PASSAGE - exhibition of porcelain and paper

Introducing my latest exhibition....

PASSAGE

Artists Pattie Murray and Sandra Pearce

a journey through the intertidal zone - past and present

'PASSAGE' is a joint exhibition with porcelain artist Pattie Murray, where we journey through the intertidal zones, exploring past and present through the mediums of paper, porcelain and natural fibres.

My work for this exhibition includes sculptural works featuring papermaking and printmaking to describe my journey exploring past experiences of camping and fishing in Moreton Bay. I've used my memories to connect my current art practice to the mangroves, mud flats and sand of local areas such as Cabbage Tree Creek and Moreton Island.

Location: Redlands Art Gallery, Capalaba

Open until 14 March

http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/RecreationFacilities/RedlandArtGallery/Pages/default.aspx

'Washed up' - a collaborative installation,
featuring handmade botanical paper, toilet tissue, and porcelain objects.
This work is a comment on debris brought into shore with the tides.

'Drift' - Monoprints on Silk Paper,
featuring monoprints of mangrove leaves and other coastal debris.
I made the silk paper with gummy silk cocoons
then monoprinted the 3m long piece of silk paper, 50cm at a time,
with Thumper my portable etching press.
A challenge but the piece certainly makes the impact
I was looking for.

Detail of 'Drift'.

'Exposed' - handmade botanical paper of mulberry bark and eco-dyed silk thread.
This work evokes the memories of walking along tidal mud flats at Nudgee Beach.

A view of the PASSAGE exhibition,
with some of Pattie's beautiful porcelain vessels in the foreground.

Birds in Print

Last week, as part of a group exhibition themed on birds, I ran a couple of workshops including one focusing on creating relief printing blocks using the Ezy-Carve product.  This is a white rubber block, much like eraser material, that acts like lino but much easier to carve.  Its soft and thick, and very forgiving.

Each student in my workshop had an A6 size block to work with and a set of simple lino tools comprising 2 'v' shaped tools and one 'u' shaped tool.

The designs were based on birds to reflect the theme of the exhibition.  Everyone produced very creative work.  Some carved in a very free and loose manner, creating imagery consisting of fluid lines and movement.  Others concentrated on detailed designs for a more realistic image.

After carving and printing the blocks, the second part of the workshop was a couple of hours of printing and play with paint, what I called 'Feathered Friends Art Frenzy'.  We had homemade gelatine plates as well as the Gelli Arts plates, relief blocks, rubber stamps and lots of paint and paper.

Everyone had a lot of fun, experimenting with layering their relief prints over their monoprints created on the gelli plates.  A great day of play as well as a welcome relief from the hot day outside.

This is my promotional photo for the workshop, showing
one of my prints and equipment used.

Drawing and tracing designs onto the relief blocks.
Inspiration was gleaned from bird books and photographs.

Carving their blocks, a methodical but relaxing process.

Printing the relief blocks, using water based
block printing inks and a silver spoon as a baren.

Printing time!  Everyone was very keen to try out monoprinting
using the gelli plates.  The homemade gelatine plates
were also good to try to see the difference.

 

Some of Wendy's wonderful work, her Spangled Drongo block
had expressive line work balanced with positive and negative space.

The Magpie image was popular - a great design
for first timers!  This one is layered over a blue monoprint
from a gelli plate.

A gorgeous and creative use of a Magpie design on a card.

A beautiful carving by Sharyn, the attention to
detail makes the bird come to life.
Her design is based on a vintage woodcut, you
can really see that in her imagery.

Experimenting with Printing & Dyeing

The Christmas/New Year period is my favourite time of year as it allows me a couple of weeks of relaxing slow time in my studio without having a set routine.   Of course I end up with a 'to do' list a mile long, which is really more of a wish list given I usually want to do a year's worth of art in a few days.

This year's big project was to give Lumi Printing a try.  Its something I spied at the art shop earlier in the year and I decided to treat myself as an early Christmas present.

The Lumi system is simply sun printing on fabric.  I had briefly experimented with sun printing a few years before, so seeing the Lumi products gave me the inspiration to try printing and eco-dyeing together.

