Dear Plastic's Next Adventure

 

Yumi & Taka from Dear Plastic

Everyone, my dear friends Yumi and Taka from Dear Plastic, are planning their next big project and they need our help!

They have been accepted into The Takehara International Art Exhibition + Residency, taking place in a historic town of Japan. The two week residency is a great opportunity for them to develop new work, hold workshops and participate in the Bamboo Festival for two weeks in April and May this year.

They are amazing an amazing independent team based in Melbourne and are the hardest working and passionate artists I know. We are very lucky to have quite a few of their pieces in our home and I can't wait to see what comes from this next period.

Yumi & Taka have just started a Pozible campaign that will hopefully allow them to get to Japan. You will find out more about their plans at the Pozible site. They have some fantastic rewards to thank their friends for their help. I can't say enough how energized one feels after pledging to such a great project!

Dear Plastic's floating mini crystal mobile.

Dear Plastic's floating mini crystal mobile.

Dear Plastic's Craft Victoria window exhibition Jan 2013: Mountain God + Crystal Queen.

Mountain amulets from our Mountain God + Crystal Queen exhibition, Jan 2013.

Matsuzaka Tei, Japan.

All images from Yumi & Taka's Pozible Campaign Page.

 

Alex Falkiner: Textile Maker and Colour Connoisseur

If you are in Sydney in the coming weeks and require an injection of joyful colour and texture, I prescribe a visit to any of these exhibitions or workshops Alex Falkiner (aka Alfaky) is involved in. Or if in need of a quick top up, go over to her website and Instagram feed as soon as possible!

Alex Falkiner's felt, crochet & grosgrain necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's studio and baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's rope and felt necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's Baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Prescriptions can be filled here:

 

The Curio Collectors Cabinent, Gaffa Gallery
281 Clarence St, Sydney, NSW
7th - 18 March 2013

Knit | Knot | Weave, Gallery Lane Cove
164 Longueville Rd, Lane Cove, NSW
4th March - 1st April 2013
* A few of my talented friends - Paula do Prado and Brook Morgan are also in this show!

Workshop: Knot and Twist: Fabric Necklace Creations with Alex at
85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery NSW
Saturday 6th April

 

Coral and Tusk

Good morning friends! This morning is a porridge and chai kind of morning, with rain and wind and heavy skies in Sydney. I have big plans to get some things made today, the weather making it easier to be indoors. However I've just heard that rivers are flooding in other NSW areas, which can never be very good.

Have you seen these little creatures from Coral and Tusk? Quite a few of these are in my virtual shopping cart, with the hope of at least one making it's way to our home!

The way the studio operates reminds me of when I worked as a commercial textile designer - lots of chat and cups of tea... Their video shows how lovely the Coral and Tusk Workroom is...

 

 

 

Coral & Tusk from Coral & Tusk on Vimeo.

Designer Stephanie Housley gives a sneak peek into the delightful world of Coral & Tusk, her line of pillows and accessories. See her imagination come to life as embroidered drawings in her beautiful Brooklyn showroom/production studio.

COFA Exhibition Announcement: Art, Design, Textiles, Sculpture, Ceramics and More!

In two weeks I will be showing my work in progress at the COFA Half-A-Desk group show. It is the first time my small samples of felt and small drawings will be shown outside of my studio in the flesh.
It's also a great chance to see the work that goes on at The College of Fine Arts as there will be 59 other students with half a desk to fill with their creations.

Consider this your official invitation. Hope to see you there!

How to Make Carpet Art, A Tutorial

Step One: Poor lovely glass of red wine to drink while perusing the web on a Sunday night.
Step Two: Sweep arm for no real reason, catch sleeve on wine glass
Step Three: Knock wine glass from table to floor, making sure wine spills across beige carpet in the largest surface area possible.
Step Four: Yelp and cry out to anyone else in the house while preventing dog from running into wine spill.
Step Five: Google how to get wine out of carpet.
Step Six: Husband/Partner/Flatmate must run to get Saxa Table Salt from kitchen cupboard and proceed to tip salt in strange patterns across wine spill.
Voila, your own Carpet Art Piece!
NB. Wine still not completely out of carpet, need to go get carpet stain remover, but a lot less creative than the above technique!

Wendy Sharpe Exhibition

Wendy Sharpe

Self Portrait with St Marks 2009

One of my high school art teachers did a great job at introducing powerful female artists, one of which was Wendy Sharpe. I don't think I appreciated this education until later... ie. today... when I saw Sharpe's exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery at Observatory Hill, Sydney.

The above image isn't in the exhibition, but it expresses so many aspects of her art that I now love. The riotous glowing electric colours glinting off jewellery, buildings, faces. The fantastic wardrobe (stockings, tu-tu's teemed with trainers, floral vintage dresses). And the feeling of wanting to be more deliciously voluptuous rather than less (a rather novel feeling in this culture where willowy and lithe bodies are revered).

