Inspiration: Eleanor Pritchard

This is she... the very talented Eleanor Pritchard... have you seen her stunning 
weavings before? While I should really be crocheting, I've found myself mesmerised
by them lately.






It's strange that I haven't come across her work before seeing as she is so celebrated 
in her native Britain and far abroad... Anyway, now that I have (finally) I do admit to
being completely smitten :)






And, of course, when I saw her studio I just wanted to live there! Isn't it amazing?







I love that her work comprises of strong geometric shapes and basic patterning. 






There's a freshness to her designs... a kind of 'less is more' aesthetic carried 
by bold colour combinations that highlight the design rather than smother it.






And she loves making cushions too, so she must be alright ;)


You can read more about Eleanor Pritchard and see more of her work on her 
website and her blog.

Identity

My big girl came home with her year 10 English assignment the other day... 
she has to write a personal reflection on what it is to be Australian and do a 
presentation. It was a difficult concept for her because she said she doesn't 
feel Australian; she doesn't identify with any of the generalisations with 
which we are constantly bombarded. 


I couldn't think of a thing to say... I don't feel Australian either. We talked 
about the nature of identity and how it can be formed in many different ways. 
I made a flippant comment: The only time I feel Australian is when I'm overseas!


And then I came across this image....

My Home is the Sea by Matt Wisniewski

It vividly reminded me of when we used to live in London and how I longed 
to see the sea. The Mr and I would hire a car and drive to Brighton or 
Ilfracombe in North Devon and just gaze at it for ages, taking in our fill. This, 
then, reminded me of how I also used to long to smell freshly cut grass... 
weird I know ;)


Anyway, in the way of meandering thought processes.... it all made me realise 
that I am very Australian, inside me, at some integral spot... I really need vast 
spaces every so often to feel at ease, and for me that is symbolised by the sea. 
I'm guessing because I spent so much of my childhood at the beach. Also, the 
smell of freshly cut grass is symbolic of our outdoors way of living here. Again 
from childhood, it's warm summer days spent playing outside.


Of course, my big girl can't use my reflections but I'm hoping this will help her 
come up with something meaningful for herself.


How about you? Do you feel Australian, or wherever you're from? Do you feel 
connected to where you were born or can you only see these connections when 
you're far away from there? I'd love to hear what you think :)

More recycling...

I've posted on these guys before... They are amazing artists and so inspiring... 
luzinterruptus.





They staged an installation in Warsaw called Recycling Sunday to not only 
encourage recycling, but also familiarise the residents with the colour codes 
used to separate different kinds of recycled garbage... blue for paper, yellow 
for metal and green for glass.

1000 bags in these three colours were inflated with lights and distributed

around a plaza.

Apparently, Warsaw has no recycling program... it'd be interesting to find out 
whether this installation had some impact on that :)


photos by Gustavo Sanabria

The Other Side

I've just discovered that a most amazing installation occurred in Paris just after 
we'd left. The Place Vendome played host to a ring of 4-metre high mirrored 
cubes bouncing light and reflecting scenes. The installation was created by 
Arnaud Lapierre for FIAC 2011.





Don't you think it has that funny surreal feeling to it that you get when travelling?
Maybe there's a bit of jet-lag in the mix but also that heady feeling of seeing new 
things and they all fracture and jumble in your mind as you try to take it all in and 
make sense of your new surroundings?





I love it :) Wish I could have seen it. Better than drugs I'd say ;)








Apparently, it's currently to be found at the Paul Ricard circuit in Castellet and
from there it'll be 'doing the rounds' to several art fairs around Europe. Hope you 
get to see it if you live over there... I'd love it if you could share some pics :)


via  

Every little thing...

I've been thinking of that Police song ever since I received some magical mail...
Contemplating my fabulous arrivals, I've realising that these three bloggers, 
well, I just love everything they do.


So, here's some pics – a visual feast – and if you feel like singing 'Every little thing 
they do is magic' I don't blame you one little bit.. :)

Seriously gorgeous fabric and prints from the very talented Ms Belinda at Gretchenmist - 
blog and shop.

The most stunning graphic prints from the fabulous Ms Francesca at Mrs Eliot Books 
- blog and shop.

And the fresh original prints of the lovely Ms Kerry at Seventy Tree - blog and shop.


Actually, these prints from Kerry are my gift from a Pay it Forward... aren't I lucky? :)
But you know what a Pay it Forward means... yep, my turn to pay. 


I'm going to put together five different gift parcels of something I've made... not sure yet
what that will be... it could be a brooch, or some screen printed fabric or some crochet,
I haven't decided. I send one of them to you and then you pay-it-forward to five people 
on your blog... simple?... My dad always used to say 'clear as mud' :)


So, if you would like to take part in the Pay it Forward and receive a gift from me,
leave a comment and your contact details below and the first five will be my PiFs :)


Leaving a comment does not mean you sign up for it! 
Don't feel bad if you can't (it is a busy time of year!) I'll only count you as in if you say 
"count me in", okay? ;)

1000 Poems

There's a lot going on around here at the moment and my mind has been spinning with ideas as well... I've had this post on file for a while now, but lately, I've found I keep having a peek at the photos. They are so calming. This is like a fairytale garden to me :) 

1000 Poems by Mail is an installation by Luzinterruptus, guerilla lighting artists extraordinaire. They filled one thousand envelopes with poems written by 17 poets and hung them from the leaves of the garden at the Madrid Poetry Festival venue last year.

On the last night of the festival, one hundred visitors were offered the chance to have a poem sent to their loved one with the light inside.

One of the things I really love about this installation is its aim to highlight days past when special words were sent by post.  

I have a computer-phobic friend in London with whom I correspond. We put together tomes of clippings and photos and pages and pages of news in our letters. We also take care to comment of every single inclusion in our replies... it's quite a task and takes forever. 

I only manage to send 3 or 4 letters a year but I love doing it :) Do you get many letters these days? Do you write letters?

p.s. 

In case you don't already know, the

 Queensland Poetry Festival is on 26 - 28 August.

via 

Inspiration: Abigail Reynolds

While researching a post for my other blog I came across the amazing crochet installations of London-based artist Abigail Reynolds.  This is her Grand Mutator piece which started from the pattern for a basic string bag. Her inspiration for the piece comes from the Darwinian theory of evolutionary mutations, where mistakes in the coding cause a progressive change over time. 

Reynolds also cites the 1960s toxicity tests performed on spiders as a key source of inspiration. 

This is her only public crochet installation (that I know of) but you can see more of Reynolds' work on her website.

p.s. I've tried anarchic crochet and I couldn't do it... I just couldn't make myself not follow the rhythm of crochet, if that makes sense? So, there's awe in this post too ;) Have you tried it? What's the secret?

Inspiration: Miranda Skoczek

I'm quite enamoured with the work of Melbourne artist Miranda Skoczek at the moment. Her mixed media pieces (especially those with a layering of textiles) are singing a tune that they really should be up on my walls! :) You can see more of Skoczek's beautiful work on her website. I'll be drooling over some of these pieces at her forthcoming exhibition in Brisbane at the Edwina Corlette Gallery.