CV on the radio...

This evening, Gallery 3 exhibitor Alana Clifton-Cunningham will be conducting an interview with 3CR Radio at 5.10pm today. Their frequency is 885AM, and you can also listen in by visiting their website and streaming it through your computer. Ahh the number of options technology provides us with these days...

With that in mind, you have no excuse to miss this so be sure to tune in tonight!

New exhibitions open tonight!

Installation view for The World of Small Things

We've been an excitable lot here at CVHQ for the past few days and it all boils down to this evening. Tonight is the launch of our new exhibition program featuring a wonderful group exhibition curated by former CVHQ Head Honcho Kevin Murray, a series of figurative sculptures inspired by the artist Emma Davies' recent trip to Johannesburg, and Alana Clifton-Cunningham's exquisitely crafted knitwear designed to examine the ability of knitwear to function as a 'second skin'.

As usual, artist talks will begin this evening at 5.30pm with the official opening to commence from 6pm till 8pm. Do join us to celebrate yet another fabulously curated exhibition schedule. Featuring opening speakers Soumitri Varadarajan (Associate Professor at RMIT's Industrial Design course), Julia Raath (from RMIT's Textiles department) and Magdalena Moreno (Director, The South Project and CEO of Kultour), we promise you good company, plenty of inspiring conversation, and of course a great time.

See you tonight!

RMIT field trip to 'Gleaning Potential'

About halfway through Simon's exhibition Gleaning Potential in Gallery 1 (which is currently being de-installed, we hope you managed to catch it!) a group of RMIT students from the Industrial Design course came in for a special session with Simon.

The students were invited to group together a selection of gleaned objects according to their own rules of classification, and there were a few ingenious groupings that not even yours truly could figure out. Kids these days!

Here's what they came up with...

Chicks on Speed

It's always great to hear when past exhibitors update us on what they're up to these days. Alex of COS wrote to us the other day with some spectacular images documentating their latest ART RULES performance at the opening of The Making of Art @ Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt.

COS members A.L. Steiner, Kroot Juurak, and of course Melissa Logan and Alex Murray-Leslie took part in the performance and the outfits were by Kathi Glas/MAD HATS and COS in conjunction with Hangar.org and Christophe Coppins. According to Alex, this is their best performance yet!

Judging by the photos, it does look like a pretty awesome show - second only to all the performances that took place at CVHQ of course. Hah!

Without further ado, here are the photos from the performance. We wish we were there...

All photos by Wolf-Dieter Grabner

cycle disintegration report pt.2

With Sea Pinnacle and Colony almost fully disintegrated, only Cellular Form stands strong... or more like leans strong!

Sea Pinnacle

Colony

Cellular Form

It's the last day of the exhibition, which means its your last chance to come see this exhibition before it completely disappears! And then afterwards, why not take a stroll down Flinders Lane and pop by Craft Hatch at the City Library from 11am to 4pm. See you there!

Introducing... Linda Hughes

Initially, you pursued a career in sculpture before changing direction to jewellery. What brought about this change, and how do you think it has changed your perspective when making jewellery?
I still make sculptural forms using lost wax casting in jewellery scale. I find scale interesting but find smaller scale more ‘manageable’.

Colour plays a very important part in your jewellery and it is often bold and bright. Would you consider this a signature style or do see yourself moving towards a different palette in the future?
The palette relates directly to street signage but I do feel free to incorporate other colours and don't feel inhibited by it.

What ignited your interest in signs? Was it marked by a particular experience or moment?
Some of the urban landscape in Australia seems particularly contrived, like a theatre set. A mixture of international influences all mixed up, often without connecting to the environment. My attention is drawn to signs as ‘street furniture’ if you like, ‘props’.

How do you overcome creative obstacles?
Observe, visit galleries – look at art, read and research, get to the bench.

You must have seen so many street signs while doing research… do you have a favourite street sign?
Battered white posts are my favourite.

Where were you ten years ago?
On the verge of discovery.

…and in ten years’ time where do you hope to be?
Still reaching for potential.

And finally, one thing you can’t live without?
There is nothing I can't live without :)

Signwear

STOP! Have you seen our visually arresting new enCOUNTER exhibition? Guaranteed to stop you in your tracks, our current exhibition features work by Melbourne-based jeweller Linda Hughes. Entitled Signwear, the jewellery is inspired by (you guessed it) street signage, a recurrent theme in Linda's work.

And now for the all-important artist statement:

Cautionary street signage is designed to scream its presence; it is rich and compelling in the landscape yet with familiarity can remain invisible amid the sheer everydayness of the streetscape. Lifting familiar motifs into a jewellery context re-examines the subject, shifting the iconography into fiction and may only tenuously be connected to the original.

