LIFE LIFE STYLE: March 2010

'Fashioning the Mana' by Maryann Talia, on at NGV (International) till 5 April

Maryann Talia Pau, Breast plate Fa amolemole pe mafai ona tatou lalaga faatasi (Please can I weave with you), 2009, Pandanus satin organza shell cotton

2009 Perspective exhibitor Maryann Talia Pau currently has a solo exhibition Fashioning the Mana ongoing at the Oceanic Gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria (International) from now until 5 April. What an amazing feat!

As if that wasn't enough, Maryann's solo exhibition at the NGV is a third exhibition to date, her first being Perspective (part of Craft Victoria's annual festival Craft Cubed, pictured above) and second being Precious Pendants at Sydney's Object Gallery (pictured below).

Maryann Talia Pau, Breastplate Mo Lo u Tama Samoan (For My Dad), 2009, Pandanus coloured feathers shell satin deer hide, Photographed by Steven Rhall

It's a truly tremendous honour for Maryann and we couldn't be happier for her! There is currently fantastic article written by Maryann that is available for viewing on the Craft Australia website. Click here to read it.

Make sure you pop by Fashioning the Mana, now on at the Oceanic Gallery at NGV(I) on St Kilda Road until 5 April. Consisting of four garments, the exhibition is a contemporary reinterpretation of Samoan artist Rosanna Raymond’s tapa denim outfit H'nard K'nore G'nang G'near (pictured below).

Rosanna Raymond, H'nard K'nore G'nang G'near outfit, 1995-97, denim tapa cotton coconut shell jute shells wooden beads metal, Collection NGV

And make sure you check out Maryann's website too!

High Vis Dandy: this Saturday afternoon!

Man up your high vis wear this Saturday with Matthew Kneale and his band of merry sewing machines.

High Vis Dandy is back and safer than ever in 2010, with garments using 3M Scotchlite Reflective tape and conforming to Australian Standards AS/NZS 4602:1999 High Visibility Safety Garments.

So if you'd like to attend this Saturday's workshop, act fast because there are only two spots left! To see what lies ahead, click here to view coverage from last year's High Vis Dandy workshop.

The workshop runs from 11am to 5pm and costs $10 for Craft Vic members and $15 for non-members. That's $2/$3 an hour! Super cheap workshop prices are due to generous subsidation by City of Melbourne arts funding. Thanks City of Melbourne!

The second workshop has sold out so this is your last chance! (For now at least.)

For more info including how to book, click here.

Opening night: Kate James, Nicholas Jones & Warren Harrison

Following on from Tuesday's post of opening night pictures from Adele Varcoe's Gallery 1 exhibition iFOLD, here are the rest from our other exhibitors Kate James (with The Work of Worry is Never Done in Gallery 2) and a collaboration between book sculptor Nicholas Jones & emerging fashion designer Warren Harrison (Without Bias in Gallery 3).

Current exhibitions run until Saturday 24 April.

Kate James (left) and friend

Dress by Warren Harrison

L-R: Warren Harrison & Nicholas Jones

Objects by Nicholas Jones

Things to pick up, things to read

In conjunction with their current exhibitions, Kate James (Gallery 2) and Limedrop (enCOUNTER) have each provided us with a lovely catalogue for visitors to take home.

Kate's features a most eloquent essay authored by Damian Smith. By the way, Kate is also currently exhibiting at Maroondah Art Gallery - make sure you check it out if you're in that neck of the woods!

Letting Go is on until 10 April and is concerned with similar themes to The Work of Worry is Never Done, which is at Gallery 2 in Craft Victoria until 24 April.

Limedrop's fold-up poster is a collection of images featuring their latest collection, Silver Lining. Pick up a copy and pick out your favourite outfit...

Make sure you get your copy next time you come by!

Opening night: Adele Varcoe

Our second round of exhibitions for 2010 recently opened a couple of Thursdays ago to line of very eager guests... it was quite a line indeed! We don't think there's ever been quite a line since the Chicks on Speed opening in 2009!

Here are some photos from Adele Varcoe's exhibition iFOLD: A NEW FASHION A NEW YOU, currently in Gallery 1 until 24 April.

By the way, it may be a mysterious black tent sitting in the middle of the main gallery, but don't let that scare you off! There are 2 more shows around the corner (Kate James and Nicholas Jones & Warren Harrison).

Want more? Click here to read a great article covering the exhibition by Melbourne Street Fashion.

iFOLD is on until 24 April.

More photos from the opening to follow soon!

Introducing... Taё Schmeisser

This week we're proud to feature Taё Schmeisser, jeweller and recent graduate from NMIT's Gold & Silversmithing course. Taё's work was recently part of SNEAK, an enCOUNTER exhibition held late last year (which you can check out here)

We love Taё's work and we bet you'll be seeing more of this talented lady very soon!

