I am doing some embroidery today, using some threads that were my Grandmother’s.She died some years ago and yet when I see, feel, touch t…
I am doing some embroidery today, using some threads that were my Grandmother’s.She died some years ago and yet when I see, feel, touch these threads I have a connection with her.She was gifted and could embroider,knit,cook,sew,and make bobbin lace.She ended up losing her sight, so horrible an infliction for one such as her.She then lost her eyes completely to glaucoma.Still she carried on, for quite a few years she would knit a pattern from memory and she was still a fantastic cook,then grandpa needed more care and so they decided to go to a Care Facility together.Grandma could no longer manage intricate baby blanket patterns and such but she had quite a little industry going with making beanies in assorted colours for staff,visitors and other residents.She used to say the day she stopped knitted was the day she would die.Very passionate about her craft and keeping busy. / I am lucky I inherited some of her skill and feel close to her when planning another project.I always have something to do.
EXHIBITION BY CHRIS COMER (CURATOR), ELEANOR AVERY, JAMES AVERY, RA…
EXHIBITION BY CHRIS COMER (CURATOR), ELEANOR AVERY, JAMES AVERY, RAY COOK, KIM DEMUTH, ALICE LANG, DAVID SPOONER AND GRUBBANAX SWINNASEN Opening Wednesday 5 September 6-8pm Artist Talk Wednesday 12 September 6pm Exhibition 5 – 22 September Metro Arts Galleries: Gallery 1 Metro Arts Galleries Program 2007 topsy turvy turns the world upside down as it cancels conventions, social codes and hierarchies to create a liberated, utopian space; or is it a safety valve for popular discontent and a subtle form of social control? topsy turvy features wordplay, excess, parody, inversion and the grotesque. CATALOGUE ESSAY: Roll up Roll up! Gather around and watch what we’re gonna do. It’s all free and it’s starting right now! This is the one you’ve read about, you’ve heard your neighbours talking about it. And here it is, all live, right here and starting now! We’re gonna bring out the prehistoric monk, the mule-faced man, the unwooded Pinocchio who would become wood if he could…watch the doorway, here they come, we’re gonna bring ‘em out here, all free, so you can see what they look like, …watch the doorway, so stubholders¨ keep your eyes wide open, you don’t want to miss any of the acts, and it’s all free… 1. Prehistoria is the Order of the day in David Spooner’s exhibit. Step right up. Step right in. Are they from another world? Watch the skin of the monks fossilise in front of your very eyes as they meditate cloaked in their growling cowls. Witness their souls escaping their petrified bodies and slip through the fabric of time. ST Dimetrodon of the Savage order is one roughneck monk- a Sailor and Tailor. A seasoned traveller, and covered in the shed skins of the prehistoric creatures he tames. If you’re lucky enough you will also see plush³ prehistoric animals stampede out of the shrine/time portal. 2. Now, behold Alice Lang’s photographs of anatomical wonders. Yes, we have it all here! See the photographic evidence of people with their insides on the outside. People who have mutated from a normal state to one of post-human; from familiar to unknown, from form to formlessness -the ‘grotesque body’ ladies and gentlemen! You will stand in wonderment as you try to explain your empathy, your attraction to something so repulsive (or repulsed by something so beautiful). This body is unfinished and extends beyond its boundaries at every orifice during sexual excitement, childbirth, consumption of food, defecation and rogue cells that grow with disease. 3.Send in the Joeys. We get to now see more of the carnival’s participants: Ray Cook’s clowns and Pinocchio. Their camp attitude suggests that the meaninglessness of life abounds but urges you to become liberated by the absence of this meaning. They tell you to invert good taste, value the overlooked, relish absurdity and childishness, express a heterodox view of the mainstream. Pinocchio thumbs his nose¶ at anyone outside the carnival who doesn’t get the ironic value and opposition of the status quo from a camp aesthetic. 4. In the next stall we are standing before Grubbanax Swinnasen’s fordigraphic caricatures of the scholastic carnival. There’s the ogrish librarian, the ogling P.E. teacher, the brutish punks† etc. With all the billingsgate language and comic verbal compositions scrawled on the cheap paper. All this and more! With the methylated pages should begin a chemical trigger recall to all of you over the age of 1 score and ten years. The outsideness of the bullied kid marginalised by a dominant ideology can now yell out in purple prose to announce not only that he has a voice (now that it’s carnival time) but also to say something about the ideology that sought to silence him. 5. Boom. Boom. Boom. Next, is a part of the fairground spectacular itself: a huge opulent arm covered in beads and flickering lights. Drawing you in, but what exactly is it? Is it a relic from a prosperous bygone era? Does it now reside in a land tipped downside-up, a wonderland without the wonder? I wonder. You will too! The fabricator, Eleanor Avery, says that she is “interested in the point where something changes status”. It’s been inverted from its original orientation that was displayed at Black Lab to the one here. Not only that; when you stand before it shifts from an object, to a sound, to a location and back again. 6. To the big top construction of Kim Demuth. To witness it is to realise that we’re both inside and outside the carnival. We stand looking at the container of what we are all participating in. What is going on inside that tent is what is taking place right here, right now! The circus is a symbol of identity, human relations and belonging to a place, and it shows the ephemeral nature of these concepts. The concerns of life are played out inside: adversity, comedy, love, illusion and danger. It is a mirror of life, perhaps a concave one as nanty« goes wrong in there. It is the space for the imaginary, the instant, the temporary and the extraordinary. Because of its mobile nomadic life it is never forever; it is always momentary. It is a sojourner in the environment, not resident of it. It does not belong anywhere. 