Looking back, one of the most rewarding aspects of taking part in The Winter Fibre Arts Australia Programme was the opportunity to work with such interesting and like minded artists. The first few days back in my studio in Hertfordshire has been a case of recording all the ideas that have come directly from this experience. So many ideas are simmering away that i'm having to put some ' on the shelf' for now.
Top left; small work by Seth Apter (New York Artist and Tutor) I acquired this piece when we swapped our work. The other pieces are small playful pieces I made during the second week.
At the end of the first week spent at Ballarat we had an exhibition of the work produced during all 9 Workshops. I was blown away by the variety of media and approaches.
Book piece made in Sue Ferrari's Embroidery workshop, Ballarat
Detail of work made in Kirsten Ingmar's Plant Dyeing Workshop, Ballarat
Work made in Charlotte Sehmisch's Sculptural Felting Workshop, Ballarat
Work made in Meghan O'Rourke's Jewellery Workshop, Ballarat
Work made in Seth Apter's Book making Workshop, Ballarat
Lorell Lehman Fantasy Figures Workshop, Ballarat
A Collaborative book made by Jet James's Class using Collagraph prints ( for the Auction)
Work in progress spotted on the workbench in Judith Gray's Encaustic Workshop
When you put several artists together In the same space with a multitude of materials to play with its inevitable that one result is the crossing over of ideas and its fun to see that some of the artists will be doing some collaborative projects over the immediate months to come. In the second week especially, and due in part to the wonderful array of objects to be found on the trade stalls, we all got a bit obsessed with old tins and books. Seth Apter made some wonderfully inspiring pieces for the inside of some rusty tin lids and over the coming months Glenys and Nonie have set themselves a challenge to make a series of art pieces for tins that will go into one of their auctions. I can't wait to make some work to go inside a set of tins I picked up - I'm mulling over what to do with the Emu Feathers that were inside them.
I'll be making some work to go inside this gorgeous old tin I discovered on the Trade stand run by 2 lovely ladies that have an eye for 'finds'
Exploring Fresco Paints on book pages.
Workshop times would often go on into the evening which gave us all some extra times to pop into each others workshops to see what was going on. In the second week I got to try out some of the gorgeous chalky paints that Seth Apter uses in his practice - these are supplied by Paper Artsy, a company based in the UK. Since getting back to the Uk I've ordered a few colours and Im having fun experimenting with them on some of my larger mixed media pieces In the studio.
In my next Blog Post I want to share some of the stunning scenery of Australia and especially the exotic and at times eerie location we found ourselves in for the second week.