Craft Hatch: This Saturday

Penny Walker-Keefe

This weekend come on down to Craft Hatch, the market for students and emerging designers, at City Library on Flinders Lane. We've got a ton of new fresh talent waiting to be showcased, for example environmentally-conscious clothing and bags by Penny Walker-Keefe, jewellery by Matt Nicholls and beautiful organic accessories and garments by Elena Lo.

Matt Nicholls

Elena Lo

We're also welcoming back old favourite Brittany Veitch and her range of macabre accessories and softies. Describing her work as 'tragically cute', Brittany's new trophy bird brooches are a bit Julia deVille (this work in particular), and a bit Japanese felt craft. We're glad to have Brittany back in Craft Hatch this month!

Other stallholders that we'll be welcoming back include: Myf Kemp of Fontok, Christiane Poulos of Le Petite Poulette, Box Hill TAFE, Jen Hall and her eponymous label Jen Hall Designs, Ellen Kocjancic of Ellka Design, Samantha Thompson, Kim McGeachin of Moose&Me and the twin talents of Rhiannon Smith and Amina McPhee.

What a lineup!

This month we're holding Craft Hatch a bit earlier due to the Easter egg hunting events (among other things) occuring next week.

Just in case, here is the gist of it for skim-readers out there:

The market runs from 11am to 4pm and is held at the City Library on Flinders Lane and is this Saturday, 4 April.

See you there!

What a tease...

Here's a tantalising little 'behind-the-scenes' snippet of Alexi Freeman and Aaron Roberts of Room 11 Architects in the midst of flapper construction. Full length video to come soon...

Aside from his recent enCOUNTER exhibition, Alexi's work was recently part of the exhibition Give/Take which was curated by our very own Nella Themelios. The exhibition was part of the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival cultural program and took place at Off the Kerb gallery in Collingwood.

In the meantime, if you are doing the Facebook thing, do join the Alexi Freeman group to stay up to date.

Dylan Martorell vs. Chicks on Speed

Last Friday evening, Dylan Martorell dropped by with some of his homemade instruments for a session with Alex and Melissa of Chicks on Speed. The magical spinning device some of you may remember from Dylan's exhibition last year made a reappearance, as did some new fangled devices like aerosol cans and aluminium tubes tied onto the spokes of a wheel, a stack of rattan hats, a smoke machine (!) and a twig. Visual stimulation was presented via a projecter screen and alternated between Dylan's work and some rather cheeky footage of the Chicks (inside joke!).

The crew from the Sunday Arts program were filming the performance. If you missed out, you can view exclusive footage of the event on Sunday 5 April at 5pm on ABC1 and 7.30pm on ABC2

The performance was short and sweet. The first half consisted of an artist talk, which was followed by a brief intermission (gotta let the heavy stuff sink in!), before Dylan and the Chicks launched into a 45 minute long set of amazing experimental music.

We've just uploaded more images onto our Facebook account so be sure to check it.

Introducing... Beck Wheeler

This week, meet Beck Wheeler, the lady behind the wonderful works on display at enCOUNTER right now. Entitled Totally Totem, Beck's (fully functional!) pepper grinders celebrate domestic life.

Originally from Hamburg, Germany, Beck moved to New Zealand to pursue a degree in Sculpture and Painting before relocating to Melbourne in 2000. Since then, Beck has emerged as one of the most exciting multi-disciplinary artists we've seen. Not only does she paint, make, create and illustrate (Beck is part of super Melbourne-based illustration agency, The Jacky Winter Group), it's hard to think what else is left for Beck to accomplish.

Totally Totem will be on display until 12 April. Pass the pepper please!

About Totally Totem…
Originally the Totally Totem installation started with the idea of making totems for the kitchen [and] playing on the idea of the domestic goddess/god. But then I started playing with the idea that these domestic gods could also be functional. Like a mobile phone that can be used to check emails, take photos and tell us where to go (GPS maps). I like the idea that these totem poles can be both an object of worship and also an essential kitchen item.

My proudest achievement to date…
Every time I show my work there is an element of fear and an element of pride. I guess the thing I’m most proud of is simply being able to show my work… that and becoming an aunty.

The best thing about what I do…
Being bare foot in the studio in summer.

...and the worst thing
47 degrees in a studio with a tin roof.



My dream collaboration would entail…
I’m thinking of all the talented people I know: the architects, designers, illustrators, painters, sculptors, jewellers, furniture makers, writers, poets, knitters, bakers, candlestick makers… if it was possible to do a giant collaboration with all of these people, where we didn’t all end up killing each other, I reckon that would be a dream come true.

