Tuesday 21 July 2009

Thank you Melbourne!

Yumi and I had a splendid weekend in Melbourne! There is just so much to tell you about.

Firstly, you must pop over to Yumi's blog to see what we stumbled open... I can't tell you how excited we were to find these little treasures!

So where to begin??

Our lovely hosts were Sarah and Bob, Elliott (almost 3) and Henry (8 months), Lilly (friendly cat) & Charlie (shy cat).

Sarah is a friend who I used to work with. She is a textile designer extrodinaire and taught me a whole heap of things while we were in the same studio about 4 years ago. Lucky for me we've stayed in contact. Her textile prowess is just as strong - while juggling 2 very handsome boys she sneaks in a bit of quilting. And not just everyday run-of-the-mill quilting... organic shapes, bright brights, muted linens, expert stitching, frayed edges. I should just stop rambling and let you have a look at some pictures!




As well as being an amazing quilter, she is also a painter. The painting above is of Lilly the cat who quite liked to sleep ontop of Yumi and I which I loved of course!

More to come later...

x Emma

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Hello Melbourne!

Yumi and I have a somewhat spontaneous trip to Melbourne coming up this weekend. We are very lucky because we are staying with one of my favourite families in Fitzroy. Hurrah!

I'm also looking forward to visiting:

The John Brack Exhibition at the NGV...

Some of the State of Design programe (especially Emma Davies exhibition at Craft Vic!)...

And we'll definitely be checking out the lovely Sign Says Open blog for tips for places to visit (shown below is Galerie Montmartre... what fun!)


If any of our Melbourne friends have any other tips we'd love to hear them!

xEmma

Sunday 12 July 2009

some things to see!

A much screened lade- Gloria Swanson, Edward Stelchen 1924

Bette Davis, Maurice Goldberg 1934

Anna May Wong, Edward Stelchen 1930

Hello emma!
I'm sad you missed the Vanity Fair Portraits... the photographs were beautiful...here's a little taste of my favourites from the exhibition!

Albertina Rasch Dancers, Florence Vandamm 1927


and these were my favourites from the Soft Sculpture exhibition!


Sugar the pill, Christopher Langton 1995

Soft alphabet, Claes Oldenberg 1978

Penetration, Annette Messager 1993-94

All souls of the revolution, Luke Roberts 1976-94

p.s. thanks for letting me know about Knitta Please!

Thursday 2 July 2009

Wrinkles

This weekend while talking to my grandma on the phone, I learnt we both are definitely positively NOT camping-types. I like that we have so much in common!

Meet some other elderlies... how I love wrinkles!! (I secretly can't wait to have some of my own... wrinkles that is... I'm sure I'll curse the day when they arrive, but they do add lots of character!). I think my favourite is #21 - Messy but Cute (see the image below)... I have a soft spot not just for dinasours, but for grubs too!

x Emma


Wednesday 1 July 2009

The Sydney Film Festival

This is one of my favourite times of the year... wintery evenings lining up at The State Theater with a bag of lollies and some pals, ready to see a new movie... bliss! What an amazing venue we have - I adore the interior theater, with all it's old-school glamour... who doesn't feel like a movie star walking into this place?







One of my favourite movies I caught this year was 'Beautiful Kate', directed by Rachel Ward, and starring 3 of my most loved Australian actors - divine Rachel Griffiths, moody Ben Mendelsohn and burly Bryon Brown. Some great newcomers too - Sophie Lowe and Maeve Dermody are wonderful. 

There's been a spurt of home-grown movies taking advantage of our most amazing landscapes... Jindabine and Somersault... Beautiful Kate is another and does it beautifully.


Soft Sculpture & Knitta Please...

Soft Sculpture is ending on July 12th so I'm racing down to Canberra this weekend with my friend Emily to see and feel my way through this good looking exhibition. There is even a Joseph Beuys piece - my absolute felt hero... I've never seen anything of his in person so I'm quite excited!

And as luck would have it, Magda Sayeg, founder of Knitta Please is giving a free talk at 2pm... wonders never cease! 

"Magda Sayeg, Knitta Please founder and yarn-bomber, discusses the curious convergence of knitting and graffiti, exploring the social implication of street art in our urban environment."

There are lots more related activities on over the next week too - go here for more details.


Soft Alphabet, 1978, Claes Oldenburg.
Eichnomchen (Squirrel), 1969, Meret Oppenheim.