Come To Your Senses exhibition at GRAG

Come to Your Senses is a group exhibition of works that entice the senses, and can be touched, tasted, smelt and heard.

Gathering Landscape, 2012, recycled clay with shino glaze

 “The horizon was a wide circle of blue hills with Lake George as a jewel in the centre. The drought was emptying the lake and reviving anecdotes of early days when it had not existed at all”.

Cockatoos, A Story of Youth and ExodistsMiles Franklin

The Goulburn region is surrounded by spectacular scenery. This region is the setting for a number of Miles Franklins novels, written in the late 19^th century about life in rural Australia.

Within the context of Franklin's writing, my work explores majestic and sublime landscapes through the medium of clay form, glaze and decorating techniques.

Gathering Landscapes depict the landscape in drought. Inspired by prehistoric pot making methods of pressing soft clay into reed baskets to reveal the highly textured, negative space left by the weave.

Water Hole alludes to more temperate times and the deeply carved surface of the inside and outside of the vessel, when held against the light create a weave pattern reminiscent of the nets used to catch fish in waterholes and streams.

Screenprinting fun at Megalo

Ive just finished teaching a 6 week block of screen printing on fabric at Megalo. I always enjoy the experience and never ceased to be amazed by the creativity and diversity of images by my students.

Here are some images of them in action and some of the fantastic prints they created.

Gen experimenting with mixing two colours 

Gen's Fantastic Mr Fox image combining paper cut stencil and a photo emulsed screen.

Lisa printing her first photo emulsed screen.

Liz printing her first screen.

Liz's amazing repeat print

Neil creating a back ground colour for his Matisse style prints

Sara experimenting with a three colour watermelon print combining paper cut stencils and photoemulsed stencil.

Sara's watermelon print. Love the colours!

An action shot of Sharon drying her bearded men print combining blocks of colour and linear hand drawings. 

Jacqui's happy accident where she printed the screen in one colour (blue/green) then blocked out areas and reprinted over the top in pink. 

Jacqui's repeat cloud print on a tshirt

As seen in The Journal of Australian Ceramics

How  very exciting. The latest copy of The Journal of Australian Ceramics has hit the shelves and my inbox.  To my delight my Vignette series is featured, along with my potters mark.

Thank you to the editor, Vicki Grima and all at the Journal of Australian Ceramics

The Journal of Australian Ceramics : The Journal of Australian Ceramics 513 Nov 2012, Page 10

Polish Rose Petal Jam

If you are lucky enough to have rose bushes in your garden that flowers abundantly I have found the most marvellous and easy way to preserve the petals.

Its the Polish way of making rose petal jam which involves no cooking and is really quick.

Gather and wash your petals, put in the blender with sugar and mix until the sugar is the colour of the petals. You can mix until the petals are completely blended and smooth, or leave it chunky so that there is the occasional petal in the mix.

The batch I made is still crystallised (rather than syrupy) and perfect to sprinkle on top of fruit salad and home made yogurt. Yum!

Undercurrent markets at the National Portrait Gallery

If you love original design, then come and visit me at the Undercurrent market and find one-off ceramic pots 100% hand made.

Porcelain press pots $55

Porcelain press pots $55

 I will have all my popular styles available as well as lots of new designs too.

Carve pots $45

Carve pots $45

I am super excited to be back at the Undercurrent market this weekend  - get in quick because my work is limited edition - and there will be special market prices. Also available will be hand printed and hand painted linen tea towels. 

Sketch pots $65

Undercurrent market 23 and 24 November 2012 at the National Portrait Gallery.

Friday 23 November 5 - 8 pm

Saturday 24 November 10 - 4 pm

Day dreaming?

Or

gathering inspiration for my next project?

Either way, I have been spending a lot of time looking at skies and admiring the cloud formations in our wide open skies.

Reminiscing: Story of Stratford art project

I was reminded the other day of one of my projects I implemented whilst in London working at Westfield Shoppingtowns Ltd as their inaugural Public Art Coordinator.

Story of Stratford
image courtesy of http://uk.westfield.com

The project was called The Story of Stratford a two year art project to document the progress of the Stratford City development (the site adjacent to the 2012 Olympics). British artist who lives in the East End Helen Marshall, creatively lead the project working with participants from local schools. It was managed by A New Direction, an independent not for profit organisation which advocates for and facilitates creative learning, by connecting young people and schools with creative practitioners and organisations.

It documents the progress of the Stratford City development, from a building site in 2009 to an operational retail centre upon its opening in 2011 and the project explored how the history and regeneration of Stratford will change the lives of the students and their families.

Importantly the project enabled the children to engage with the site, develop their creativity and encourage learning in a fun and creative environment.

The project finished last year in 2011 and it is exciting to see how it has developed.