Works on Paper and Framed Textiles

Getting ready for Sydney

I picked up my frames today from my favorite framers - Grate Designs in Elsternwick. I asked Chris to paint the frames grey- a light grey and also a dark grey. I chose the delicious Porters paint and they came up amazingly. It opens up a world of possibility!

New Works 2012

I have finally finished my new body of work for Art2Muse gallery in Sydney. All works will be available for purchase from Monday on the Art2Muse website. If you are in Sydney between 5th - 18th Spetember you should go and see them in the flesh at 357 New South Head road, Double Bay.

A little bit about the new works... Lighter in palette than the brightly coloured works from 2011, these works touch on more personal narratives. Whether it be reading a book, having a moment to one’s self in a park or engaging with a garden as it grows, the figures in her work shy away from the audience in a quiet reverie. A cartographer quietly charts a world map from the couch and an architect imagines a tower of buildings springing up from a text book placed before her. There is magic in these moments and also a feeling of hope that emerges from melancholic undertones and a sense of longing.

The book is a strong motif in this recent body of work. Derrida writes “The idea of the book is the idea of totality, finite and infinite.” My figures hold books close to their chests in dutiful contemplation while others sit absorbed in a story - they hold the world’s infinite possibilities.

There is a strong reference to naive and folk art found in the awkwardly placed figures. Lying upside down in the grass the figures are placed around the edges of the image as if viewed from above. Water tanks and windmills feature strongly as do flooding houses, drawing on recently experienced surroundings and news of natural disasters such as the Queensland flood.

Inspired by a recent trip to the England, where I lived for 18 months in 2008-2009, the colour and community interventions of the Diamond Jubilee features in her recent imagery especially in the textile works. The Queen’s cameo brooch has been translated into a textile collage of embroidery patchwork and beading. The textile works demonstrate a keen appreciation for differing embroidery and quilt making techniques as well as my love of differing textures and colour.

Glencoe and a Zine workshop

I was very lucky to travel up to Glencoe (an hour past Echuca in NSW) again last weekend to visit my lovely friends Wendy, Peter, Maggie and Archie there. Wendy got me to come up to teach a zine workshop for teenagers which was sooo much fun! I took a roll of film photos of the actual workshop - but here are some snaps from my phone of their beautiful property and the surrounding country side. I loved the solo drive up there, stopping off at all my favorite op shops along the way. I was very productive on my evenings, listening to music and drawing, sewing and making little books. I stayed in the studio cottage surrounded by Wendy's beautiful work. It was very inspiring. I will upload them with the film photos soon x