An ideal dinner party would be…
I’m a big fan of tea, all kinds of tea. My house is too small to get more than four people round the dinner table. So my ideal dinner party would get shifted to an afternoon garden tea party instead. I’d invite all the lovely ladies I know and make scones and jam. Devonshire tea is awesome.

Making, sewing, illustrating, curating... is there anything that you don't do?!
I remember some sci-fi movie I saw that had a robot in it that could eat a book and then know everything in it. Like eat a book on karate and automatically become Mr Miyagi. I don’t want to learn karate or be Mr Miyagi, but I do want to learn animation. I wish I could just eat every book ever written on animation and know how to animate. I’ve recently started to learn, and am discovering it’s much, much harder than I thought.

Keep checking CLOG over the next week for photos of Beck's exhibition.

Indigo Dye workshop

Not too long ago, the ladies from Plant Craft Cottage dropped by CVHQ to host the Indigo Dye workshop which was part of the exhibition program for Viva La Craft!. Participants brought in various items of clothing ranging from pillowcases to old jumpers, to scraps of cloth and were treated to an afternoon of communal dyeing (not dying... and yours truly promises this will be first and last dying-related pun) . At the end of it all, the only things looking blue were the freshly dyed clothes!

Before the dyeing began, participants were treated to a screening of Travis Boyer's short film Indigo Girls.

Afterwards, it was done to busy as everyone put on their protective gear and began the dyeing process. Time to roll up those sleeves!

The folks from ABC's Sunday Arts program were also present, filming footage for the Chicks on Speed segment that will be aired on 12 April at 7.30pm

After a couple of hours of dyeing, here's what resulted:

Awesome shorts.

Cheeky!

Chicks on Speed for ABC's Sunday Arts

Last week the team from ABC's Sunday Arts program dropped by CVHQ to interview the Chicks. Very exciting indeed! It's definitely something to look forward to: Alex demonstrates that she does know how to play (shoe) guitars, Melissa puts on her voice-altering helmet and does an impromptu spoken word session and the Chicks take us on a tour through the exhibition.

The Chicks on Speed special will be aired on Sunday 12 April at 7.30pm. Also look out for an interview with Nella, CVHQ's curator, and exclusive footage of the Chicks on Speed/Dylan Martorell performance from last week!

In the meantime, here are some images from the filming.

Don't forget! Sunday 12 April at 7.30pm

AFVMBP

As promised, here are some images of our fantastic enCOUNTER display that features work by local designers Alexi Freeman and MATERIALBYPRODUCT.

Both studios are actively engaged in the exploration and promotion of hand processing techniques in contemporary design. While Alexi draws upon dry-point etching methodologies to produce his signature geometric print motifs, MATERIALBYPRODUCT appropriate markers of construction as templates for print design.

What has emerged from this collaboration is the Punched Out and Studded Flapper; an exploration of Alexi's iconic geometric flapper motif that has been reinterpreted with MATERIALBYPRODUCT's investigation of surface: incorporating hand punched leather and a play on the grid, with bifurcated pyramid studs replacing signature beading.

With 2,379 buckled bifubricated pyramid studs in total (and no, yours truly did not stand around counting them, honestly!) and involving over 50 hours of work, the resulting work is something we hope you managed to see.

The work was on display until 22 March.

Limited edition COS poster

As you all know, our current exhibition Viva La Craft! by Chicks on Speed is a truly momentous one. To celebrate this, we have a super-special, super-limited edition Chicks on Speed poster signed and editioned by Alex and Melissa themselves. That's right, by their own hands! (or more like their right hands).



Designed by the Chicks and developed specially for Craft Victoria, these posters run in an edition of 110 and are priced at $110 each. If you'd like us to frame it for you (POA), we can most certainly do that. And if you'd like a particular edition, that can be arranged as well! Just give us a call or drop by.

On a side note, we have plenty of other COS goodies that arrived in conjunction with the exhibition. In additiion to our usual products like Third Drawer Down's Girl Monster teatowel (pictured above) and Chicks On Speed book It's a Project (pictured below). You may remember the latter as the inaugural 'Book of the Month' book! We also have a rack of clothing and bags (which is steadily diminishing by the day!) and a range of CDs and records.

Weekend reading

Want more? Check out Alex Murray-Leslie's blog - it's filled with photos and tales of adventure. Perfect for the weekend!

Introducing... Felicity Large

Meet one of Melbourne's most fabulous and charismatic jewellers, Felicity Jane Large. Injecting oodles of fun into her playful jewellery, Felicity toys with a range of materials ranging from wool, to acrylic, to found clock parts, all of which form the sum of one jeweller to watch (pardon the pun...)!

