'Find the Fimo' with Emma White
Making Sense might have already come and gone, but it's no reason why we shouldn't have some fun! Below are some images from Emma White's beautiful studio space, can you spot the faux fimo-crafted object? There's a few...
Introducing... Emma White
Here at CLOG we have a special surprise for you today! Saturday is usually our day off, but this was just too good to hold on to until next week. Emma White is one of the participating artists in the Making Sense exhibition, which is currently on until Saturday 29 November. That's today!
What was the inspiration behind your installation in Making Sense?
I'm quite fixated on details and I tend to look towards the things around me for inspiration. I've been exhibiting a lot of late and have become interested in all the paraphernalia that surrounds the installation of a show. There's a kind of language that emerges from arrangements of particular things, like a jargon that's specific to a kind of practice, like the kinds of tools or junk you see in a certain kind of space that tells you how that space is used. So I suppose I'm just commenting on that. I'm naturally pessimistic and a critic so perhaps I always fixate on the negatives, the failures of a space, and I always notice when plans don't go the way you mean them to. Things are fragile and break and fall off the wall and aren't finished in time constantly, so I want to reflect that aspect of practice/life in my work.
Apart from fimo, are there any materials that you enjoy working with?
I work often with photography as well, and sometimes with video, and write a bit. A lot of my work has text in it. My background is very image-based, as opposed to object-based - I like any kind of work I can do sitting down with Radio National on. I'm paranoid about repeating myself so I tend to jump around mediums and themes. I'm trying to make myself go back to video at the moment, but fighting my resistance to technology.
Tell us a bit about yourself...
Well, I've had a somewhat conventional art education at several art schools. I grew up in Canberra but decided not to enter the Guild of Office Dwellers (not permanently anyway). My first job was at a Granny May's in the food court at Westfield Belconnen, when I was in high school. And the first degree I started was in creative writing, which I dropped out of when I decided no way did I want to be a poet. I guess I've always been fixated on similar things, paper and writing and small things and organising. I live in the inner city and pine for somewhere to grow vegetables and fruit trees, but I don't know if that's what I really want, really. I'm addicted to books and the internet and I hate doing the dishes because they'll only need doing all over again. I am the kind of person who has a roll of sticky tape and six leaky pens in her handbag. I have a poor work ethic and am ambitious, so I'm necessarily neurotic.
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
In order, a teacher, a librarian, an illustrator ... then I got to high school and my ambitions turned into simply the desire to get through high school alive and sane. I sort of fell into art from an impulse to do photography. I still regret losing the practice of drawing all the time. I should take it up again.
What are your favourite places to visit in Melbourne?
Hmm ... I don't know Melbourne well enough to know all the best places. I usually stay with a friend in Fitzroy so I do a crawl of the second hand bookshops, and hang out at the Fitzroy cafes. I like writing in my notebook at Degraves and eating at the Vegie Bar.
Here's a blank cheque to buy any artwork in the world: what would you get?
I'd feel obliged to buy something incredibly expensive: how about [Damien Hirst’s] The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, because it has probably my favourite artwork title ever. I'm not that into Damien Hirst, though. I'd most like to live with some Kandinsky's from like 1910, or a couple of Morandi's. Most of my favourite works I don't feel the need to live with.
And finally, have you ever used your fine fimo skills for other purposes?
My flatmate can attest to the disappointment she felt when I offered her the unwanted end of a Mars bar and she realised it was fake. Sometimes the joke's on me because people can't tell the object is hand-made, so they kind of don't even see it.
What was the inspiration behind your installation in Making Sense?
I'm quite fixated on details and I tend to look towards the things around me for inspiration. I've been exhibiting a lot of late and have become interested in all the paraphernalia that surrounds the installation of a show. There's a kind of language that emerges from arrangements of particular things, like a jargon that's specific to a kind of practice, like the kinds of tools or junk you see in a certain kind of space that tells you how that space is used. So I suppose I'm just commenting on that. I'm naturally pessimistic and a critic so perhaps I always fixate on the negatives, the failures of a space, and I always notice when plans don't go the way you mean them to. Things are fragile and break and fall off the wall and aren't finished in time constantly, so I want to reflect that aspect of practice/life in my work.