7. So is it all out and over? Do we start tearing it down and move on to somewhere new? Bakhtin says that there is no beginning or end in carnival; that it is outside of time and a permanent feature of society. He also would like to point out the difference between the carnival of old and the carnival of today, that carnivalesque today pales with the endless bingeing, rampart orgies and physical mutilation of days past. He obviously hasn’t seen Big Brother, watched Idol, read Who Weekly or visited the biggest carnival of all: the internet. There’s a place in cyberspace called myspace where the idiot is hero?, there’s YouTube where the amateur is king¤ (or the king is amateur – see the PM’s attempt at social networking?) and PornoTube or yuvutu where people indulge in a celebration of bodily excess or just piss-fart? around – quite literally! So, the carnival isn’t over or existing as a paler version. It penetrates into everyday life and language with its reversal of rituals (what is normally high is low, what is taboo is compulsory) and with its democratic vision of every individual becoming one in the carnival square. “The carnival offers the chance to have a new outlook on the world, to realize the relative nature of all that exists, and to enter a completely new order of things” (Bakhtin, 1984, p.34). Goodbye, Grubbanax Aloysius Swinnasen¢ 8. Note to the gilliesª:- I have used Parlari¤ or Ciarzarn² in the writing of this bible° essay. Definitions below: ¨ The audience. ³ Stuffed animals. A clown. Derived from Joseph Grimaldi a famous English clown 18c. ¶We know from psychoanalytical research that the nose is a male phallic substitute, see: Karl Abraham, “The Female Castration Complex” (1920), in Selected Papers of Karl Abraham, edited by Ernest Jones, translated by Douglas Bryan and Alix Strachey, Hogart Press, London 1927, p. 351. † A child. Also a stuffed animal on a ‘knock ‘em over’ game. « nothing End of the performance. ? http://www.myspace.com/soybuddha ¤ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQO3K8BcyGM ?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jtiJPlv4Y&mode=related&search= ?http://yuvutu.com/modules.php?name=Video&op=view&video_id=69643 ¢ a Robin Marks£ £ Sort of “utility name” when a carny wants to give a false name for himself. ª A gilly: anyone not connected with the circus, an outsider. ¤ (or alternatively Polari, Parlare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari, Parlyaree) a distinctive English argot in use since at least the 18th century among groups of theatrical and circus performers and in certain homosexual communities, derived largely from Italian, directly or through Lingua Franca ² Carny slang. ° Souvenir program, catalogue.
2007 has turned out to be such a great year, looking back, especially in terms of opportunities for expanding my creative outlets. Fi…
2007 has turned out to be such a great year, looking back, especially in terms of opportunities for expanding my creative outlets. Finding Artellaland was totally fabulous and has had me doing some really enjoyable work with collage and digital art techniques. And discovering Artists’ Trading Cards has been immense fun, too: I really enjoy the challenge of working inside such a small space. Perhaps my one intention this year is to become more involved in the community side of things, interact more with the other artists there. And there is a tutorial I want to write and share with others there. It shall be done! And of course getting into Redbubble has made such a difference for me in terms of my view of my own work. I have also learned so much from others and been inspired to keep going with this hobby of mine. Most of all, I love the opportunity to just immerse myself in the gorgeous work that comes out of the RB community. I intend to keep on experiencing and enjoying this nexus. I’m not very good at getting into and becoming involved in the forums here, either, though. I enjoy reading them and have gained lots. What and how to give back, though. I shall ponder this! And starting pottery classes has allowed me another opportunity for “beginner’s mind”, even though I did some pottery classes when I was a teenager. I am finding it quite difficult to take in all the intricacies of this new craft. But after only six months, once a week, I can’t really expect to be a master yet. I started this class with a view to making just one item and then more and more ideas came as I continued, so I will just have to keep on going!!! I have missed the classes during the holidays and I don’t start back until February. I have tried to do some work at home, but it isn’t really the same. However, I did have a great time dealing with my resistances on the couple of occasions I did work at home. So maybe next time will be better for me. I shall schedule an extra day per week or fortnight to spend some time on projects at home this year. And I shall make a point of continuing to enjoy what I have already created. I feel really satisfied with my creations so far. Finding cheap wool on ebay has allowed me to do much more knitting than I would ordinarily be able to afford to do. I couple this with my love of movie-watching. I do so like to see how both the movie and my knitting turn out in the end! And finding free patterns on the net has also allowed me more choice of projects. What a great hobby. I’m so glad I learned how to do it all those years ago and I am soooo grateful to those who have provided those lovely freebies for my crafting pleasure. I shall attempt to design a knitting pattern myself this year and share it with others for free, in return for what I have received. Even being involved in renovating our house has been a wonderful creative act. The spaces we have designed work really well and our house is becoming more and more of a pleasure to live in each day. And if I ever have to have anything to do with builders again, I will do a lot better than I did this time!!! Landscaping the backyard is the next project there. Should be a hoot…. Well, that lot ought to keep me going. It’s going to be a busy year, I think. Must intend some holidays and downtime, too, to recharge those batteries now and then. Still, I’m enjoying the view from this end of the stretch of time ahead called 2008. Here’s to all you Redbubblers for a happy, safe and fulfilling New Year!!! Cheers….and thanks for being there and doing what you do so well.