I made transparencies of Bracken Ferns to expose with the Lumi dye on a couple of cheap white cotton t-shirts.  I painted the dye onto the shirts, then exposed them to the sun for 20 minutes with the transparencies on top.  Pretty simple to do on one of our clear, hot summer days.

After washing, I then prepared the t-shirts for eco-dyeing.  This time I pre-mordanted using a couple of dips in soy milk (organic, no added sugar).  I decided on a cabbage brew, aiming for soft blues and browns to compliment my fern prints.  HOWEVER as usual, my dye bath didn't go to plan, I ended up with a nasty dark brew which was more like an iron brew, so the results were much darker than I wanted.  The other problem is the smell - I've washed the shirts several times, there's still a bit of a residual odour but good enough to wear without turning people off.

In conclusion, I'd say it was a bit of holiday fun.  The results were not as I expected, but I've created some very unique artwork that I can wear.  My next experiment will be monoprinting on shirts with my etching press 'Thumper' instead of the Lumi dyes.

The Lumi Dye Products.
I bought a few small packets to give it a try.
One packet of dye did one A4 size area on a shirt.

Applying the Lumi dye.

Exposing the dye to sunlight to make the print.

The resulting prints.

Bundling after eco-dyeing.
I decided to try using a shibori fold instead of
rolling around a stick.

One of the finished t-shirts,
a combination of print and dye,
very organic looking.

Here I am modelling the other shirt.
 I think the colour of the print doesn't really sit well
with the accidental darks of the eco-print.
But I'm not too worried.  The cost of the whole process
was only about $15 per shirt
(including the cost of the shirt!).

With this singlet, I painted the Lumi dye on in a
random way then placed silky oak leaves on it before
exposing to sunlight.  A bit more of an abstract result.
The dye colour was black, but I watered it down a bit
so its more of a purple/blue.

And of course one of the best eco prints on the BACK
of the t-shirt!  I might chop the shirt up and collage it
onto something else...... always possibilities!

Lord Howe Island Travel Diary - DONE!

Here are some photos of my completed travel diary that I wrote about in a previous post.  The diary is a memento of my recent week at Lord Howe Island, and contains my daily diary entries, likes and dislikes, bird and plant sightings, as well as gelli plate prints and photographs.

There's nothing 'scrapbook' pretty about my travel diaries, just a practical simple approach that reflects my no fuss approach to my art practice.

My journal started as a blank pre-made recycled book.

Every night I wrote in my journal, spacing the entries with
blank pages to fill with photos and other items afterwards.
I get my photos printed at Officeworks as 'collage' photos,
so that the photos are half the usual size.

I added information about birds that I saw on the island,
using snippets of flyers and brochures.

On the left, my artwork (a gelli plate print) ;
on the right a bought card
featuring the artwork of an island resident.
Other people's artwork provides another viewpoint
of the locations visited.

On the left, a photo collage of the boys BBQing,
and on the right, a gelli plate print on a used tea bag
overlaid on a photo of a sunset.  The tea bag
is only glued at the top, so can be lifted to reveal
the photo underneath.

My 'likes' and 'dislikes' page that I always
have in my travel diary, compiled during the trip.
I find this type of list is great a summary of the trip,
and there are always more 'likes' than 'dislikes'!

With some photos, I used the embellishing tools available
at the Officeworks photo kiosk to give different effects -
for example washouts, sepia, intensity.
This helps give more variety and fun to the images.

Pockets in my journals are handy to store bulky
items that I don't want to stick in.

A collage of photos and brochure information about
Heart Urchins, which I found on the beach.
Including both information and photos gives depth
to the recording of my experiences.

Eco-Dyeing on Paper at Bec's Mt Tamborine Studio

Here are some photos from my recent workshops at Bec Andersen's studio at Mt Tamborine.  We did eco-dyeing on paper - two brews - Iron and Cabbage.  The cabbage brew wasn't a particularly strong one so we didn't get much grey blue colours but we still had a great time and everyone gained the skills to do their own dyeing at home.

Thanks again to Bec for being her wonderful 'hostess' self on the day, making my job so much easier. The yummyshared lunch on the studio verandah is always a treat.

I'll back in November 2015 to hold more monoprinting workshops with my etching press 'Thumper' so send me a message via this post or via my email if you'd like to be contacted closer to the date with more information and to book in.

