India Flint Workshop

I've been busy for the past week catching up with my work after 5 wonderful days spent eco-dyeing with India Flint.  I felt so privileged to experience dyeing beautiful silks with leaves and rusty metal fragments.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dyeing due to its similarity to my favourite art processes- working with plant materials, monoprinting and cooking plant fibre, but much less toxic. 

Working with fabric rather than paper was new to me, as was the hand-stitching of the pieces of silk together.  Luckily for me, I was free to stitch in my own way which was as rustic as the marks on the fabric!

I loved the wonderful aroma of eucalyptus, both on the fabric and in the cooking pots....much kinder on the nose than the pungency of cooking plant fibres to make paper.

As well as exploring new processes, I also learnt a couple of new things to take back to my art practice.  One is to work 'mindfully'.  The other is that I should look at alternatives to reduce the use of toxic chemicals and materials in my art practice - there are ways to create without resorting to the easiest and most obvious solution in a tin or aerosol.

Thank you to India and Roz for their hospitality over the 5 days.

Bundles cooking in the pot

Bundles of cloth and leaves fresh out of the pot

Stitching in progress

The almost finished piece, stitched together lovingly

6 degrees Exhibition

After months of preparation, its time to invite you all to my latest group exhibition '6 degrees'.  Its on at the White Canvas Gallery, opening 15 October at 6.30pm.  Kate, Mela, Natasha, Ann and myself are 5 artists who are connected by our mentor, Jena.
The title for the show '6 degrees’ refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on earth: so that a chain or “a friend of a friend” statement can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.  Our connection is Jena.
The exhibition will have a variety of different media from painting, photographic works, contemporary embroidery, as well as my sculptural pieces of felt and weaving.
Join us for a great night and some fabulous art work thats a bit out of the ordinary!

White Canvas Gallery
26 Church Street, Fortitude Valley
Friday 15 October - Tuesday 17 October
Open daily 10 - 4

Heaven !

I've just spent the past 4 days in Maryborough and Hervey Bay, exploring all the charity 'op shops' that Mum and I could find.  I think the total was around 12 (with one in Gympie on the way home) !  Thank goodness for the GPS navigator which enabled us to hop quickly from one to the next.  Shops in country towns don't have long opening hours, especially on the weekends.  The best finds of the trip were a 1955 Womens Weekly and an astrology kit complete with some cute kitch tarot cards.  I can already feel the potential of these goodies!