Margaret Olley Art Centre

On the weekend we made a quick trip down to the Tweed Regional Gallery at Murwillumbah, Northern NSW, to see the new Margaret Olley Art Centre.

This is a recreation of Margaret Olley's studio and some elements of her home.  Its a great experience, even if you're not a big fan of her work.

After Margaret Olley's passing in July 2011, an estimated 6,000-10,000 items were recorded, documented and removed from her house in Duxford Street in Sydney, and then installed into the Tweed Regional Gallery as a vision of how Margaret's house and studio looked.  But its not just how it looks, it also has a smell, a feeling, a light that makes you sense Margaret's presence.

Its a fascinating look into her world of art and collecting, how 'stuff' and belongings accumulated over a lifetime say something about a person.  A reflection on self. 

I just wish my 'stuff' in my studio would one day be appreciated like Margaret's is!

www.artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au

Margaret's Kitchen.  I loved how her art materials
spread into her kitchen, mingling with the spices
and oil bottles. 

Looking into her lounge, across her dining area, and
her painting chair. 
No purpose-built studio, her house was the studio.

My Craig looking through one of the 'windows'

They have doorways you can look through into her 'house',
so you feel like you are really in the space not an art gallery.

Where the gallery meets Margaret's house...

One of Margaret's painting palettes.  Oil paint in sculptural lumps,
one wonders how she painted so well!

Art retreat at Woodgate

This week I'm on an art retreat with 6 other ladies at Woodgate, on the coast near Childers, Queensland.

We've rented a large holiday house on the beach and are enjoying a week of working on our own projects as well as enjoying sharing our favourite books and ideas.

Of course, I've set up my temporary printmaking studio with Thumper (my etching press) and have been busy working on a few projects.  Photos below.

Its great to get away from the day-to-day and immerse myself in creativity, its a shame its so hard to do at home with the usual daily demands limiting my time.  A problem we all have!

The house at Woodgate, we stayed here in 2012

The girls working hard in the 'studio' in the garage,
with water views!

Monoprints on dressmakers paper patterns,
to be collaged into a book

Here I am working hard in the downstairs kitchen (my studio).
Yes the house is SO big it has 2 kitchens!

The view from my press, you can see the beach across the road

One of the turkey monoprints I've completed

My turkey plate with stencils, printing in progress

Pinterest - a really cool way to build inspiration

I've just discovered Pinterest.  I've known about it for a long time but tried to avoid it, as I felt it would just a another internet time-waster.

But after taking a second look, I've discovered the value of using Pinterest as an online visual diary.  I've always kept photos of things I like, other people's work, places I've been, arty-photos of plants etc. They are spread around my laptop in numerous folders.  But I have found I can store them on Pinterest, in the 'cloud', and I can access them anywhere in an orderly fashion.

I can store them into categories, known as 'pin boards'.  I can go to any website and directly pin photos to my boards.  I can upload photos from my computer too.

I can sort them into categories like technique, type, colour, shape, design, pattern etc.   I can share my boards or keep them private. I can copy anyone's pinned images to my pin boards, so other people's inspiration can be mine as well.

I'm heading off for a week's art retreat at Woodgate soon, so it will be ideal to use Pinterest to access my images for inspiration.

I've also added a PinIt button to my blog and website, so anyone can directly pin my photos to their own Pinterest boards.  

And because I never blog without some photos for you to look at, here's some of a recent book I made..... Enjoy!



Ginkgo Book - hard covers, sewing over ginkgo ribbon from Japan.
I love ginkgo leaves and fell in love instantly with the ribbon,
even though I didn't know what I wanted it for at the time.



Some of the pages.  Gelatin Plate Monoprints using 2 plants
and 2 colours.  Reptition and simple composition links the images.



I also used a plant from my garden as well as the ginkgo leaves.
Also I photocopied a drawing I made on top on some prints.
Added another dimension to the work, using repetition once again.

Opening celebrations for Impress Printmakers's new home

Moreton Island camping trip (or just another excuse to make art!)

I'm back today from a week's camping at Moreton Island, a beautiful sand island 1.5 hours barge ride from Brisbane.  The weather was perfect, the waters blue-green, and the campground deserted.  Can't ask for more than that!

And of course, what's a holiday that doesn't involve some art ??......

Craig and our 4WD on the Eastern Beach of Moreton Is.

View across Honeymoon Bay

Shadows on the sand

The North Point beach was showing wear and tear
from high tides and storm action.
Lots of plant debris and pumice.

The rangers had chopped down at lot of the old
Banksia trees in the North Point Campground,
for 'litigation' reasons.  What a shame, they
were beautiful shady trees.

We kayaked around the North-Eastern end of the island.
 It was fun exploring the little coves and beaches.

We can see you!  A cute but large stick insect
on a rusty pipe at the Lighthouse area.

Kangaroo grass on the Lighthouse headland,
swaying in the wind.  Great for printing with too!

My 'Studio' at our camp.

Prints fluttering in the breeze.

My favourite, Bracken Fern, prints beautifully.