I want to show you that I am not the only creative person in my family. / You see as I am doodling away on our Napoleon project my mom has…
I want to show you that I am not the only creative person in my family. / You see as I am doodling away on our Napoleon project my mom has been knitting this most fantastic pullover after old Norwegian tradition… She is working full time (68 years old/young), but still she managed to knit this marathon job in less than two month. / She knits as she watch TV!! / / The flipped out model is my son Ivan Sleen Andersson… / You see it has been knitted as a birthday gift to my brother Inge, but he was not available as the shot was made …and as you might have guessed Inge is about twice the size of my son :-) I’ve also published the picture here on my picture blog POS
Ok so lately I’ve been really into crafts and things. I started knitting when I was 3 years old and my grandma’s maid sat me down on her …
Ok so lately I’ve been really into crafts and things. I started knitting when I was 3 years old and my grandma’s maid sat me down on her lap and handed me her tangle of wool and needles. Her name was Mrs. Tea. how awesome is that? So to fill my time (as if I need more work haha) I’ve been knitting and recently I learned to crochet. This weekend I finished off some fingerless gloves for James which was a lot of fun if not slightly stressful. I’m planning on embroidering skulls on the backs of them but he wanted to wear them to work so badly tonight that I let him take them. So I guess the point of this rambling is really to ask how many of you guys are creative in other areas of your lives? I couldn’t afford a jewelry box this week so I made one! I can’t wait to hear your answers!
My heartfelt thanks to the very kind people who have been purchasing Comfort Dolls...
My heartfelt thanks to the very kind people who have been purchasing Comfort Dolls / / The proceeds will be forwarded directly to Jean so she can continue to help the children of Malawi. /
I’ve just had my first sale since being on Red Bubble! A big thank you to Karin Taylor for pur…
I’ve just had my first sale since being on Red Bubble! A big thank you to Karin Taylor for purchasing Beach I and Bollywood Knit I Made my day :)
Knit a Square for African orphans. www.knit-a-square.com You can crochet too, they just need to be 20cm or 8inches squared. Schools ca…
Knit a Square for African orphans. www.knit-a-square.com You can crochet too, they just need to be 20cm or 8inches squared. Schools can get involved too.
/ *Stunning Wearable Art – Hand Woven Scarf Wr…
/ Stunning Wearable Art – Hand Woven Scarf Wrap – a gorgeous explosion of fibre and colour by Christine Jones / available here / / Description / This beautiful scarf is hand woven in a freeform style by my friend Chris Jones. The warp is a Japanese yarn composed of wool, silk, kid mohair & nylon. The weft is a creative mix of wool roving, handspun and commercial yarns and silk ribbon recycled from Indian saris . The result is a stunning wearable art scarf/wrap that has been handcrafted. It is soft to wear against the skin but has some body to its drape, allowing for individual styling. / Size: / approx length including fringe: 76 1/2” (194cm) / width: 6 1/2” (17cm) / Care: gentle handwash, lay flat to dry / $60 USD My good friend and fellow bubbler Chris Jones has just had her work Flamenco appear on the front of new Yarn Magazine modelled by a gorgeous model, WOW, Congratulations Chris!!!!! Chris’s knitwear looks absolutely stunning, boho, chic, tribal, ethnic…not only did she hit the front page, she also contributed to the magazine with a write up on one of her recent adventures and a pattern for others to knit… Congratulations again Chris!!!! This is a huge deal! You can see the blue/green version on the cover here on the website: http://www.yarnmagazine.com.au/ then if you scroll down, on the right hand side are all the designs in this issues. Pics of Chris’s are under the girl in the big orange hat. They’ve done a collage of the 2 colourways which you can click on to enlarge. Please check it out and if you get a chance, make sure you congratulate Chris and/or check out her portfolio and her yarnaboutyarn website and her etsy shop where she sells her gorgeous stuff… and check out this fab scarf for sale which she made and sells via etsy (a place for homemade goodies)
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