Craft Hatch November wrap-up

Last Saturday's Craft Hatch was our busiest yet with around 600 visitors to the market, which was no doubt due to the fantastic quality of makers involved in this month's market. It was a bustling affair, with plenty of smiles, happy visitors and even some brown sugar biscuits on offer (courtesy of this delicious recipe from trotski + ash)

On behalf of everyone, thank you for coming down to the market and making it such a wonderful affair. We'll see you at the next one on Saturday 12 December, and then again at the State Library on Saturday 19 December for a special Christmas market involving 28 makers, a lot of them who will be participating in Craft Hatch for the first time. But more information on that later! For now, here's how the market went on Saturday.

Wooden brooches and earrings, along with handmade aprons by Gemma Johnson.

Nancygirl leather accessories and cards by Sue Manski. Watch out for Sue at the upcoming Christmas Craft Hatch market at the State Library of Victoria!

Laser cut wooden brooches by LabthreeOfive.

LabthreeOfive consists of seven architecture students and they recently won the New Craft/Healesville Sanctuary brief to design a series of animal-themed coasters with pop out badges for the Zoo. Congratulations guys! You can check it out here.

Limited edition prints by Dawn Tan.

Do check out Dawn's blog, where she's written some kind words about the market. Aw, thanks Dawn!

The very exciting debut of Tasty Pixel digitally printed cushion covers by Sheena McKinnon.

Helping Sheena out on the day was her buddy Raph of Design Droplets. Raph has also written a lovely article on the market which you can view here.

Jewellery by Tara Lofhelm, a recent NMIT graduate and part of the current enCOUNTER exhibition SNEAK

Super cheerful felted accessories and homewares by Melinda Hawkes

Sharon Russell was back and better than ever with more knitted goodness. She was also knitting some golden lightbulb cosies for an upcoming Christmas window display at enCOUNTER. Keep an eye out for it!

Thanks for making it such a great day everyone!

A very different animal

Ready to give help.

Those familiar with my place high up in the trees and whom may also have glanced of late at the pages of my artists’ books and postcard collages know that there feature many animals, many birds. My tailed or feathered protagonists often out of place, oft too large for their present surrounds. They scale rooftops, climb cathedral spires; perch high on the mast of a ship on maiden voyage do my central characters. Sometimes they saunter nonchalantly past a city square. Sometimes they tiptoe or creep. And all the time they afford me chance not just to play with scale and humorous, I hope, foreign juxtapositions, but to convey feelings of awkwardness and oddness. They are out of place, not just in urban environment or strange land (the mountain lions home range is not Brussels), but also in feeling. Being animals, in form, they are easier to relate to. One is not distracted by the dissimilarities because there are so many. I am not covered in fur, with claws for fingertips and a tail to serve as rudder on mountain climb. I am so different that I look only at what the animal is doing in its new environment. It is on the sidelines, watching. It is looking for a safe place to curl. It is passing undetected. It is slinking through the city unseen. It, like me, feels the odd one out.

It was worth it if only to see the stars scuttle across the shore.

Fearful of losing them, time and time again.

It’s okay; your secret is safe with me.

In addition to what you can see here and in gallery two, I invite you to peer over my shoulder, I have tiny moving visuals captured with iPhone's aid for your amusement. But be forewarned, I am no filmmaker, seemed merely easiest way to share with you a book or two whose pages you cannot turn for yourself.

Over My Shoulder (I)
Blinking in the light

Over My Shoulder (II)
Eager for the old joys once more

Enjoy your eve, G

Congratulations to Katie Jacobs, PAN Gallery Award winner

Our heartiest congratulations to Katie Jacobs, who took home the PAN Gallery Award last Thursday evening! Katie's entry, a pair of cast porcelain vessels/bottles taken from a silver birch tree from her backyard, was deemed best in show by ceramacist Jane Sawyer.

Curator Anita Cummins with winner, Katie Jacobs

Thank you to all who came to the opening and who made it such a wonderful affair! Be sure to check out the PAN Gallery blog for more coverage, and to view more photos from the evening, click here.

Curators Kim Brockett and Anita Cummins

The PAN GAllery Award is on until Wednesday 25 November.