Bundles ready for the dye pot

The dye pots.  We also used Bec's UMI Cooker which
allowed bigger bundles.

 

"This eco-dyeing is good enough to eat!"
Thanks Bec!

A bundle in the making, featuring leaves,
onion skins and pomegranate.

Eco-dyed papers drying, beautiful colours!

View from the studio window,
featuring one of Bec's monoprints
from one of my previous workshops.

Getting creative on Lord Howe Island

I've just returned from a blissful week on Lord Howe Island, off the NSW Coast of Australia.

Lord Howe Island is a small volcanic island, dominated by two mountains, and rich with bird life and tropical plants.  Mobile phones don't work on the island and there's very limited internet access, so as well as being a beautiful place to be, its also a rare opportunity to step away from electronic gadgetry and take a breath of fresh air.

And of course, being the eager artist, I packed my 2kg of art supplies, no mean feat given our check-in luggage was limited to 14 kgs (and my empty bag weighed 4kgs).

For this trip I completed a travel journal, opting for a blank book that I had already made.  

Other items in my art kit:
- small gelli plate (3"x5")
- 3 tubes of paint (blue, black, brown)
- rubber roller
- watercolour travel set & brush
- washi tape, brads, sewing thread & needle
- pens and pencils
- awl, small scissors
- glue stick & glue tape
- various small pieces of paper to print on
- small plastic bags for plant 'samples'.

All of this was packed into a clear plastic clip box that I bought from Officeworks, and fit snugly into the bottom of my suitcase.

On our hikes and daily outings, I gathered small plant samples.  I didn't have access to a microwave oven so I couldn't dry my samples to take home, but opted for printing to record them.

Some of the prints were done on postcard blanks, which I wrote on and posted home.  These will go into my travel journal when they arrive.

Each afternoon, I wrote of the day's events in my travel journal.  I also wrote of list of birds and plants observed, using small guides I bought at the museum to help with identification.  And a favourite of mine is to write a 'Likes' and 'Dislikes' list of my trip, a summary of the more 'memorable' parts of the trip.

During the trip, I collected brochures, maps, postcards, and cards. These all have been attached into the journal using various means - glued, taped, or sewn.

After I get home, I print a selection of my favourite photos to put into the journal, printing them half size so I can fit more in.

And I always aim to have my journal finished within a week of returning from my holiday, otherwise it all gets forgotten in the return to daily routines.....!

The text, photos and other attachments together with my small 'on the spot' artworks provide a multi-faceted approach, leaving me with a lasting tactile memory to refer back to after the adventure has ended.

A view over the Eastern side of the Island

I'm writing some 'on the track' impressions
 on a hand printed postcard.
Not poetry, not sentences....just words,
that's all that's needed.

A Heart Urchin Shell, washed up.
It inspires so much, an object of beauty.
The live urchin is less exciting, the lovely design
hidden beneath small furry spines.

The lines and colours of the Kentia Palm trunks
make an interesting visual arrangement.

The intense aqua blue of the ocean will keep inspiring
artworks when I'm in my studio.

Selfie - printing in the kitchen area of our accommodation.
There's nothing more liberating than having a limited
range of art materials to work with.

Gelli plate printing in progress

Gelli Plate prints of local plants,
printed onto postcard blanks, japanese papers and tags

Ghost prints on Japanese papers -
these ones will go in my travel journal.
An alternative to putting the actual plant material
into my journal.  Much more fun!

Eco Dyeing on Paper Workshop

I'm running an eco-dyeing on paper workshop at Mt Tamborine on 29 November - and there's only a few places left to fill.

We're going to be folding paper then dyeing it 'shibori' style using a natural brew of eucalyptus leaves and fruits and vegetables (yum!) to achieve beautiful reds, oranges, greens, purples and blues.  And by using bundling techniques, we achieve detailed prints of leaves, plant material and other objects onto the paper.

Its a fun creative day, no drawing or art experience necessary.  Just a willingness to put your witches hat on and cackle with the rest of us over a hot brew......

The workshop is being organised by Bec, who has a gorgeous art studio in her backyard (lucky girl!). If you're interested in booking in, call her on 0438 147 352.

Her flyer for the workshop is below, as well as a few photos of my delicious eco-dyed papers.