Saturday 27 October 2012

FINAL PREPARATIONS


The countdown is on and now there's only a few more sleeps to go!

Just to remind you ... please come to my final exhibition at Richard Randall Art Studio from 6 – 14 November, 10am – 4pm daily.



Then from 16 – 18 November I’m joining The Botanical Artists Society of Queensland, in their exhibition “FLORESSENCE” in the Auditorium at Mt Coot-tha, 9am – 4pm daily (see the photo in my previous post).


I hope you will be able to spread the word to all your friends and contacts ... especially anyone you know who has contributed to my many collaborative projects.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to thank everyone personally, so please accept this blog post as my very inadequate expression of gratitude.

In my last post I described some of my collaborative works, and now here are some more of my projects still on the go …..



EMERGENCE

Jill Brose, my friend and very talented artist, has made pod-like structures in natural fibres and I will be embellishing them with lettering.
This assemblage, with its stylised cocoons, seed pods and nests, portrays the emergence of new life and the transformations of metamorphosis, hatching and sprouting.
This is one of the first projects that we started right at the beginning of my residency (these photos are from our day together in early March!)


  … and this is just one of several basketry structures incorporated in this project ... now in the final stages of construction.



FOREST FUSION

This is another project that was started back in March, and is now nearing completion.
My friends Lyn Baxter and Sue Ford are helping me create a forest scene. We are using a wide variety of materials and techniques (including wet felting, embroidery, painting, silk paper, machine embellishing, crochet, knitting, etc).
We have worked on it during several of my ‘residency days’ in the Auditorium, making felt for the tree trunks, and painting the background.
Now we are beavering away under my house (amongst the chaos of my unsorted post-2011-flood salvage) to put it all together.
 



BOOK SWAPS

For 12 years I have organised Book Swaps in which people agree to make a certain number of books.  These are then distributed amongst the other participants.
This year I chose two themes which related to my Residency.

The books from the “Plants” swap were displayed at my June exhibition, and will also be there in November. The participants were Nat Billing, Lorelei Clark, Susan Doel, Joanna Faber, Ngaire Macleod, Jan Pearce, Sandra Pearce, Elisa Ristuccia, Lyn Rushby, Tricia Smout, Kaye Stanton and Annette Waraker.


The second swap in 2012 has the theme “Seasons” and these will be arriving soon, ready for display in November.
The participants this time are Nat Billing, Susan Doel, Gill Pyke, Tricia Smout, Annette Waraker and Robyn Wood.




JAPANESE GARDEN REVERIES

Did you notice the book in the top left of the photo above?
This was my contribution to the “Plants” swap, and I’ll have extra copies for sale in November.
This book celebrates the beauty and tranquillity of the Japanese Garden, which was reconstructed at Mt Coot-tha following World Expo 88, and has since proved one of the most popular places for visitors to the Gardens.

I took photographs, and hand-lettered the hauntingly beautiful haiku poetry which was composed by my sister, Alison Horsley.
I chose a traditional Japanese-style binding for the book.





FRAGRANT FLAGS

Members of the “Serendipity Art Group” (Muffin Rowlands, Joy Nelson, Barbara Richardson, Jen Pezaro, Suzanne Clifford, Wendy Perkins and Fay Hayden) are making flags inspired by the herbs and flowers in the Fragrant Garden.
Each person has created at least one artwork and these will be strung up in Richard Randall Studio in November.
Mine isn’t in this photo because it’s still under construction! Now, I bet you couldn’t have guessed that, could you?


WATA THE WATER DRAGON


2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and also the Year of Water.

Water dragons are a common sight in the Botanic Gardens, so it seemed appropriate to feature them in a project this year.
My sister Alison Horsley has written a short children’s story about a water dragon living in the gardens at Mt Coot-tha, and I had great plans to make a family of fabric dragons to illustrate the tale.
I’ve made only one dragon to date, so the planned book will not be published before November, but the story and that one lonely dragon will be proudly on display!

Actually this little fellow proved very popular at the holiday activities in September, and after I showed him 100-year-old stone water bowl in the Japanese Garden, he went exploring all by himself.

 



FASCINATION WITH FOLIAGE

My friends from “Basketcases” (a sub-group of Qld Spinners, Weavers & Fibre Artists) created woven and twined leaves from natural fibres, and they will be displayed suspended from a vine.
Of course the ones I made had lettering threaded throughout.



WOVEN WORDS

I created some sentences about words being woven into written language and stored in the cultural baskets of humanity (how deep is that, hey?) and I hand-lettered these on strips of paper. My ever-patient, talented friend Jill Brose then wove them into baskets.



FOCUS ON NATURE

For this project I invited people from all over the world to email me photos of plants.
I asked for close-up detailed views of something plant-related (leaf, seeds, seed pod, flower, bud, bark, stem, root, fungus, leaf litter, etc).

I will be incorporating these into a book, which will include hand-lettered poetic phrases composed by my creative sister, Alison Horsley.


A-I-R MAIL PROJECT

I invited people from all around the word to decorate and post an envelope with a nature theme.

I am totally delighted with the response to this A-I-R (Artist-In-Residence) MAIL project and so far I’ve received 250 envelopes from many different countries … from calligraphers, mixed media artists, friends, school children, etc.

I’m currently getting them all ready to be displayed in books in November .... did I mention that I'm having an exhibtiion from 6-14 November at Richard Randall Studio? I guess I may have told you about it already (just once or even twice, maybe?

In an earlier post, you’ve already seen the early ones I received from friends, and also from Karana Downs Girl Guides.

Here are some more …

From New Zealand Calligraphers



From USA (on the left) and Europe (on the right)



From interstate Australia (on the left) and north Queensland (on the right)




From Gold Coast & Darling Downs (on the left) and Sunshine Coast & Bribie (on the right).


From Inner City Circle & Purple Paddo Patchers (on the left) and the Year 4 classes at St Kierans School at Brighton (on the right)


From Brisbane & nearby areas


SWISHY SWATHES
Don't forget to check out the swathes of leaves and flowers which are still hanging throughout the gardens (described in earlier posts):
  • in the Tropical Dome shelter shed
  • in the Fragrant Garden shelter shed
  • outside the Auditorium
  • on the fence near the cafe
  • in the tour bus



ARACHNID ARTISTRY
The spiders' webs (also described in earlier posts) are created in many materials and techniques, and they are still on display until early December in the trees near the entrance to the gardens.


So, wish me luck in getting all these projects finished, and I hope to see as many of you as possible next week at Richard Randall.

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