Photography by Richard Brockett

In the words of another

All memory of that night shone before fading. (2009)

On now in Gallery 2 of Craft Victoria is a collaboration between artists Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison that presents a wunderkammer of paintings, prints, collage, postcards and artist books.

A show that centres on themes of nostalgia, love and introspection, the title comes from words in Hermann Hesse’s 1927 novel Der Steppenwolf and the artists have created artefacts based on the story’s sense of longing and displacement. The result is an alternate universe of fantastic curiosities, of pain and dreams made flesh.

The ideas come together most successfully in the lithographs which take the best elements of the collages and watercolours and reflects most succinctly the theory behind the show. The combined skill of the artists and the quality of the work is capable of supporting the narrative concept, which after reading the exhibition statement would have been no easy feat.

A Key to Help Make Your Own World visible is a superb and intriguing exhibition that works well within the gallery space.

A Key to Help Make Your Own World Visible
Emma Kirsopp, The Melbourne Art Review

BFF forever and ever and ever... (well not really, it's on until 29 November)

On Thursday evening, part of the CV team headed down to Thousand £ Bend for the launch of the Bicycle Film Festival, organised by our New Craft wonderwoman, Pip Carroll. We had loads of fun (which might have to do with the open bar at the beginning of the evening) and we can't wait to see some of the BFF programs that are coming up over the next two weeks - Tweed Ride on Sunday 29 November in particular. It's pretty self-explanatory: wear tweed, ride bike. We can do that!

We do love our bicycles here at Craft Victoria and so we really recommend you check out the BFF program here and book yourself into some of the events. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Your one-stop guide to graduate exhibitions

We've only just realised that we've been tardy in delivering a calendar of events for graduate exhibitions that are taking place this year. Excuse us!

The list below is not a comprehensive list, and if you're a graduating student and your exhibition isn't listed, do let us know details by leaving a comment. We'll be visiting these graduate shows to scout out talent for our Fresh! exhibition this year, hopefully we'll see you at some of them!


13 November - that's today!

La Trobe University Bendigo Bachelor of Visual Arts (Ceramics)

Opening tonight, 7pm
Dates: 13/11 - 27/11/2009
Venue: Bendigo campus in the Phyllis Palmer Gallery within the Visual Arts building.

RMIT Industrial Design

Opening tonight, 6pm
Dates: 13/11 - 25/11/2009
Venue: Guildford Lane Gallery, 20-24 Guildford Lane, Melbourne
Hours: Wed-Sun, 12-9pm

RMIT Bachelor of Design (Interior Design)

Opening tonight, 6.30-11pm
Dates: 16/11 - 18/11/2009
Venue: 246 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy
Hours: 12-4pm

University of Melbourne Timber Furniture (Architecture)

Opening tonight, 6pm
Dates: 13/11 - 20/11/2009
Venue: Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Building 133, University of Melbourne, Parkville
Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm


NMIT Diploma of Product Design

Opening tonight, 6-9pm
Dates: 13/11 - 27/11/2009
Venue: Off the Kerb, 66B Johnston Street, Collingwood
Hours: Thu-Fri 12.30-6pm, Sat-Sun 12-5pm




Until 15 November

RMIT Diploma of Arts (Furniture Design) and Diploma of Furnishing Technology

Venue: No Vacancy Gallery, QV Building, 34-40 Jane Bell Lane, Melbourne (enter from Russell Street)
Hours: 10am-6pm



Until 16 November

Box Hill Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Applied Fashion Design and Technology


Venue: Lower Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Hours: 12th: 12-6pm; 13th-15th: 12-4pm; 16th: 12-6pm



17 November

RMIT Ceramics

Opening: 17/11/2009 6-8pmDates: 18/11 - 28/11/2009Venue: Skepsi on Swanston, 670 Swanston Street, Carlton Hours: Tue-Fri, 10.30am-6pm; Sat 12-6pm
18 November

RMIT Bachelor of Arts (Textile Design)

Opening: 18/11/2009 5-8pm Dates: 19/11 - 2/12/2009
Venue: No Vacancy Gallery, QV Building, 34-40 Jane Bell Lane, Melbourne (enter from Russell Street)
Hours: Closed Mondays, Tue-Sun 11am-5pm