Apart from fimo, are there any materials that you enjoy working with?
I work often with photography as well, and sometimes with video, and write a bit. A lot of my work has text in it. My background is very image-based, as opposed to object-based - I like any kind of work I can do sitting down with Radio National on. I'm paranoid about repeating myself so I tend to jump around mediums and themes. I'm trying to make myself go back to video at the moment, but fighting my resistance to technology.
Tell us a bit about yourself...
Well, I've had a somewhat conventional art education at several art schools. I grew up in Canberra but decided not to enter the Guild of Office Dwellers (not permanently anyway). My first job was at a Granny May's in the food court at Westfield Belconnen, when I was in high school. And the first degree I started was in creative writing, which I dropped out of when I decided no way did I want to be a poet. I guess I've always been fixated on similar things, paper and writing and small things and organising. I live in the inner city and pine for somewhere to grow vegetables and fruit trees, but I don't know if that's what I really want, really. I'm addicted to books and the internet and I hate doing the dishes because they'll only need doing all over again. I am the kind of person who has a roll of sticky tape and six leaky pens in her handbag. I have a poor work ethic and am ambitious, so I'm necessarily neurotic.
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
In order, a teacher, a librarian, an illustrator ... then I got to high school and my ambitions turned into simply the desire to get through high school alive and sane. I sort of fell into art from an impulse to do photography. I still regret losing the practice of drawing all the time. I should take it up again.
What are your favourite places to visit in Melbourne?
Hmm ... I don't know Melbourne well enough to know all the best places. I usually stay with a friend in Fitzroy so I do a crawl of the second hand bookshops, and hang out at the Fitzroy cafes. I like writing in my notebook at Degraves and eating at the Vegie Bar.
Here's a blank cheque to buy any artwork in the world: what would you get?
I'd feel obliged to buy something incredibly expensive: how about [Damien Hirst’s] The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, because it has probably my favourite artwork title ever. I'm not that into Damien Hirst, though. I'd most like to live with some Kandinsky's from like 1910, or a couple of Morandi's. Most of my favourite works I don't feel the need to live with.
And finally, have you ever used your fine fimo skills for other purposes?
My flatmate can attest to the disappointment she felt when I offered her the unwanted end of a Mars bar and she realised it was fake. Sometimes the joke's on me because people can't tell the object is hand-made, so they kind of don't even see it.
Coming up we have a super special post on Emma... stay tuned!
Introducing... Julia deVille
To round things off this week, here is an interview with Gallery 1 exhibitor Julia deVille. The loveliest taxidermist/jeweller on this side of the world, CVHQ is sad to see Julia's show come to a close tomorrow, Saturday 29 November. That being said, we hope you come down for a last peek at the exhibition in its stunning glory. If you're not able to make it down, fret not for you can have a look at the exhibition on our website and on our blog. It's not all visual too! Click here for the catalogue essay, and here for the transcript of Julia's interview with Andrew Denton.
Julia and her adorable pooch, Chilli
In the beginning…
I started studying jewellery in late 2002 and at the same time met my taxidermy mentor Rudi. It was natural for me to combine the two art forms together as I was mainly working in small birds and mice, which lent themselves nicely to the scale of jewellery. I was already running a hobby business making leather gloves and accessories so I had a small retailer base. This meant I could slowly start introducing my jewellery to my retailers as well. When I graduated I had an exhibition at e.g.etal which received a full page write up in the age. This press coverage was what really got my name out there and my practice has been growing organically since.
To clear the air of common misconceptions…
I guess a lot of people’s first reaction is to think I have killed the animals myself. However, I am very vocal about the fact I am a vegetarian and an animal rights activist and you don't have to look too far in a Google search to find that out.
When I was younger…
I wanted to be a fashion designer, an artist, a champion roller skater and an astronaut.
About the 'shark head incident'...
Basically, I took a sharks head to kindy for show and tell and my teacher was pregnant and threw up... banned for life from show and tell.
The best thing about what I do…
I get to make beautiful things all day as well as generate thought and conversation about important topics I think are generally ignored by our society today.
...and the worst thing
Book work and BAS.
If I could collaborate with anyone, it would be…
Well, William Griffiths and I are going to do a show together next year. He is one of my favourite jewellers so that should be fun. I would also like to do a show with Katherine Bowman - she has such an amazing eye and is a dear friend of mine.
