Redactionart art, Snake Skins and Embroidery

What do these things have in common?
They are all artworks that are currently showing in 3 exhibitions at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Emu Bank, Belconnen ACT until the 28 Mary 2017.

• Beauties and Beasts
• Mono and More
• Shed

Beauties and Beasts 

Faculty of Arts and Design University of Canberra
This is the 23rd UC staff exhibition. It highlights the commitment to the creative practice of the arts in the world by staff and research-artists from the Faculty of Art and Design at UC. 

'Beauties and Beasts' harnesses the power of creative practice to represent what is beautiful and/or beastly about our relationship with the natural world,' says Dr Jordan Williams.

The exhibition is also a tribute to Sandra Burr who passed away in 2015, her research explored the relationship  between animals and humans. One of her artworks is included in this exhibition. The artwork is a wonderful descriptive and moving piece about her relationship with her horse, Myst.

Rikki and Myst by Sandra Burr

Local illustrator Tony Flowers has included one art piece that his followers would have seen in development on his Facebook page. Flowers is currently teaching Publication Design, digital literacy and working on his PhD at UC.

Herald by Tony Flowers

Another UC staff member, Tim Sherratt, is working in the area of Digital Heritage. While researching redactions, the withholding of information, he discovered that someone had created a collection of creatures out of the redactions. His artwork is #readactionart to see more go here.

The Redaction Zoo by Tim Sherratt

Other artwork in this exhibition uses the mediums of textiles, video, photographs and sculptures.

On Sunday 21 May – 2:00pm there will be a poetry reading in the gallery. More information and bookings go here. 

Mono and More

Ilona Lasmanis, Robyn McAdam and Steve Tomlin have been working together at Megalo Print Studios since 2009. This is their third group exhibition. While they all use printing, their artworks are very different to each other.

Ilona Lasmanis uses collograph (where collage is stuck to the printing plate), collage, hand embroidery and stamps plus linoprints and monotypes to create her artworks. The embroidered animals and insects in these artworks are very attractive and there is a uniqueness to Lasmanis' works.

Summer Sounds by Ilona Lasmanis

Robyn McAdam's artworks are inspired by her travels to Venice, Italy. She explores the changing light and colour throughout the day. MdAdam's uses monotype printing to create her artworks adding some hand painted collage to her works.

And silent roes the songless gondolier and Sunset on Zattere by Robyn McAdam

Steve Tomlin's has recently begun to focus on landscapes in his artwork. He uses silkscreen printing to build up his layered artworks in a minimalist way. 

On the way to the coast by Steve Tomlin

Shed

This exhibition is a solo exhibit for Gillian Jackson. Jackson has combined her love of mathematics; measurement, line, structure and patterns into her artistic pursuit. She has created a series of minimalist artworks using discarded snake shed or skins with recyclable laminating film. "I don't like snakes but I like these," says one of the exhibition viewers on opening night. The artworks are hypnotic though the repetition of pattern of the snake skins and creation of patterns by Jackson to create new and interesting textural artworks. The use of colour in the skins to create the patterns are mesmerising.

Mosaic Pieces by Gillian Jackson

Glass Sculpture 2 by Gillian Jackson

These three exhibitions are showing until 28 May 2017 at the Belconnen Arts Centre.

Thank you Monika McInerney, Creative Program Director, and your team for three wonderful exhibits that have something to offer many artistic tastes. The opening night held on 5 May 2017 was great!

Canberra Women Writers Network Launch

Recipe for Collaboration

Take 30 women.

Place them in the main hall of Gorman House.

Add an interest in writing.

A large splash of enthusiasm and support.

Sprinkle with a generous dose of hope.

Stir, no bake required.

You have a Canberra Women Writers Network.

Eat straight away.

Last night was the launch of the Canberra Women Writers Network. 
The Noted Festival gave a group of inspirational female writers; Rhyll Biest, Bec Fleming, Rose Chen and Stella Frances a fabulous opportunity to launch a new network for women writers in Canberra.

These four ladies met at through the Romance Writers of Australia. They have a passion for writing, creating and supporting other women in their pursuits.
Bec explained that if you have a passion for writing and you belong, "Even if you don't consider yourself as a writer."

Stella, Rose, Bec and Rhyll

The women in the room voiced some of the following ideas for the network;

• raise the profile of women writers and artists
• getting more genres out there
• promoting diverse writers
• a need for true collaboration
• connect with someone to critic and give feedback on your work
• sharing ideas
• culture of support
• empowerment
• belonging
• sharing of skills
• giving hope

Their next meeting is the second Saturday of the month, 13 May 2017, at the Milk Crate, Shop 6. 12 Moore Street and 16 Marcus Clarke Street Canberra City.

For more information go to their Website or Facebook page.

Autumn in NewActon

It has been a lovely autumn week in Canberra. We had sunny, warm days of 22 degrees celsius. The red and yellow leaves indicating the cooler nights and that the cooler days are approaching are really starting to put on their show. Plus a long weekend thrown into the mix with Easter at the beginning of the week. 