RMIT Bachelor of Fine Arts and Honours (Drawing)

Opening: 18/11/2009 6pm
Dates: 18/11 - 26/11/2009
Venue: RMIT Building 4, Level 4, Bowen Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm


RMIT Bachelor of Fine Arts and Honours (Painting)

Opening: 18/11/2009 6pm Dates: 18/11 - 27/11/2009
Venue: RMIT Building 2, Level C & D, Bowen Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm



Until 20 November

RMIT Bachelor of Fine Arts and Honours (Sculpture)

Venue: RMIT Building 37, Level 1, Cnr Swanston Street & A’BeckettStreet, Melbourne (Enter from A’Beckett Street)
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm




Until 22 November


NMIT Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Jewellery)


Venue: Northcote Town Hall, Studio 2, 189 High Street, Northcote
Hours: Open 7 days, 10am-6pm



23 November

VCA Bachelor of Fine Art

Opening: 23/11/09 6-8pm
Dates: 24/11 – 29/11/09
Venue: Margaret Lawrence Gallery, 40 Dodds Street, SouthbankHours: Tue-Fri 11am-5 pm, Sat & Sun 12 pm-5 pm


24 November

RMIT Bachelor of Design (Fashion) (Studio Textiles) (Screen Print Design) Incorporates fashion, footwear and textile design.

Opening 24/11/09 6-8pm ($10 entry free applies)
Dates: 24/11 – 26/11/09
Venue: Shed 4 North Wharf Road, Docklands, Melbourne
Hours: 11am-7pm


Until 28 November

Box Hill Diploma of Textile Arts

Venue: Whitehorse Art Space, Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Hours: Tue & Fri 10am-3pm; Wed & Thu 9am-5pm; Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm


Box Hill Diploma of Arts (Interior Decoration and Design)

Venue: Lower Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Hours: 12th: 12-6pm; 13th-15th: 12-4pm; 16th: 12-6pm


Box Hill Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Jewellery)

Venue: Lower Box Hill Town Hall, 1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Hours: 12th: 12-6pm; 13th-15th: 12-4pm; 16th: 12-6pm, Tue & Fri 10am-3pm; Wed & Thu 9am-5pm; Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm




By the way, RMIT have got a great listing of all their graduate exhibitions, which you can check out here.

Introducing... Edwina Bolger

Edwina Bolger is one of COUNTER's niftiest knitters and today, CLOG is proud to feature her label LOOPE.

Since picking up knitting and sewing at the very, very tender age of five when most of us were still flinging dirt in the sandpit, what started out as a hobby turned into a career in 2006 when Edwina launched LOOPE. Naturally, Edwina uses only the best wool and wool blend yarns which she sources from Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom. Consisting of a range of baby accessories, toys and garments, as well as homewares and now womens scarves, LOOPE is a labour of love (and very nimble fingers too).

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Ooohh superstitious... or should we say 'super-stitch-ous' (wow puns on CLOG just sank to a new low right there).

Quartet of LOOPE egg cosies

About life before and after LOOPE…
Life back then was somewhat different as it was pre-children. I slept a lot more! Since 1990 I have worked in private and public arts organisations and still do. As all artists know, never give up your day job! Knitting is something I have done since I was a young child and starting LOOPE followed on from my women’s label that I established in 2000. Launching LOOPE was something that had been brewing before I had my own kids, as many of my friends and family were always asking me to knit jumpers, blankets and toys for their little ones and so the seed was sown to launch my own range.

And about the name…
I wanted a name that was associated with the knitting process and knitting is making loops. I added the ‘e’ for my name and that was that!

Cotton pinafore

About the first thing I ever knitted…
I clearly remember the first real garment that I knitted. I was in grade three and it was a pale pink hug-me-tight (the precursor to the now trendy shrug!) in rib and garter stitch for little orphan babies. From then on I never really stopped. Certainly the whole process of knitting and the flexibility that the knit process allows, with the thousands of stitch designs and shaping techniques you can master keeps me constantly amazed and I am always learning.