Tell us a bit about yourself, where you grew up, what was your childhood like, what prompted you to study jewellery at NMIT?
My parents are both artists (a Japanese textile designer and a German printmaker) and I was raised in the fair city of Canberra. From an early age I had a fondness for visual order. I would sit quietly, separating eggs in cartons according to size or colour and making lines of pebbles at the beach according to their graduating shape or tone. So this makes me sound a little odd, right? Maybe. But I loved the way in which objects that were in essence the same, could come in such different states. Or maybe I just liked rocks and eggs.

I studied and lived for classical ballet for ten years along with contemporary and jazz and have always been in awe of the elasticity and strength of the human body. I’ve come to realise this will, in some form or another, never leave me or my work.

After discovering marbles in primary school, along with a wickedly keen talent for the game, my collection swelled to a little under three thousand. In year 4 it dawned on me instead of spending my pocket money on the 20c marble gumball machine at the corner shops, I would save my money and make the marbles myself. So I announced to my parents that when I was big enough; I would study glass. They grinned and patted me on the head.

At the age of eighteen I gave up dancing and began my studies in Visual Arts Glass at the Australian National University.

My graduating works were wearable glass pieces. As I was utterly ignorant in constructing metal findings, I commissioned a gold and silver workshop student to make them for me. It didn’t feel right, being unable to understand and complete my own work, so I decided that the next logical step was to study engineering technology (jewellery). It was time to leave Canberra and I had been recommended of a fantastic course offered at NMIT. The 2 years at the bench supported by an amazing ensemble of teachers, tools and machinery was exactly what I wanted and needed.

So, the moral of the story so far; if you like eggs and rocks, try marbles and maybe becoming a jeweller.

When you started your jewellery course at NMIT, were there any unexpected obstacles/situations that you encountered?
The biggest obstacle has actually been keeping the momentum and energy up AFTER the course has finished. I miss not spending whole days with fellow students having witty and often, delightfully juvenile banter which, entangled with constructive feedback was the perfect sound board and made every school day a pleasure.

Now that you've graduated, what do you hope to do next? Where do you see yourself in five years?
I think everyone’s goal after they graduate is to make their art, their day job. I was lucky enough to do a residency in Greece at the end of last year and would love to continue to travel as part of my work and play, hopefully doing residencies and teaching across Australia and around the world. I am also looking into further studies on European design abroad, hopefully in Germany.

In five years' time, I look forward to still be making work that I am thoroughly proud of and being the best and strongest Aunty I can to my beautifully mischievous nieces and nephew! I don’t ever plan to stop learning or making and would love to branch out into functional design and fashion. Global domination goes without saying.

Technically and conceptually, what was the most rewarding piece of jewellery/work that you've made to date?
To be honest no piece is conceptually more rewarding than another, some just linger for longer.

Playing with different concepts, solidifying ideas, sketching and constructing maquettes has always been the most enjoyable part of the making process for me. My sketchbooks have many little idea seedlings (from the solemn to the happily nonsensical), and so despite my best efforts, there seem to be at least two different bodies of work rolling around in my brain at all times. Some are developed and finished within 2 weeks, others take years to finally make sense and feel right.

Technically I believe the reward in a piece is directly proportionate to the sheer frustration involved in making it. So, when I look at the glass shuriken series, I don’t so much think of how rewarding it was to make: instead I remember the hours at the flatbeds and pumice wheels and the deep slicing cuts all over my fingers and knuckles (from the edges I was polishing/sharpening) and being secretly elated when it came time to “demonstrate” them (hurling them as hard and fast as possible at a foam core mounted panel) in my final assessment.

I think each body of work is like a person. Some are stubborn and make you cry while others are delightfully easy going and uncomplicated. The assortment keeps it interesting.

Looking at your work, some of the inspirations behind it include the body, landscapes and Japanese culture. Could you please tell us more about what inspires you? What are you working on at the moment, and what do you hope to explore further in the future?
My working process seems to develop in two ways. The first starts as a concept, then the piece and the medium are formed around that idea. The second is my constant and keeps me sane, playing and thinking constantly. I collect objects of curiosity from ocean pebbles to deteriorating wood with peeling paint. I take ALOT of photos of anything that interests or amuses me, and have many scrapbooks and visual diaries.

There are concepts that only live for the duration of one body of work and then there are certain subjects (the body, landscapes and Japanese and German aestheticism) which will always tumble around in my head.

The body, the way it moves and the different structural layers were what led me from dance to wanting to explore adornment of the body. The human body is a landscape in its own right and I want to know more.