 

As the weather was so wonderful I took my work out of my home office and to the Parlour, Kendall Lane, New Acton. Fresh air, sunshine and a wonderful meal too.

Potato and Carrot Soup

Are you looking for a soup that you can eat if following a FODMAPs diet? 
Then here is one I created the other night. 

Ingredients:

1 large white washed potato
1 large Desiree potato
2 large carrots
3 cups water
3 Chicken Stock cubes 
(Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Onion and Garlic Free)*
2 bay leaves, dried
Salt & pepper for seasoning
Parsley, finely chopped 
Chives, finely chopped

Additional Ingredients: You might like to add leek leaves (the green part only), fresh thyme or bacon finely diced and sauteed for a different flavour.

Method:

1. Peel and roughly chop the potatoes and carrots.
2. Place the potatoes, carrots, water, chicken stock cubes, bay leaves, salt and pepper into a medium saucepan over a high heat.
3. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer. Stir occasionally. Cook until the potatoes are soft.
4. Remove from heat. Take out the bay leaves. Blend or process the soup until smooth.
5. Serve soup into serving bowls, then add a small amount of parsley and chives on top of the soup as a garnish.

Serves: 3 

Notes:

* Chicken Stock. It can be very hard to find a gluten free stock that is also onion and garlic free. I have used the Massel GF Chicken Style stock cubes. They are also lactose free. 

Origami finger puppets.

One of my research projects this morning was to make a finger puppet for an upcoming article. 

Little Red Riding Hood was this first one I selected from the book without realising that the difficultly was 4/5 stars. I'm pleased that there were a lot of photos with the instructions to help me create the character. 

Collage and reuse in Frank Stella’s prints with Alice Desmond.

Upon entering the Orde Poynton Gallery and the current exhibition Frank Stella The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection, one is surrounded by the large prints of Frank Stella. The prints of; lines, shapes, curves, cones, columns, domes, nets, collage, 3D, colours, black and white.

In front of Stella’s print The Fountain sit more than twenty people ready to listen to the lunchtime talk given by Alice Desmond, Curatorial Assistant of the Kenneth Tyler Collection, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books at the National Gallery of Australia.  

Desmond explained how Stella artworks developed from a minimalist style print of straight and curved lines to his narrative abstraction works and then to the sculptural refined abstraction pieces like The Fountain.

Star of Persia, 1967

Port aux Basques, 1971

Talladega five I, 1982

Initially Stella was a reluctant print maker but during his 30 year collaboration with Kenneth Tyler and Tyler’s printing workshop Stella was able to develop his prints into a sculptural experiment of multilayered, elaborate compositions.

Stella often interacted with his previous works in the process of creating new works. He would reuse his artworks; cutting them up, printing them in different colours, using new techniques and layering them create new artworks. Stella used copper and aluminium plates, lithograph, etching, relief and college to ensure that the printing didn’t lose the textural qualities that he wanted to convey.

To illustrate Stella’s collage and experimentation the lunchtime talk audience was asked to study his prints and draw, on coloured paper, some of the shapes seen in the artworks. They were then instructed to cut out their drawn shapes and to share these shapes with the people next to them. Once they had around eight shapes they were requested to construct a collage that they could order and reorder like Stella did with his works. This was a wonderful demonstration of Stella’s process of repetition and reuse of design elements.

Stella prints were not just a reuse of previous prints. His imagery was also inspired from a variety of sources.

His narrative abstractions were inspired by children’s stories and folk tales. These prints are not illustrations of the stories rather they show the story’s impact and energy. One example of this are the sculptural dome prints of the Moby Dick Series.

The cabin, Ahab and Starbuck, 1991

Moby Dick Series (domes)

Another source of imagery for Stella were 3D computer nets and lines on the Canadian bank notes which are evident in his work The Fountain, 1992. This work is large, 231.1 x 700.4 cm in size. It was created using three large wood blocks and 104 metal plates that were fitted into the wood blocks. The overall image took three days to print and then Stella would make additional changes to the work. See a short video here about this work's printing process.

The Fountain, 1992

In the exhibition space there is a video showing the complex printing process for Stella’s works, this is more detailed than the one at the above link. After watching the video the audience has a clearer understanding of the arduous and intricate operation behind the creation of these art works; from the steel plate creation to the colour selection and the printing process. The video shows Stella actively tweaking the design and colours until he is satisfied with the composition. The prints are not just a collage of Stella’s ideas but also a collage or collaboration of the Tyler print workshop team. The video reveals how the team breaks down the design template, hand paints each plate that is re-pieced into the wood block and the process of printing the artwork.

The exhibition Frank Stella The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection is a feast for the eyes. It is intricate and colourful. It will be on show until July 2017. A full colour catalogue is available to purchase from the National Gallery of Australia Shop.

To find out more about the Tyler Print Collection go to https://nga.gov.au/Tyler

52-Week Illustration Challenge: Week 15

Week 15: Thread

I gift you my heart.

To tie my heart's thread to yours.

Please be gentle with it.

See the 52-week Illustration Challenge page for more information about this art work that I have created.