About the tools of the trade…
I have always loved working with wool. It is such a fabulous and versatile material and advancements in yarn production over the years have produced stunning woollen yarns. Wool dyes extremely well and then there are the natural colours from black sheep as well to explore. No doubt many people grew up wearing scratchy uncomfortable woollen jumpers and so it had a bit of an image problem, especially for babies and children, but that has all changed now and woollen yarns are now incredibly soft and luxurious. Over the last couple of years I have moved towards using organic woollen and cotton yarns which are dyed using non-metal low impact dyes. I am committed to eco-friendly sustainable practices.

I don’t really have any nifty devices as such, but collecting vintage and retro knitting patterns and craft books is a passion! And indeed provides unlimited inspiration and laughs! Check out some of the photos – men looking very hip for the day, with hunting guns, cigarettes and brandy glass in hand! The hair-dos on some of the women – just amazing! Oh how times have changed! Apart from the laughs they are a great indication of the fashion of the time, not only clothes, but interiors, architecture and social mores of the day, due to the setting of the photo shoots. Oh and I would say a comfy chair is essential!

I did work from my Fitzroy studio for many years, but with young children to attend to I now have a tiny and overcrowded studio space at home. I hope to soon move out again, either that or my family do.

Teddy bear and hobby horse

What gets you in the mood to make?
I am always in the mood to make. As I said collecting old patterns certainly inspires me. Finding new yarns in a gorgeous colour palette is always very exciting and I am always trawling through online knitting shops and yarn producers all over the world looking for something new. Finding new yarn immediately makes me go for the knitting needles.

Neck warmer and cotton long-sleeve top

Ten years ago I was…
Working full time in a commercial contemporary art gallery in Melbourne and knitting on the side.

…and in ten years’ time I hope to be…
Definitely in a creative space, both mentally and physically. I hope that both my women’s and LOOPE label are going strong and that I have developed a loyal and appreciative following. Moreover I hope to see that the wider audience for all things bespoke has grown dramatically so that artists and crafts people like myself can earn an income from creating something truly special with skill, love and passion.

Chicken egg cosy

Craft Hatch turns ONE!

This Saturday sees our fledgling market turn the ripe old age of one year old... the year really has whizzed by and we'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone (participants and visitors alike) for keeping it going, and also a massive congratulations to ourselves. Well done us!

In celebration of this, we have 8 fabulous new makers and 2 familiar faces participating in this weekend's market, giving you a total of 10 hot makers to check out this Saturday 14 November at the City Library Gallery (253 Flinders Lane) from 11am to 4pm.


Here's a sneak peek at what to expect:

Jewellery by Tara Lofhelm. A recent graduate from NMIT, Tara's necklaces were featured in last Sunday's M Magazine's 7 Days segment. Represent!

Tasy Pixel by Sheena McKinnon brings your digital printing dreams to life (well as much life as they can achieve on a cushion)



We've also limited edition artist prints featuring delicate illustrations of landscapes and everyday products, some fabric covered hand stitched and embroidered notebook covers, and maybe even some zines from VCA graduate Dawn Tan. We're a big fan of Dawn's work and can't wait to see what she has in store for us this Saturday! PS. Dawn was featured on The Design Files a while ago, click here to check out her interview with the lovely Lucy of TDF.



Sarah Faulkner comes from a textiles background but for Craft Hatch, Sarah will be going in a different direction and incorporating lost and found materials like porcelain, opals, animal fur and plant fibers in her jewellery.

Melinda Hawkes' colourful label MimWhimsy features clothing, homewares and accessories made from recycled and natural fibres like felted wool, cotton and silk.

Tamara Watts of Retro Print Revival will be bringing along her vintage fabric lampshades to light up your life. What a great idea! (cue light bulb moment)

Cheeky accessories by labThreeOfive like lasercut plywood badges of fries (yum!), cassette tapes, storm clouds, cars, washing machines, trombones... and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Wooden brooches and earrings by Gemma Johnson

And of course, welcoming back the lovely Sharon Russell with her knitted goodies like lightbulb cosies (which are just for show by the way - you don't want a potential fire hazard!), donuts, fruits, tampons... if you can name it, Sharon can (probably) knit it.

We've missed Sue Manski of Nancygirl, and we're happy that she will also be joining us again with more fabulous leather accessories and printed cards - perfect for the Christmas season.

