What now??????

Well, the exhibition is OVER!  The unsold pieces are all wrapped up & stored away , & the Gallery is once again preparing to be transformed by another artist's work.

Thank you for sharing the experience with me by visiting either the exhibition itself, or this blog site.  I really hope you've enjoyed the whole kit & kaboodle! And a very BIG thank you to those who bought pieces.  I hope this blog has made them all the more interesting & meaningful for you.

The work for this exhibition was predominantly completed over the past year.  I have had wonderful support over that time from my friends, family, & a couple of groups I belong to. THANK YOU...you know who you are!

For those of you who would like to see more of my work, the most reliable direction to send you is to the TArts Gallery, Gays Arcade, Adelaide Arcade, which is in downtown...you guessed it....ADELAIDE, South Australia!

So what am I going to do now, I hear you ask?

Well, aside from tidy my workroom THOROUGHLY & filing my work away, I'm just going to potter....making some fresh stock for TArts... getting ready for my window display (also in TArts) for October ...& hopefully managing to produce something for the Royal Society Of Arts Christmas exhibition! Then of course next year....there is the Dare To Differ exhibition to plan for!

So, although there are no more solo exhibitions on the immediate horizon, there is still plenty for me to put my creative & quirky mind to!  Keep your ears pealed!!!!

Thanks again,

Joy


*Thanks to Cathy Boniciolli for giving me permission to use the above photo!

Last Days

 Some artists like to do all their pre-production 'working out' in nice neat sketch books, which in time, become works of art in themselves!  Unfortunately...that doesnt work for me!  I'm someone who will grab a scrap of paper when inspiration hits, or scrawl a design on the back of a receipt!  Instead of a nice tidy sketch book, my scraps, thoughts, photos, samples, sketches and quotes all go into a folder.  This DOES work for me!

However, it isnt very versatile when one is going to give an artist talk & other people are going to be looking at all those scraps & etcs!

 With this in mind, I have been spending the past few days compiling all my bits into nice neat ringbinders!

Why?

Because tomorrow, 27 July 2014....the final day of my exhibition....I will be giving an artist talk at 2pm & I thought that those present might like something else to look at, instead of just listening to me speak!

If you are in the Adelaide area & would like to come along, then head for Gallery M, Marion Cultural Centre, 287 Diagonal Rd, Oaklands Park.  ( www.gallerym.net.au ) .  You will be very welcome.

 

The other little thing I have been working on, is this book !

 It is available through www.blurb.com & shows the individual artworks & the poems, thoughts & meditations that were exhibited alongside each of them.

Last But Not Least.

I have kept the 'no-longer-needed-or-fitted-into' denim jeans of my family, from over the past 22 years.  Not every pair, but ...rather a lot! They have been stored in a large tub in my work room, expanding each year, WAITING for a spike of inspiration to use them in some creative & interesting way.  In the early days I had planned to make a denim patchwork cover to throw over a sofa. Recent travel to a few Islamic countries changed that outcome.

I am not a Moslem, but I have deep respect for some of their rituals & practices.  One of the tools I most admire is the Prayer Mat.  This small, beautiful item is a portable Mosque.  It is a place of prayer & worship for the believer.  This tool is a portal to a moment of spiritual contemplation.

 I had a burning desire to make my own Prayer Mat, from those denim jeans!  My first task was some research time in one of my most treasured book resources, 'The Language Of Design', a purchase from a visit to Istanbul that had threatened to take the suitcase over the weight limit! It explores Islamic design elements, the symbols, meanings and purpose.

Right from the start, the sacredness of the family home, was the focus I had in mind. However, I didnt want this piece to look like a cutesy craft project!

There was also a sentiment that I wanted to weave into the deeper meaning of the piece & I was finding it hard to make it all WORK together.

A few years ago, we took our two children to the northern part of my homeland, New Zealand. During the trip we participated in learning how to paddle a Maori waka (canoe).  Because  all participants got on so well, were having some laughs & enjoying the experience, the man who was leading decided to direct us to his family's Marae (sacred family communal ground).  Before entering though there was a small welcome ceremony we needed to go through & in the process of that he said... "you, and all who travel within you, are welcome ".