Always vibrant and full of colour (like her hair yours truly might add), Felicity is a ray of sunshine and her jewellery will brighten anyone's day. That being said, read away and Happy Friday everyone!

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into jewellery making? Was it nature or nurture?
I've always been into jewellery. That part was definitely nature. My grandma and her sister used to work for Beville’s, back when there was just one Beville’s store in the city, and a real live Mr. Beville running the place. They imparted their love of jewellery to me at a young age – I was probably the only 5 year old around who knew the difference between gold and gold plate! The part that was in my nature was the craft aspect. I was always craft oriented, whether that meant making paper chains, constructing a swing in the back yard, or painting detailed Christmas motifs onto my fingernails (mmm... classy!). The jewellery and the crafty-ness didn't come together until I started my metals and jewellery degree at Monash in 2003, but when they did, it all seemed to make sense.

You must be glad to be working for yourself now! What are you currently working on?
I sure am! It's been fabulous to spend some time doing my jewellery full time. It's much easier to keep your train of thought, and make progress with what you're doing. Having said that, having one distinct train of thought isn't really my style. I always find myself working on a few different series at once, with different themes and materials. Lately I've been working with fruit again – food being one of the few common themes I always return to. I've been knitting strawberry pendants (pictured top), while also working in acrylic to make fruity bangles (pictured below). I'm also doing a range of fruit pendants combining acrylic with other materials such as silver. Other than that, I've been making jewellery using vintage pocket watch parts (pictured below).

And what's next for you?
I'm planning a super-duper website! My friend Steve put one up for me the other day (thanks mate!) and we're planning to replace it with a web-tastic extravaganza in a few months – yay! As for jewellery- perhaps working with glass, maybe returning to silver for a while, or even crocheted vegie gardens – I'll let you know as soon as I know!

Who are some of your favourite makers?
That's a tough one, there are so many great people out there producing fabulous work. I'd have to say Dani M, my studio buddy (and last week's Introducing... sweetheart!). Her porcelain creations are so elegant, and yet so inviting and touchable. Also Irene Grishin-Selzer from Iggy and Loulou – I just love the stories that are played out in the pieces, and the sense of humour. I also love Mark Vaarwerk's work – the way he transforms household plastics is amazing, and I love the vibrant colours. Other than jewellery, I'm mad keen on Penelope Durston's knitted fingerless gloves – so cosy!

What's the first thing you do when you wake up...
Have a shower. (Or perhaps it's the showering which wakes me up!). This is followed closely by breakfast- usually something shamelessly sugary like Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes.

... and the last thing before bed?
Usually telly.

And finally: one thing you can't live without?
Apart from the telly? My partner. He is always so supportive of what I do, and copes well with my eccentricities!

Faythe Levine lecture: Craftivism

Last Friday evening, craft guru and DIY extraordinaire Faythe Levine paid a visit to CVHQ where she presented a talk on Craftivism: Reclaiming Craft & Creating Community. It was lovely to have Faythe and a great honour as well! Over the course of an hour, Faythe gave an animated and charismatic presentation on the politics of craft and the handmade and its relationship to the wider world.

Super lady Faythe Levine

Some of the questions posed included "Within a world of mass production, globalized economy, and extreme materialism, what does crafting something by hand mean?" and "Where does craft find itself today?" Hardhitting questions indeed! Punctuating her talk with visual examples of work from other respected crafters like Knitta, Lacey Jane Roberts, Stephanie Syjuco of AntiFactory and the Counterfeit Crochet Project, Betsy Greer of Craftivism and Kate Bingaman-Burt and Obsessive Consumption, Faythe's talk was a definite winner.

Without further ado, here is a visual snippet at what attendees were treated to.

First up was The Counterfeit Crochet Project. In 2006 a call was sent out to crafters asking them to construct their own designer bag. Ranging from intricately detailed to the amazingly lumpy, each bag represented a unique manifestation of how crafters translated these symbols of luxury via the medium of crochet.

Faythe also introduced us to guerilla knitting group Knitta. Formed in August 2005, Knitta is a spontaneous craft collective that delight in covering everyday objects such as traffic sign posts, fences and the like with colourful knitwear.

Have you heard of World Wide Knit in Public Day? This year it falls on 13 June, so get those needles out!

Meet Lacey Jane Roberts, craft activist and political crafter.

One of Lacey's pieces entitled We couldn't get in We couldn't get out. The thread has been individually crocheted onto the fencing wire. Time consuming and amazing!

An example of stallholder's work at the 2007 Renegade Craft Fair.

Faythe's 'Craftifesto'

For more on Faythe Levine, visit her wikipedia entry (why not?) or even better, visit her personal blog and her craft blog.