We'll also have 2-for-1 in-season passes to the new film The Boys Are Back at the market, so come pick one up! The film also stars Emma Booth is directed by Academy Award nominated Scott Hicks (who directed Shine). The film, starring Clive Owen, is about a sports writer becomes a single parent in tragic circumstances.

See you this Saturday!

This evening

This evening, however, I am thinking of things past is twelve page concertina bound artists’ book of Gracia’s and mine. A four-colour lithographic offset print, each page has been reworked in colour pencil, adding detail to the green faces of the pair of Shell masks from Manfredo Settala’s (1600–1680) own cabinet of curiosities. On Fabriano bright white 300gsm paper, the book, an edition of twelve, is housed in a balsa wood case. It sits on a sunlit shelf in the gallery, and these are a few page details from said book.

I hope you like them, and I look forward to meeting those of you tonight attending our bookbinding workshop.





(Please click to enlarge and better see the detail.)

Artist Workshop
Learn how to make a concertina fold notebook with Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison. Materials will be provided.
Date: Wednesday 11 November, 6–9pm
Bookings: 03 9650 7775
Cost: $50 / $25 Craft Victoria Members

LJ

Taking guerilla knitting to the next level

One of Dave's projects from 2005 entitled The Knitting Machine. Picture from artnet.com

How do you knit a gigantic flag using two excavators?
How do you knit a bridge cosy?
How do you catch a moonbeam in your hand?


Visting US textile artist Dave Cole probably won't know the answer to the third question (or he might, we're not sure. You should ask him!) but he'll definitely be able to expand upon his amazing practice as a one of the world's biggest knitters - literally.

As part of the Big West Festival which kicks off on Friday 20 November, Dave will be in Melbourne presenting an artist talk on Wednesday 18 November at Craft Victoria. He'll talking about his various projects, in particular his current monumental knitting installation on Footscray’s historic stock bridge connecting Maribyrnong and North Melbourne. Funnily enough, the project called 'The Big Knit'.

Dave is also the man behind Knitting with Loaded Shotguns (Safeties Off) (2008) using spun statuary bronze with 12-gauge shotguns. So that's how you do guerilla knitting...

Picture from artnet.com

If you'd like to come along and listen to Dave speak, call us on 9650 7775 to make a booking to attend his artist talk. This event is free but spaces are strictly limited, so act fast!

Farewell Katrina and welcome Dani M!

We'd like to say 'Goodbye, and thanks for all the memories/good times' to our Saturday lady Katrina Tyler who will be taking up a position at Studio Ingot. We will miss Katrina, but at least we still have her jewellery stocked at COUNTER.

We'd also like to extend a warm welcome to our new Saturday lady, Dani M. Many of you will know Dani by her gelati-coloured porcelain gems and this lady is quite the gem herself so we're very excited to have her form part of the CV team.

We were going to post a photo of Dani yoinked from her Facebook, but that would be really creepy and strange, so here's a photo of a Dani's latest work.

To hold in the palm of one's hand

On such a day as this the view proved of great comfort.

Thou should not vex a stranger.

Sunday morning and the wonder that is Google earth has me entranced still, and spooked, if I am honest, just a little. In my palm, I have the globe. It sits in other people’s palms too, and this technology is, it seems, doing my head in. I can drop a pin on my next destination; I can see just how very far the French Quarter is from my door (the place I last travelled across the seas to). I can map, track, zoom in and survey places with a tap, swish, stroke upon the smudgy screen of my iPhone. The concept is bewildering and I wonder: what will things be like when I am with grey hair?

Requiring little by way of technology are these postcard collages (some of which you can see in gallery two). Sharp scissors, glue and brush are the only tools needed.

I had always wished to do what was right though it never seemed as such.

It appeared before me now, more beautiful than ever.

Sporadic episodes of shadow puppetry went unseen.

No, I am not fond of this place.

If this place were my own, I'd move it closer to the sea.

(Postcard collages 2009. Please click to enlarge.)

Enjoy your day, G

(Additional postcard and photographic collages, page details and the like appear peppered throughout my blog. Here, friends, is link to but a few,
Look behind you.
There we will sit upon the rocks.
I'll read to you if you like.)