Melbourne days…

Well, after the best part of a year, i have finally been inspired to share some of my work again…along with the small details that inspire it.

Amidst the pressures of doing my Master of art therapy in Melbourne, i have continued to potter, play and produce small experiments with objects and textiles. Here they are……

 

Last night i finally completed a small copper vessel inspired by my trip to India early last year.

Copper vessel: hand-rasied, enamel paint, cotton, glass beads.

Interior view. Dimensions approx 6cm x 8cm.

The yellow beads were bought from this street stall in Varanasi

Prayer bead stall, Varanasi, India.

While the vessel was inspired by the remnants of river-side rituals:

Varanasi, Hindu ritual by the Ganges.

My first winter  in Melbourne is coming to a close, though it has been beautiful…

 

 

…and the proof of springs promise can be found in the stunning magnolia blooms opening on trees around my neighbourhood…

(these are the interior of magnolias i walked past this morning….)

Over the winter i completed a queen-size patchwork quilt, made mostly of old tea-towels and pieces of sentimental fabric. It is all hand stitched onto an old woolen blanket. the photo isn’t the best quality…..i’ve discovered that quilts are difficult to capture compared to tiny jewellery pieces. Stitching a quilt is a very good way to stay cosy in Winter!

Patchwork Quilt.

I’ve also been experimenting with small works on unframed canvas…

ink, cotton, wool, watercolour, graphite and charcoal on canvas.

 

ink, cotton, watercolour, graphite and charcoal on canvas.

ink, cotton, wool, watercolour, acrylic paint, graphite and charcoal on canvas.

……And earlier in the year i took my fabric twigs and turned them into a persimmon tree…

Cotton, paper, riverstone, artist's hair. Dimensions approx 25cmx25cm

Mostly, though, i’ve been playing with collages of images around me, and making small gestures of brooches, mittens and beanies for friends….

I hope to spend more time out in the sunshine, capturing my surrounds and making work inspired by this wonderful city in the months ahead…..studying is wonderful, but it cannot compare to the pleasure of making…….

 

 

 

“Winter” in the tropics…..

Twig Necklace: Cotton, Paper, Jute String.

Tea Cosy

Crochet Necklace: Wool, Cotton, Felt.

Crochet Necklace #2: Wool, Cotton, Leather.

Vintage Collage Necklace

Vintage Collage Necklace

Vintage Collage Brooch

Some recent experiments in wearables.

Though i have been living in the tropics for a few months now, i still can’t bring myself to leave woolly things behind….

Autumnal Wearables…

Twig Brooch. Cotton, Paper, Steel.

Leaf Necklace. Cotton, Copper wire, Silk, Wool Felt.

In the crisp Autumn air i’ve been keeping my hands warm by making these cosy wearables…

“Marking Time” Graduate Exhibition Work, 2009.

When you first encounter ‘Marking Time’, it can be difficult to place the work in the context of jewellery and object design, and with so many individual artworks comprising a single body of work, it can be difficult to understand how the pieces relate. However, when you consider the title ‘Marking Time’, the threads begin to come together..

Whether it is through the severance of hair, the history of found objects, autobiographical musings, gestural mark-making, the many hours of crocheting or the hammer marks that remain embedded in copper, I have used these diverse materials and approaches to explore a common theme; that of the marks we make on the world, and the traces we leave behind.

'Marking Time' Graduate Exhibition Work.

Putting The Past To Bed. (Artist's Personal Diaries 1997-2009, Cotton, Wool.)

'Things on Strings' (Necklaces worn by me to create drawings with ink and paint.)

Things on Strings (detail)

Things on Strings (Detail)

What Remains. (Artist's Hair, Old Paint Brushes, Copper Vessel, Graphite)

Experiments…October ’09

Shoelace Ring. Cotton.

Cocoon Brooch. Cotton, Silver, Paper.

Above are two of the playful experiments i made as i consolidated my ideas for the final Grad-show work…

More Experiments in Dis-function (October ’09)

Dis-Function Continues…(Things on Strings)

Here i have begun to explore the direct relationship between my drawings and objects that i make and find, by wearing the objects and using them as drawing tools……

Dis-function: encounters with uselessness…

Silk, Wax, Linen thread. Paper, Ink.

Cotton, Paper, Ink

Cotton, Paper, Ink.

Felt, Graphite, Ink, Paper.

Emu Feathers, Ink, Paper.

Twig, My Hair, Silk.

The images above show some of my recent experiments with ‘uselessness’.

This is the beginning of a body of works that explore the intimacy of process, by valuing the unforeseen and the unexpected in gestural encounters with objects and the drawings and experiments that surround the process of making.

In these works, the attention is not on what is made, but on the act of making itself. The body, rather than being physically present through wearability, is implied through mark making and repetitious action.

…more to come.

Works in Process

Artist's personal journals, wool.

paper. cotton, wool.

Twigs, Paint, Wire.

Silver, Bronze, Stainless Steel.

Cotton, Newspaper.

Sterling Silver, Paper, Linen Thread.

As a society, we are collectively subjected to an incessant focus on that which is intolerable. Global crises dominate the media and have a very real impact on the way we perceive the world we inhabit and our personal role in it.
This collection of works utilise the repetitious actions of wrapping, hammering and stitching found in silversmithing and textile processes, to explore the material qualities of softness and subtlety. The outcome of this form of mark making inverts notions of the unbearable by ritualistically drawing attention to the small details of living…writing, reading, time in nature… which makes the everyday not only endurable, but poetic.

Malady #1

Felted Wool, Silk.

A sculptural neckpiece made using the traditional japanese technique of Shibori with felt.