The abstracted jewellery form carries symbolism and colour codes from the street. The intention is to elevate the commonplace which may lead to a compelling presence as jewellery.
Placed on the body the work does not assume adornment, but invites attention and reflection on the continual commentary that directs the traveller. Bold, Stop the traffic, wearable pieces reflect the complex theatre of public space.

And now for some images of the show (which is also all-important):

Linda's exhibition is on until Sunday 14 June. Why not walk up and have a look at the show after Craft Hatch on Saturday? Don't forget to look left, look right, and then look left again!

Coming up tomorrow, a special Introducing feature on Linda. Stay tuned for more...

cycle disintegration report

As of last week (and post-aftermath), here is what's happened to Liz Low's unfired pieces since being submerged in a bucket of water at last Tuesday's water pouring ceremony.

They're disappearing before our eyes!

Liz Low's diary (16 to 21)

And the final day, right on schedule:

Craft Hatch: coming up this Saturday!

Prudence Rees-Lee

Hip hip hooray, it's that time of the month again!

Join 11 fabulous stallholders this Saturday at the City Library from 11am to 4pm for yet another edition of Craft Hatch. With 5 fresh new stallholders participating in this month's market, it's a great mix of familiar favourites and first-timers.

Expect a wide range of handmade goodies on offer this Saturday. Ranging from cosy knits for yourself (and your eggs), to handwoven bangles, to pretty wooden brooches, to beautifully illustrated stationery, the June edition of Craft Hatch is a definite must-see event!

We're very excited to have on board Prudence Rees-Lee and we're sure many of you are familiar with Prue's PHILOS-o-FACE range of brooches featuring many a name-droppable philosopher. This Saturday, Prue will be debuting her new line of brooches under the Prudence & Horatio label (pictured above) which in Prue's words is "a departure from the conceptual emphasis of PHILOS-o-FACE and conjures images of nature with a soft vintage style."

Awesome!

Also joining us will be handspun textiles by Teresa Bennett. We're especially keen to see the beautiful scarf (pictured below). It looks like a perfect winter-warmer to brighten up any dreary day.

Teresa Bennett

We're very proud to present twin forces, Jess and Stacey. Inspired by travel (which might have something to do with their jobs at Lonely Planet), Jess illustrates her whimsical handmade stationery with plenty of love and Stacey's button accessories are sure to ahh, push all the right buttons! (Oh we couldn't resist! It was a pun-in-a-million opportunity.)

Jess Racklyeft

Stacey Kersting

We're also looking forward to perusing and purchasing cosy little egg warmers and fine knitwear made from organic wool by Corinne Thomas under her label Thicket. For any budding or keen knitters out there (knitheads?), Corinne will also have a range of books, needles, buttons and other knitting paraphernalia on offer.

Corinne Thomas

And last, but definitely not least, a hearty welcome to Sotiria and her Bagette line of fabric clutches and millinery. Featuring detailed beadwork and embroidery and an array of fine materials, we can't wait to see more.

Sotiria Lantouris

And a warm welcome back to previous stallholders... Here is a sneak peek and what's in store:

Handwoven bangles and more fantastic accessories by Penny Walker-Keefe

More delicate illustrations on paper and pinewood by recent RMIT graduate Chloe Vallance. Chloe was recently featured in issue 7 of Art World magazine (Feb/March 09) in a review of graduate exhibitions around Australia and is definitely one to keep an eye on!

Following on from her success in the May market, we are delighted to have Sue Manski and her label Nancygirl back on board at Craft Hatch.

Expect more beautiful plywood earrings, brooches and fabric necklaces by Jen Hall. We can't even begin to tell you how much we love Jen's use of photographs in her accessories!

Perennial favourite Verity Copland will be back with more clever designs after being cleared out at the last market. Pant-jackets (packets?) anyone?

And of course Craft Hatch is so very proud to welcome back Jewellery students from Box Hill TAFE. Craft Hatch is designed to support emerging designers, and we always love having studentl groups on board (hint hint September Graduate market - click here for more details!).

On a sidenote, registrations for the August City/Country themed Craft Hatch market are now open and will close 30 June. Registrations for the Craft Hatch @ Melbourne Writers Festival markets are also open, as are the September Graduate market and the October market which will see Craft Hatch revert back to normal programming.

Visit the website for more information including registration details. For more details regarding Craft Hatch, please contact Kim Brockett on 9650 7775 or email market@craftvic.asn.au


So, to recap, don't forget:

Craft Hatch market

When: 11am to 4pm, this Saturday 13 June

Where: City Library, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

See you there!