In the future…
I will always work within the same themes as they mean a lot to me but I would like to move into larger sculptural pieces, like the works I produced for Ossuarium.
I started studying jewellery in late 2002 and at the same time met my taxidermy mentor Rudi. It was natural for me to combine the two art forms together as I was mainly working in small birds and mice, which lent themselves nicely to the scale of jewellery. I was already running a hobby business making leather gloves and accessories so I had a small retailer base. This meant I could slowly start introducing my jewellery to my retailers as well. When I graduated I had an exhibition at e.g.etal which received a full page write up in the age. This press coverage was what really got my name out there and my practice has been growing organically since.
To clear the air of common misconceptions…
I guess a lot of people’s first reaction is to think I have killed the animals myself. However, I am very vocal about the fact I am a vegetarian and an animal rights activist and you don't have to look too far in a Google search to find that out.
When I was younger…
I wanted to be a fashion designer, an artist, a champion roller skater and an astronaut.
About the 'shark head incident'...
Basically, I took a sharks head to kindy for show and tell and my teacher was pregnant and threw up... banned for life from show and tell.
The best thing about what I do…
I get to make beautiful things all day as well as generate thought and conversation about important topics I think are generally ignored by our society today.
...and the worst thing
Book work and BAS.
If I could collaborate with anyone, it would be…
Well, William Griffiths and I are going to do a show together next year. He is one of my favourite jewellers so that should be fun. I would also like to do a show with Katherine Bowman - she has such an amazing eye and is a dear friend of mine.
In the future…
I will always work within the same themes as they mean a lot to me but I would like to move into larger sculptural pieces, like the works I produced for Ossuarium.
Tangled lily necklace
Claw ring
Bird wing brooch
Introducing... Tamara Marwood
a little ladylike tinkling and smearing is a new exhibition by Tamara Marwood, playfully subverting the Victorian notion that women's participation in the public world is be confined to 'tinkling' (embroidery) and 'smearing' (painting). Constructed using traditional techniques of English piecing patchwork, this installation greets the viewer with a quilted enclosure, structurally supported by wooden chairs and piles of stacked, lifestyle magazines. Inside, a video animation featuring the semi nude female figures of Bendigo's Alexandra Fountain, flows across the horse hair surface. This fabricated interior asks us to contemplate the myriad, contradictory ways in which the female body is manifest in contemporary culture: as monumentalized allegory of public space; as subject of domestic labour; as superficial, glorified celebrity.
Until Saturday 29 November, Tamara Marwood's installation a little ladylike tinkling and smearing will be on display in Gallery 3. A mixture of video and crafty goodness, the installation also featured an annimation collaboration between Tamara and Dylan Fowler.
Until Saturday 29 November, Tamara Marwood's installation a little ladylike tinkling and smearing will be on display in Gallery 3. A mixture of video and crafty goodness, the installation also featured an annimation collaboration between Tamara and Dylan Fowler.
If you missed out on this marvellous exhibition, do check out our website and this previous CLOG entry for more images. A hard-copy catalogue is also available, and if you'd like a copy don't hesitate to give us a call or send us an email! Details are on the sidebar to the right.
About me...
I have been living in Bendigo for nearly ten years now, with my husband and two children. I spend a great deal of time on the train between Bendigo and Melbourne - perfect for stitching.
About my exhibition a little ladylike tinkling and smearing…
This body of work is a real change in direction for me - and I have to thank Kate Just for her support and also Dylan Fowler for helping me to to make the leap! In making this work I wanted to find ways to connect the handmade and architectural form, in particular private spaces and the body.
About the quilt…
The quilt being hand sewn on a train is full of mistakes and little unravelling holes - but I quite like them - it really emphasizes the imperfections of the hand made and of our own bodies. I really couldn't imagine how long the quilt took to make - a lot of hours.
And about the magazines…
Some magazines are mine - but I am not a hoarder (other than opshop fabric!)
My proudest achievement to date…
My children - both born at home
When I was a child, I wanted to grow up and be…
I know my Nan dearly wanted me to be a nurse.
If I could do anything in the world tomorrow…
I would go to Congo and support the women and the children there who are experiencing extreme horrors due to war.