Print in progress...

My permanent gelli plate with ghost image, ready to print.
I also took a homemade gelatin plate but that didn't
even last one print, it suffered badly in the heat and
with rough handling in the 4WD.

The resulting print (from photo above), and the plant -
its a weed I plucked out of the ground just a
few steps from my camp studio.



 

Papermaking Exhibition you might be interested in....

Fellow papermaker Kym Frame is holding an exhibition 'Women Afoot' at Graydon Gallery from 4-9 March.  The exhibition will be opened on Friday 7 March 6pm by Janet De Boer.

Kym says "Women Afoot presents the work of local artist Kym Frame and the contribution of over 100 outstanding Queensland women from all walks of life.

The exhibition features more than 200 individual pieces of sculpture made from handmade paper. The sculptures and the voices of the women themselves, share their experiences and messages for each other. Together, they enable women to stand together both literally and metaphorically in support of one another.

All proceeds from the exhibition go to the Second Chance Programme Fundraising group, placing women beyond homelessness."

 

This is a great opportunity to see Kym's work and the diversity of the medium of handmade paper.

 

I'll be at the opening, might see you there!

 

Graydon Gallery

29 Merthyr Road New Farm

10am - 6pm dialy

4 - 9 March

 

Kym Frame 0406 748 476

 

 

Monoprinting Demonstrations

At the end of this month I'll be demonstrating monoprinting at 2 locations around Brisbane.  My focus is on how monoprinting can be done at home with everyday objects, leaves and paint.

Lately I've been experimenting with making gelatin plates again.  I gave up on gelatin plates after some disasters I attributed to our hot and humid weather, it just wasn't a practical way of working for me, having to keep refrigerating my plate, problems with condensation etc.  In recent years I've been monoprinting with my etching press Thumper and also using my permanent Gelli Plate.  And I've been more than happy with the results.

But recently I came across some discussion on the internet where people were adding other ingredients into their gelatin plates - like alcohol, sugar and glycerine.  All of these products are supposed to improve the quality of the plate.  So I've been testing out a new recipe for a plate with gelatin and glycerine.  So far, so good.  I used the plate quite extensively yesterday in over 30degree celcius heat, no problems.  The plate's been sitting on my bench all day today with just some plastic wrap over it.  I'll give it another run or two over the next week without refrigeration and see how it goes.

I'll be using this new plate at both my upcoming demonstrations, producing a heap of wonderful prints using everyday objects, leaves and paint.

Details of the demonstrations:

Location:  Caboolture Hub, 4 Hasking Street, Caboolture
Date:  Thursday 30 January 2014
Time:  10am
Cost: FREE
Bookings: 07 5433 3710

Location:  Level 2 BCC Brisbane Square Library, Brisbane CBD
Date:  Sunday 2 February 2014
Time: 10.30am
Cost: FREE
Bookings: not required

Sculpting with Books

This week my Mum Jan and I flew to Sydney to attend a 2 day 'Sculptural Books' workshop with Lizzie Buckmaster-Dove. The workshop was held at Art Est Art School in Leichhardt.

Lizzie works with paper and found objects to create assemblages and 3-dimensional works.

This workshop was to learn about creating sculptural and 3-dimensional objects using old books, exploring techniques of cutting and folding.

I went home with plenty of ideas on how I could incorporate the techniques into my existing art practice, though I'm certain my short attention span and lack of accuracy could be a problem!

I'm busy cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting,
and cutting some more.
The days went quick though!

Yes I've still got 5 fingers,
luckily no band-aids required this time.
The tool is a surgical blade, VERY sharp but
necessary for this type of work.
 

Lizzie (right) and I with our 3D sculpted books

My completed book, "Honey, from flower to table",
hence the reason why I cut hexagons to
represent a bee hive.

Another book I completed, with
a moth motif cut from the pages.
Each page is cut by hand.
Great therapy.

The cut out moths make an artwork in themselves.
The possibilities......!

A close up of the cut out.

A book I folded on the plane on the way home.
Shame I couldn't do some more cutting, but
scalpels are definitely off the carry-on list!

Mum's book, the theme was 'Circles',
hence her choice of motif.

Mum's other work, cute little birds!
Simple but very effective.

Going Bananas with Printing

Woo hoo!  Christmas holidays, time for some creative play in the studio.....

Today's fun has been printing with the trunk of a banana tree.

Floss (my ever reliable garden fairy) has given me a wonderful Christmas present in the form of a banana tree trunk, which I have sliced up.  I use the cross sections of the trunk to do hand printing using a roller and block printing ink.  It has the most wonderful pattern that gives me goose-bumps every time, a beautiful natural design.

I'm going to create a solar etchng plate from one of the prints, so that I can reproduce the print multiple times for book covers and other goodies that I create. 

The slices of banana trunk

 

My roller and black Block Printing ink

One of the beautiful prints, its
like the inside of a shell

A close up of the banana trunk cross section,
fleshy and fibrous - no wonder it makes
great paper and material for baskets!