Moving to Melbourne from Canberra (a younger and visually less diverse city), I was taken aback at the variety of architecture and landscapes, from gothic gargoyles, art deco McDonalds, rusted steel facades of ACCA , to the spray playground walls of Hosier Lane. Snapshots of landscapes and the beauty in often over-looked utilitarian objects are a large part of my work and a great factor in my love of travelling.

I studied in Japan for a year and am in awe of their poetic visual sensibility. Incorporating seasonal references is expected in everything from food preparation (that includes the bento box you buy at the train station), to the fabric and floral motifs used for kimonos and kanzashi. This awareness and attention to detail is magnificent and the grace and femininity of their traditional dress is what led to the Kanzashi series.

At the moment I am working on a commission, a couple of auction pieces and the latest series which is at the “wear it yourself and see how it goes” stage.

In your artist bio you mention that you spent some time studying ceramics and glass in Japan which must have been an amazing experience! Could you please tell us more?
I went to Japan in mid 2003 to mid 2004 and studied at two fantastic institutions for six months at each, my favourite being Toyama Institute of Glass Art (TIGA). TIGA is located in a small fishing village surrounded on three sides by the snow covered Japanese Alps. I would ride 30 minutes to school every day through rice paddies and past small shrines. There were many international teachers and it was a very experimental institution. During one visiting artists’ stay, we were encouraged to think of any experiments with glass discounting all limitations. This led to hurling molten glass at the spokes of an elevated bicycle while someone rode it as fast as they could (which, incidentally, created what effectively was glass fairy floss), walking on molten glass with wooden sandals (the sandals and a man’s pants caught on fire), cooking a chicken on the end of a glass blowing pipe and ended with fireworks thrown down a glassblowing pipe with a molten glass bubble at the end. Not particularity the safest of ideas but an exhilarating and cathartic exercise in playful abandonment.

Finally, what would your dream collaboration entail?
Mixed sensory work is something I love. I think it all started with dance; the motions and the music, together.

I was blissfully moved after seeing/hearing the Klippel/Klippel: opus2008 exhibition at the NGV. It incorporated the work of Robert Klippel (sculpture) and his son Andrew’s (composer and producer) musical response to his pieces. This way in which different mediums communicate intrigues me and I am interested in developing an audio or video art collaboration.

My favourite architects are Tadao Ando and Daisuke Maeda for their clean and bold forms. A sculptural dialogue as a response to their sites would also be an interesting channel to explore.

I also want to investigate design in a broader sense, particularly concerning fashion. My favourite designers are Vivienne Westwood for her sass, Akira Isogawa for his playfulness and my dream collaboration would be with incredible Issey Miyake. His sensitivity and exploration of fibres and form is breathtaking and completely unique.

For more about Taё, make sure you check out her website!

Get lost in the clouds + hair-raising treats from COUNTER

To coincide with Kate James' exhibition The Work of Worry is Never Done in Gallery 2 and Limedrop's window display Silver Lining at enCOUNTER, we've got two new stand-out fashion products available at COUNTER for a limited time.

First up is a wool scarf from Limedrop featuring the signature cloud print from their AW10 Silver Lining range.

For the knit-heads out there, these scarves are made from 14 gauge 3 colour jacquard merino wool and machine knitted locally using a SHIMA SEIKI machine.

For everyone else, these scarves will improve your life hundred-fold! What better way to prepare for the dark and cloudy days of winter than with a silverlined sky draped around your neck.

Our second super special limited edition item is a selected range of horsehair necklaces by Kate James.

Kate's work incorporates various intensive craft practices such as horse hair hitching and rope making. Her laborious efforts have been translated into her jewellery range Escape from the Tower that is available exclusively through COUNTER for the duration of the show (until 24 April).

The necklaces are woven from horsehair, each with a subtle and unique design. With such a great 'tail' behind it, you bet these necklaces will be a guaranteed talking point!

Escape from the Tower jewellery range by Kate James: $96 - $198
Silver Lining Merino Wool Scarf by Limedrop: $139

Christopher Headley

Here are a few images documenting Christopher Headley's installation in Gallery 1. We'll have images of Darren's work up very soon!

Divertissement was part of our first exhibition program for 2010 and was a colloboration between Christopher Headley and Darren McGinn. Divertissement was exhibited at Galleries 1 and 2 between 22 January to 5 March.

To view more images from the show, click here.

Craft Hatch: LMFF special

On Saturday was a very special edition of Craft Hatch programmed to coincide with the event that is currently taking over Melbourne, the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Here are some photos from the day:

Milly Sleeping, who brought along work from Lui Hon, Hua along with a few jewels from Romance was Born

Printed garments by Belinda Crossley. Belinda will also be at Craft Hatch in April and she might have some new prints debuting next month - exciting!

We were over the moon to have Lola & Bailey participate at the market, seeing as they came all the way from Sydney to take part in Craft Hatch! Thanks ladies!