About me...
I have been living in Bendigo for nearly ten years now, with my husband and two children. I spend a great deal of time on the train between Bendigo and Melbourne - perfect for stitching.
About my exhibition a little ladylike tinkling and smearing…
This body of work is a real change in direction for me - and I have to thank Kate Just for her support and also Dylan Fowler for helping me to to make the leap! In making this work I wanted to find ways to connect the handmade and architectural form, in particular private spaces and the body.
About the quilt…
The quilt being hand sewn on a train is full of mistakes and little unravelling holes - but I quite like them - it really emphasizes the imperfections of the hand made and of our own bodies. I really couldn't imagine how long the quilt took to make - a lot of hours.
And about the magazines…
Some magazines are mine - but I am not a hoarder (other than opshop fabric!)
My proudest achievement to date…
My children - both born at home
When I was a child, I wanted to grow up and be…
I know my Nan dearly wanted me to be a nurse.
If I could do anything in the world tomorrow…
I would go to Congo and support the women and the children there who are experiencing extreme horrors due to war.
Detail shots of the quilt
For more on Tamara's work, do visit her blog - it's a great read!
New window display
Presenting our new window display! On the left we have some lovely bags by Nicola Cerini - fans take note, this is Nicola's last every collection for her bag range! This is your last chance folks, snap it up.
On the right are John Stewart's timber bowls and vessels. Not only do they look good, but they smell great too! And we don't mean 'pine-fresh' here, we're talking rich, earthy smells like River Red Gum. Mmmm. Don't take our word for it though, come down and sniff it out for yourself!
Book of the Month: Chicks on Speed "It's a Project"
The other day, the faces of CVHQ (read: front of house and retail staff) were discussing their collective curiosity regarding the Chicks on Speed tome, It's a Project.
It's all wrapped up securely in clear plastic and you know how it goes - the more you can't have something the more you want it!
It's all wrapped up securely in clear plastic and you know how it goes - the more you can't have something the more you want it!
Out came the scissors and a couple of snips later, the mystery surrounding the Chicks on Speed book was replaced by "Wow! Look at that!"
A neat little tote bag (big enough to fit an A5 notebook and then some) comes packed with goodies - a poster, some fabric, a pattern, a CD mixed by Jeremy Scott and the requisite miscellany (the kind that falls out of magazines as you surreptitiously read them at Borders, making a big mess and giving you away as a cheapskate).
A note from the CoS ladies describing the contents and suggesting you turn the fabric into a jumpsuit. Why not indeed!
The fabric in its pre-jumpsuit stage. If anyone would like to send through images of a completed CoS jumpsuit we'll give you a super suprise prize...
And here's a sneak peek inside the book. The cover and pages have all been meticulously cut at angles, making you wonder whose job was it to do all of that...
The book is priced at $90 and there a still a few copies available at COUNTER. You can always call us to reserve a copy!
Psst...
Have you seen this little guy?
He's hiding from this bad boy:
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Come check it out at Julia deVille's exhibition in Gallery 1. Yours truly must admit that it did take a while to spy this little gem! Introducing... Mel Robson
This week, meet Brisbane ceramacist Mel Robson. A COUNTER favourite, Mel's delicate tiles and astonishingly detailed ceramics (including a darling little yellow beaker that's in store at the moment!) are a joy to behold. Often featuring her distinct patchwork pattern, Mel has also dabbled with other prints as pictured below. Obsessed by road maps, recipes, sewing patterns and handwriting, it's easy to see how these inspirations have translated into Mel's work!
Happy Friday everyone!
Happy Friday everyone!
ShotgunThese days I have been working on a number of things...
Most things rate highly on the scale of fun, although there are certainly tedious parts of the process – like the endless sanding and polishing of the porcelain. And although I don’t ever seem to get much time to do it, I absolutely love throwing on the potters’ wheel. That’s right up there on the fun scale. I’ve been dreaming of having a nice big block of time when I can just sit down for days on end and throw throw throw…
At the moment I’m not getting a whole lot of time in the studio thanks to my very demanding (but very adorable!) 7 month old daughter, but I am working on a few commissions and some shows for next year. I’ve been playing around a bit more with a water-jet cutting process that I’ve been experimenting with – it’s been an interesting shift for me from being so hands on in what I make, to out-sourcing part of the process. But its sending me off on all sorts of interesting tangents right now!