  In those few words he acknowledged that each of us carries the memories, the interactions, the love, the pain, the loss, the visual imagery, the sound of voices... of others with whom we have shared life with, or may continue to share life with....or may WANT to share life with!! We are individuals that carry within us....MANY! This concept was so honest & so poignant, it blew me away!

But how to get that idea across???? The wording just didnt work &   I tried one design after...

...another.  It was not coming together for me. Finally I let go of trying...

...and left the centre blank.  It would take care of itself when it was ready. It was the Mihrab after all, the focal point, the niche indicating the direction of the Kaaba (Holy of Holies)! The shape, however, has been around a lot longer than Islam!  It denotes a cave....the  home & place of ritual for early mankind.  It also looks a bit like a house!

 At last I had a design direction .

I could start dismantling jeans, & making patches.  During this time I had a period of significant ill health, so I soon found that a Dr's waiting room is as good a place as any to work on a patch!!

Gradually my Prayer Mat was starting to grow & take shape.

I used wash tags as a fringe for the top.

And labels for the fringe at the base.

Eventually the whole mat was ready for completion...except the middle!  Words & the way they sit next to each other, are important to me.  In my reading about Prayer Mats, the term 'sacred space' was used & I REALLY liked that.  I see the home as a sacred space, but I needed more.  The next combination of words came to me via an audio book by Laurie R King, whose character was of Jewish heritage & she described the Mezzuzah as a 'place apart'.  I loved the connection to another religion based on the same God!

At last I had my words...'in this place apart, this sacred space you are welcome & safe & heard.' It may not say what the Maori man said as he welcomed me to his Marae, but it worked for me... it was what I feel & I believe that that earlier experience is still layered into the message, through the whole process of getting it to this point.  So here it is...the first piece I completed for this exhibition, in fact it was started before I'd even approached Gallery M about the possibility of doing an exhibition!  It is a highly personal piece & one that I am so very pleased with!

My 'Household Prayer Mat'.


*please respect that the images above are my own & not to be copied without permission.  Thank you.

The beauty of BLEACH!

 'On My Knees' was the working title for a piece of contemplative art work, before I even knew how the piece would be constructed & what it would look like!  Initially it was the working title for another Prayer Mat, but then that title wasnt working for that particular piece, so the title  remained in contemplative limbo...

...until my son came to visit.  With him was his latest pair of discarded jeans.  This time they were being relocated to my 'defunct-family-jeans' pile due to the bleach stains damaging the legs. ( His rental property had been in need of SERIOUS cleaning. ) It was the first pair of cast off jeans I'd had from him since he'd left home, which brought to mind his first ever pair of baby jeans, which I have kept.  Both are shown above, side by side.

The bleach spots interested me in the dramatic way they affected the fabric. Hmmmmm...

It was time to do some playing!  I'm not a big user of bleach in the home, myself. The impact on the waterways & the fumes keeps my useage to a minimum, so 'playing' with bleach required a bit of forethought & preparation! I played on a day when I could have ALL the external doors open, so LOTS of fresh air.  I spent considerable time working out my experiments; folded & held with bulldog clips, scrunched & held with rubber bands, stamps, stencils & simple painting.  There was a big bucket of water at the ready, for stopping the process & multiple rinses.

The results were impressive! I was very excited about using them, but how? Would I use all, or just....some? My thoughts had considered making an 'On My Knees' kneeling cushion, a tool used in some Christian traditions.  Whilst I liked that idea, no other brainwaves came as to how.  Therefore, I decided to stop complicating things, and have a go at making another Prayer Mat.  This time...different!

I had been reading up on Tartan & the history of it.  Naturally, this led me to thinking about the clans, & some of the traumatic stories in their history, namely the massacre of Glencoe.  This led me to thinking about tribes & tribal disputes, which in turn led me to thinking about Tribal rugs! The road to inspiraion is a circuitous one! I did a bit of study looking at various Moroccan Berber rugs, enjoying their stripes & geometric patterns, keeping in mind also, the tartan & use of line there.

Time was moving on & I had a deadline....an exhibition opening date looming ahead! I created a design & started mechanically setting about constructing the pieces for it.

