

 

Born in a land of green pastures, rolling hills, frolicking sheep and mighty Oaks, a flowery dress wearing artist finds herself amongst firs, mountains, lakes, bears and leisure wear. An afternoon tea & biscuit girl in a coffee and donut culture. An old school, hands-on maker in a high tech, digital jungle.

 

The Way Home maps one woman's journey to find her own path through an alien world, her struggle to find meaningful connections and a sense of place in a country which is not her own. It is a story for all those who have ever felt out of place, on the outside, not part of the pack or just a long way from HOME. 

 

As the author slowly and painfully follows her private road she begins to question the notion of what or where is home? Is it where you are born? Where your family are? Is it really where you lay your hat as the song says? Can you have two homes? Or just maybe home has nothing to do with anything external in our lives, perhaps it's a feeling, a spirit that we can carry deep in our hearts wherever we wander in this life?

 

Quirky, funny, anguished, raw - this book will encourage readers to follow their own private road and hopefully to eventually find The Way Home.

 

It's a really interesting exercise to do and I'd actually quite like to write the book now!  What would your cover look like?  What would you write about?

Redmond Historical Walk & Sketch Tour

CALL FOR ARTISTS – Redmond Historical Walk & Sketch Tour

Anyone interested in walking and sketching?  This will be an exciting venture linking local historians and artists, click on the link above for details...

New VALA Art Center

This is the wonderful new VALA art center space in Redmond town center.  I'm there every Friday stewarding the gallery & creating work in the cosy studio nook...

 

 

I have some exciting plans to deliver community projects with VALA this year so long as we can find funding!  It's great to be affiliated with such a vibrant and forward thinking organisation which is fast becoming a linchpin in the local community. 

PAPER:work

It's been another week of paperwork.....I've spent most of the last two weeks applying for grants, responding to call outs & writing project proposals.  If even a couple of them materialise then I'll be a happy girl!  One good thing about all these applications is I've really had to think hard about my practise & define exactly what it is I do.  It's made me think honestly about my strengths & weaknesses and what my true aspirations are.  To help me I've been following an online course by creativity coach Mark McGuinness called Creative Pathfinder which I've found incredibly powerful and it's free!  Definitely recommend it.

 

I've finished a couple more stitched paper collages based on the collographs I did a couple of weeks ago....

 

 

....yes it's me fishing in my kayak!

 

 

 

I'm using alot of glitter and sparkle, not sure why, I've resisted it for years thinking it was too 'crafty' but I'm in a kind of 'just go for it girl' mood at the moment and anyway if it's good enough for Fiona Rae....!  I'd like to do some much larger pieces like this, I really enjoy stitching on paper, but I free machine on top of the collaged pieces so I'm restricted by the arm size of my domestic machine.  Oh well, small is good!

Reflect

I'm working on a small series based upon collographs made from 'found' items from the shores of the lakes.  The prints although really textural are a little subdued in colour and some are just too dark for my taste so I'm playing with added collage and stitch.  They remind me of what might be glimpsed under the surface of a lake, the hazy shape of a fish or rock, or perhaps what might be reflected on the water. 

 

 

 

What joy this week to see birds returning to the garden, this little fellow and friends were dancing on the garden fence this morning ....

 



 

...a welcome sign of Spring!

Community mapping

I'm busy writing a grant proposal this weekend for a community creative mapping event.  I've had a few meetings recently with members of the City Hall, the local historical society & VALA arts organisation, all of whom have been really excited by my community work and keen to work with me.

There is however the small problem of funding!  I always believe that money follows passion so hopefully the lovely, generous people at 4Culture  will see that I have passion a plenty for bringing people together through the arts & I'll be able to run the event.

 

If successful, the project will centre around participants creating a large map of their town using drawing & stitch.  I've been playing around with possible outcomes, using drawings made by children visiting the gallery, collaging them against my own backgrounds and adding stitch and a little applique.

 

 

 

The stitching doesn't show up very well on the photo but it adds texture on the original.  This is a paper collage & starts to become a little fragile when heavily stitched, plus it's difficult to manipulate under my sewing machine so if funded I'm planning to use cloth during the event.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!