My best achievement to date is...
My daughter, Matilda May. Definitely my greatest work so far!
I admire the work of...
I am surrounded by loads of talented ceramicists up here and they all inspire me in some way. Not only through their work but also the conversations and the ideas that come about when we get together. I admire all of them, because it’s a hard gig this making stuff business!! Anyone giving it a shot gets my admiration!
In the beginning...
I was always interested in making things and as a child growing up in the country outside Murwillumbah I amused myself by making bean bags and homemade soaps and (really ugly) drop waist dresses and tie-dyed doona covers. But I convinced myself as a teenager that I was more suited to a sensible job in foreign affairs or education and did a degree in Modern Asian Studies. I spent a number of years living, working and travelling in Asia, came home in my mid-twenties and enrolled in a community pottery class in the evenings. Wham bam the bolt of lightning came from the sky! I quit my job and started studying ceramics and have been doing it ever since.
My ideal mug is...
How about I show it to you… Actually it’s a toss up between two.
The first one is a Kirsten Coelho (pictured below), one of my favourite ceramicists. The look and feel of the glazes, the beautiful rim, the weight. It all just comes together perfectly. It doesn’t get much better than this.
The second one (pictured below) is by an American ceramicist Alex Watson, a good friend of mine. He made it whilst studying out here in Australia. It has this funny little nipple that sticks up from the base inside the cup. Again, the weight, the variation and nuances of the glaze (it’s woodfired), the handle is super comfy, and the fact that someone I really like made it also adds to it. I love using objects made by my friends. Especially when they are far away and you can still sit down and have a cuppa with them every morning!
The last exhibition I saw was...
I recently went to see some of GOMA’s recent acquisitions and a work by Candice Breitz was utterly inspiring. It was 16 life sized screens of Michael Jackson fanatics of all ages and walks of life, singing (and dancing to) the thriller album… You couldn’t hear the actual music, just their voices….like when you hear people singing with their iPods. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.
The work is an anthropological study of the fan….fascinating, hilarious and just a little bit disturbing!
Also, A Secret History of Blue and White is showing here in Brisbane at the moment. Some amazing ceramic work. Skilful, intelligent and a good dose of wit and humour too. Very inspiring.
When I was child I wanted to be...
Olivia Newton-John.
My dream collaboration would be with...
My sister – she is an amazing singer and performer and the themes of our work cross over in many areas. We’ve talked about collaborating for a long time…now its just a matter of both of us finding some time to actually do it!!
I also collaborate with Kenji Uranishi on a project called The Little People. We have a lot of fun with that and have grand plans for those little folk when we both find the time!!
Kirsten Coelho mug
Alex Watson mugs. Look at that steam!
Holly Grace: glass landscapes
Glass Landscapes: An exploration of nature and glass.
Human interaction with nature has always been a strong theme in my work. I grew up in Perth, Australia a city of extreme isolation where nature is a beautiful, yet harsh reality. The dividing line between the urban and natural landscapes was small and constantly changing. I gained an early respect for and fascination with nature by watching this interaction through windows, which created a transparent division between the controlled and uncontrolled landscapes. Glass has continued to be the way I interpret the dynamic relationship between the two realms: control and randomness, city grids and the Fibonacci sequence, urban planning and natural selection.
As an artist I use glass as an invisible skin to explore form and decoration, creating a body of artwork that explores our historical and ongoing fascination with nature. I am particularly interested in the way early industrial designers assimilated patterns from nature to design and decorate mass-produced objects. It is this interaction and decorative process I would like to explore. I draw from both nature and its industrial interpretation as a source of form and decoration to create a variety of hybrid objects, a synthesis of man and nature. I use historical techniques to create texture on my glass, replicating patterns found in nature in manufactured decorative glass. Through sandblasting, engraving and glue-chipping the outer and inner surfaces of the forms, I highlight the transparent qualities of the glass. As in natural forms such as leaves and trees the double- sided nature contrasts textures and smoothness, referring to circulation within a protective shell.