But I really wasnt happy with my decision.  After many scratchings on scraps of paper, I finally came up with an idea that sang for me!  Finally my head & heart were on the same page!  Fortuitously, on this scrap of paper the print from the logo on the other side had soaked through.  I saw this as a sign as to where my  worn knees would go!

I had been stitching them to a background over several months, using kantha stitch.  Such a slow & medatitive process allows one the luxury of thought!  I got to thinking about the fact that bleach removes stains. And in human terms, any number of wrong decisions 'stain' our character, which led me to consider the lyrics  'on my knees, begging you please, please forgive me'. (I have no idea WHAT song has those lyrics , they just sang away in my head during this thought process!!!) In turn, I thought about forgiveness, a concept encouraged in the monotheistic religions.  This led me to think of blame & accusation & lack of being responsible for our own participation in the escalation of conflict! There is such a LOT of conflict in our world today & it deeply grieves me.

As you can gather....lots of pretty heavy thinking going on here!!!!!

The stains of wrong decisions led me to do more playing!  I wanted to stain wool, cotton & silk threads with substances commonly consumed in our household.  The most effective ones proved to be red wine (no complaints there!), coffee & curry powder!

My idea was to stitch the stained threads onto the bleached marks of the denim. I photocopied a few samples & played with stitching options.

It was all coming together, both physically & mentally! Unlike my other work, this piece did not have a drawn 'map' , nor was I using contemporary reverse applique.  It was a very vulnerable experience to be producing something so different from my usual work & I LOVED it!

I used other parts of denim jeans, skirts & a dress to frame & join all the patches of bleached & stitched work.

I liked the look of a chunky fringe, it reminded me of Tibetan prayer flags & it was also an opportunity to show more of the bleach resist denim. Onto one I embroidered 'forgiveness is the key'.  The key to peace, harmony, hope...a chance at those things anyway! The word 'key' was important because I had used a 'keyhole' shape in the mid section of the prayer mat. On traditional Prayer Mats, this area is often decorated with a Mihrab shape.  A Mihrab being a niche in a Mosque that points the worshipper in the direction of Mecca.

As it happened, I actually had some keys to embellish this Prayer Mat with!  Some years ago, I had unearthed a ring full of keys, whilst digging in the garden.  They must have been dropped by a workman years earlier & there was no way we could ascertain where & from whom they had come.  So they stayed with all of our other keys for a long time, & then they found their way to my stash of useful possibilities!

 

 'On My Knees Tribal Prayer Mat'  has been an intense piece to work on & is embedded with a lot of personal attachment. I am SO pleased with it & hope that it continues to bring some sense of peace wherever it goes in this troubled world!!

* Please respect that the images above are my own & are not to be copied without permission.  Thank you.

Enrobed.

A number of things have occurred to me as I have been hanging out washing.  Each garment represents a day full of experiences & interactions...each has it's own story. Each garment is like a diary page leaf!  When each of these 'leaves' is hung on a line it can look like foliage wrapped around the trunk of a tree. They protect & insulate the trunk. They are like a robe....a protective cloak.

When I think of a cloak, I think of the feather cloaks made by the Maori people of my homeland, New Zealand.  An idea was brewing....I wanted to make a cloak of leaves....which are like feathers in some respects...therefore the place to do some research was in 'Whatu Kakahu/ Maori Cloaks', a treasure of a book edited by Awhina Tamarapa, which I am fortunate to have in my bookcase!!

In the days before white settlement in New Zealand, the Maori women would source their materials for making cloaks from the area around which they lived.  With this in mind, my first thought was to gather leaves from around our home & have a go at eco-printing with them.  Alas.............this was such an abysmal failure that I dont think I have even kept the results!

My next thought was to make leaf appliqued patches in autumnal tones. I liked the idea that the patch looked like a page (from a diary) & there was a connection to the leaves. I worked up a few samples &...well....I was uninspired to continue in that direction.  I put more thought into the process of cleansing...the removal of dirt, stains, evidence of whatever has been before....the hope of attaining purity.  When I think of purity, I think of...

....WHITE.  How would it look if I made a cloak of white patches, decorated with white leaves in the SHAPES of those found from around our home?? I'd found my direction!