The body of works that most excited me were titled "Model Red and Green Light Series" 2010. They are on small linen canvases portraying beautifully rotund women reclining and relaxing in the most technicolour hues. Sadly I couldn't find any images online to share with you, but hopefully this might encourage a trip to the gallery to see them for yourselves...

I hope this portrait shines some light to those friends in Japan during this scary time. Thinking of you muchly.

1001 Journals...

As a kid I was an avid journal writer. My first proper diary had a lock and key and was called Igly... the ins and outs of a 12 year olds life can be quite funny to read... sibling warfare, favourite TV shows, hierarchy of friends and their ever changing positions - first best friend can quickly plummet to the bottom of the list over very minor issues.

I think I kept a journal on and off until about 5 years ago, which coincided with meeting NP, working a full time job and a realisation that over-thinking stuff doesn't help very much. Recently some of my old diaries have re-surfaced while packing boxes, making cleaning up about 300 times longer than it should be... I can't help but crack the spines of these old books and take trips down memory lane...

I'm sure for lots of bloggers these kind of spaces are substitutes for their journals. I'm often amazed at how open people are with their private thoughts on such a public space. There's always a line where I start feeling a little uncomfortable about how much I give away on Feeling Fuzzy? and I wonder if it's not enough or too much... I think I'll just trundle along and not worry too much about it.

Do you remember the 1000 Journal Project? It started a while back with journals travelling the world in a beautiful piece of collaborative artwork. I remember signing up knowing that there were slim chances of ever actually being sent or finding one.



Bird Textiles sent me an email last week about a new project called 1001 Journals, where individuals and groups can start there own travelling diary. So now there is a chance for everyone to join in!

All you do is register, find a book that is "Open" or "In Progress" and put your name on the list. I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail box!

Cecilia Heffer: Lace Narratives

Hello Friends,

You may have noticed this blog has been a little on the thin side in terms of any substantial writing... sure, a few music suggestions here, some hipstamatic shots there... but I think we can all agree this makes not for a particularly interesting read!

(Please tell me otherwise... perhaps you'd rather me short and sweet?)

Tonight despite an avalanche of University marking that is cascading from my inbox, I feel it is deeply important that anyone in Sydney over the next 3 weeks make a concerted effort to get to this exhibition.

I'm assuming that you who read Feeling Fuzzy? are quite keen on art, textiles, craft and the importance of beautiful things in life, yes?

I think you will appreciate at least 20 minutes gazing at the incredible textiles of Cecilia Heffer hanging in the beautiful Damien Minton Gallery in Redfern.

Exhibition Details:
Wed 28 July to Sat 14 August 2010
61-63 Great Buckingham St Redfern
02 9699 7551
Opening Hours: Wed-Sat 11am-6pm


PS. Number 46 is coming home with me!

Images 1 & 2: Feeling Fuzzy?
Images 3 & 4: Damien Minton Gallery

Yumi 's Magical Opening Night!

Congratulations lovely Yumi on such an amazing Opening Night! I was lucky to arrive at the gallery a little before most... seeing such magical body of work set to twinkling music by our friend Jerome gave me the shiniest & happiest feeling.

Blair has created a beautiful video (above) of the night... I think he's captured the floating essence of Yumi and her work.

Sweetness catered the event, with squishy and very special marshmallows, little lemon tarts and macaroons on 3 tired plates.

Thank you Yumi and Taka for giving us this beautiful exhibition!

Yumi's Exhibition!

I am very proud to announce Yumi Takahashi's new exhibition, opening on the Thursday 9th July at 8pm and running for 2 weeks at the Kaleidoscope Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.

Yumi is my lovely and talented friend - we collaborated last year on our Souzou project and she was inspiring to the end!

She would love to see lots of people at the opening so tell anyone you know that might be interested... I will be there, enjoying the beauty of Yumi's dreamy and contagiously beautiful artwork.

xx Emma

Melbourne Part 3: Art

It's in the streets. This is the primary difference between Sydney and Melbourne. Creativity is lurking around every corner, seeping into public spaces and getting under your skin. Sadly, Sydney tends to eat art up and spit it out in the form of casinos and commercial real estate. 

I so enjoyed the grafitti and poster art... please sample a selection below:

When walking along Gertrude St we came across a little exhibition of crazy birds and their homes, which made me feel nostalgic for the 3 years I had my Mum to myself and we spent days doing craft and drawing crazy birds.  The artist's name is Neils Oeltjen. These images are actually from when he exhibited the same work in Sydney. I liked it a lot.

The main point of going to Melbourne was to see the Art Deco exhibition before it closes (5th October in case you're wondering). And it seems the rest of Australia was thinking the same thing last weekend! The crowds of people actually made me feel quite good about the state of art in Australia. 

It was a pretty amazing collection... Egyptomania sounded like a fun time, and all the Oriental influences such as the  lacquer techniques were so beautifully utilised, especially by Eileen Grey (my hero).

Other stand outs were the bakelite handbags - black and mint! And a beaded dress that simulated draping. Lord!

Topped off with a trip to the Gallery Shop, and this was a pretty perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.