I tackle this issue with a double vision, so to speak. I take from my observations of nature, to create stylised forms and abstracted patterns. I also draw from my research of nature-inspired decorative motifs predominant to early 19th Century industrial glass and 20th Century Scandinavian design. I then appropriate and re-interpret these equally, to create works that are a representation of landscape, both natural and manmade, using forms that illustrate processes of clearing, construction and resurrection.
My vision – the appropriation of nature, twice observed, and re-interpreted.
Human interaction with nature has always been a strong theme in my work. I grew up in Perth, Australia a city of extreme isolation where nature is a beautiful, yet harsh reality. The dividing line between the urban and natural landscapes was small and constantly changing. I gained an early respect for and fascination with nature by watching this interaction through windows, which created a transparent division between the controlled and uncontrolled landscapes. Glass has continued to be the way I interpret the dynamic relationship between the two realms: control and randomness, city grids and the Fibonacci sequence, urban planning and natural selection.
As an artist I use glass as an invisible skin to explore form and decoration, creating a body of artwork that explores our historical and ongoing fascination with nature. I am particularly interested in the way early industrial designers assimilated patterns from nature to design and decorate mass-produced objects. It is this interaction and decorative process I would like to explore. I draw from both nature and its industrial interpretation as a source of form and decoration to create a variety of hybrid objects, a synthesis of man and nature. I use historical techniques to create texture on my glass, replicating patterns found in nature in manufactured decorative glass. Through sandblasting, engraving and glue-chipping the outer and inner surfaces of the forms, I highlight the transparent qualities of the glass. As in natural forms such as leaves and trees the double- sided nature contrasts textures and smoothness, referring to circulation within a protective shell.
I tackle this issue with a double vision, so to speak. I take from my observations of nature, to create stylised forms and abstracted patterns. I also draw from my research of nature-inspired decorative motifs predominant to early 19th Century industrial glass and 20th Century Scandinavian design. I then appropriate and re-interpret these equally, to create works that are a representation of landscape, both natural and manmade, using forms that illustrate processes of clearing, construction and resurrection.
My vision – the appropriation of nature, twice observed, and re-interpreted.
Till 30 November, come on down and have a look at the stunning display of new glass landscape works by Canberra-based artist Holly Grace. It's our last enCOUNTER exhibition before the Christmas juggernaut well and truly takes over CVHQ - and the rest of the world - so come on down, for old times' sake.
Also, keep an eye out for an upcoming Introducing... post on Holly. Something to look forward to!
Andrew Denton interviews Julia deVille!
As many of you saw on Monday night, the fabulous Julia deVille and Gallery 1 exhibitor was on the ABC show Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.
For all of you who missed it (including yours truly, wahh!) here is the link to the transcription of the interview from the ABC website. Do check it out! It's almost like being there... almost.
Making Sense
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Curated by our very own curator-superstar Nella, Making Sense is a group show of 5 artists who have come together under the theme of the handmade and the everyday:Making Sense explores the intersection between craft process and the everyday, featuring the work of artists who use hand facture to re-cast, re-scale or replicate benign objects and spaces. Why is the everyday thing, whether object, environment or articulated space, a point of departure for contemporary craft practice? Why is the concept and gesture of the 'handmade' increasingly important across a number of artistic disciplines and how is it being used to critique the nuances of everyday life?
The exhibition features the work of Cherelyn Brearley, Lauren Brown, ffiXXed, Ed Janssen and Emma White. Yours truly is never one to play favourites, so here are some images of the work on display from their best angles:
Cherelyn's neck brace - it's made from glass.
Lauren Brown's video installation of her installing her installation.
2 of ffiXXed's amazing bag/scarves. 
Ed Janssen's oozing mass dotted with shiny pretty rings - for the magpie in us all.
Emma White's devilishly good reproductions of a work-in-progress. Had me fooled for a while!
Tamara Marwood: A little ladylike tinkling and smearing
Here is a peek at Tamara Marwood's exhibition a little ladylike tinkling and smearing currently residing in Gallery 3. There's a cubby made from a gorgeous quilt that looks painstakingly made, and a small pile of weekly magazines that yours truly may be dying to read... what is the story behind Mary's hospital dash?!
A still of the video which is located inside the cubby.Tamara's work is in Gallery 3 and runs till 29 November.
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