As I started work on, what felt like, ZILLIONS of white leaf patches in various techniques, I came across the following relevant quotes in my reading;

'White is the harmony of silence'         Kadinsky

'White is energy-impulse, it is question & answers, it is total in its spirit.  White is something you endlessley return to.'     Richard Pousette-Dart

'I view patchwork as a metaphor for life; as individuals, we may feel isolated and alone, but in reality I think we are part of a larger composition that has harmony & meaning. '    Chunghie Lee

 

As I was making the leaf patches, I also spent time giving thought to how I wanted to decorate the collar, hem & side edges of my cloak.  I wanted to choose designs that referred back to the Maori cloaks that had so inspired me.

 Careful planning & lots of machine sewing followed.

Eventually it was time to start putting it all together & working out the best placement for the individual leaf patches. I lost track of how many times they were pinned...unpinned...pinned again elsewhere!

 At last it was finished, and the best way to see all the different leaves was in front of a window, or outside, as it is here, with the light & the trees behind it. The leaf patches are made from various white fabrics, including undergarments, shirts, lace table cloth, vintage linen, net curtaining and even the silk cloth used in a Hammam in Istanbul!!!! It is layered with memories & hours & hours of hand work.  I had planned to photograph my beautiful daughter wearing it as a cloak, but alas....the weather between the time of completion & that of hanging it in the exhibition has been very cold & predominantly wet!

Originally I had planned to have it displayed on a mannequin, but to have it open & hung on a wall like a hanging, allows the viewer to really SEE each leaf. It shows up so well on Gallery M's purple wall! I had thought to entitle it 'Enrobed in Silence', but decided to keep it simple, so it is 'Enrobed'!


*Please respect my ownership of the images above & do not copy without permission. Thank you.

The Eyes of Protection.

When I think of protection, I cannot help but think of the protective 'eye' amulets available for sale all over Istanbul, Turkey! Available in all sizes, made from any number of products & able to be purchased at a price tag to suit any wallet!

These  eyes are not just for the tourists though....the need to protect themselves from the evil eye is a very real custom for many peoples of the Middle East & Mediterranean.

They paint it on their houses....

....they buy fancy ones to hang upon upmarket hotels...

...they have modern glass ones above their shop fronts...

....and they even have protective eyes printed onto shopping bags!

Is it any wonder that I wanted to incorporate this well known & well used symbol in a piece of work about protection!!!  Because of the connection with Turkey, I thought that I would double the protective powers & construct the piece in the form inspired by the diamond shaped hangings hung in the tents of various nomadic peoples of Turkey.  Usually coloured these hangings are joined at the corners & sometimes adorned with beads.
  

 I decided that each of my diamond (square) patches would also be a blue eye of protection.

I then contemplated stitching symbols of protection into the back of  diamonds, but decided that that was getting a bit far away from cleaning & the home.  I needed something to bring it back to family life.

The answer came in the form of windows!  I have used the shapes & patterns formed by reflections in windows as a design source before.  Here was another opportunity to use it effectively & with meaning!! Windows are often referred to as the 'eyes' of a home.  They protect us from the elements outside, whilst still allowing us to see & be aware of what's going on out there! Further more, on a fine clear day, windows reflect the sky above, making them appear...BLUE!

It took me many months to get all the diamond eyes made & then...

...back them with the windows.  Whilst constructing the piece I contemplated whether or not to embroider the words "Eye Will Protect' into the sleeve from which the diamonds hung.  Adopting a 'less is more' approach I refrained, preferring instead to let the work speak for itself.

The majority of these pieces were made during a regular Monday morning Craft group that I have been a part of since our children were still in nappies!  This group of women have often been more interested in the consumption of coffee than in practising a craft, but regardless, the aspect we each value the most is the sharing of our lives.  We have had many laughs & a few tears & in the process have helped each other through some 'interesting' times.  It is groups like this that epitomise the concept of 'support' & in doing so, we protect each other from despair .  I felt that being with these wonderful women, added another dimension of protection to "Eye Will Protect You".

*Please respect that the images above are my own & not to be copied without permission.  Thank you.