A Flying Arts trip to Cairns, a Creative Generation workshop for year 12 Art excellence students on the theme of the expressive self published book. We move through variations of shaped lino cut prints on long concertina books. Cairns is a fascinating place to visit, and my daughter Juliet came along with me for the weekend to encounter this magical part of the world. Creative Generation Art Awards: http://forms.education.qld.gov.au/eavad/slideshow/slideshow.php?year=2014
I’ve dreamed about this. A flight to Darwin, followed by a drive through Katherine to Kalkarindji, with a load of people screens, fabric, ink, and shopping. A new beginning: Penny Smith from Karungkarni Arts has been setting up some screenprinting at the Karungkarni art centre here.
Some of the people of Karungkarni arts are the folk of the Wave Hill walkoff, well known by the song ‘from little things big things grow’. We drive across Wattie creek where they ‘sat themselves down’ and pick up the people who ‘know how to wait’, The language spoken here is Gurindji. People come each day to paint. Penny keeps everything running, driving vast kilometres- Katherine is 500k away. She juggles everyones needs and thinks up ways to get things made and done.
Logan Art Gallery has a modern studio that opens onto a little Japanese garden. It is the kind of studio artists dream about, spacious with high ceilings, long glass windows and etching presses. In this lovely setting that I ran a workshop creating paisley prints for children on the first day of the school holidays.
The paisley print comes from mystical traditions, being the shape of the circular ying yang representing balance in life, It also has an association with the mango seed, representing growth and abundance.
The children drew their designs silently, and created some beautiful prints. Between sessions they played together in the lovely courtyard, making new friends.
http://www.logan.qld.gov.au/facilities-and-recreation/arts-culture-and-heritage/logan-art-gallery
In Brisbane we have a infinite variety of curious and curiouser critters. I’m swooped by a magpie Craigslea school as I collect leaves for the children to observe and draw. As they draw, I hear “oh a spider!” “Miss there’s a caterpillar on mine!” “What’s that?” a boy asks looking at an odd black fuzzy structure underneath a leaf.” a lerp !” I reply, and as we push it open and some tiny winged things scurry across the table “Its like fairy floss you can eat it, it’s sweet!” I say. They pull faces and the theme of the project emerges. We discuss bush tucker, how some psyllid bugs make protective shelters that are sugary and can be eaten like fairy floss. We learn about symmetry and tessellations and stencil shapes and lots of other small good things, and I am amazed by the clarity with which the children observe the world around them, and how cleverly they draw and cut.
I have been creating artworks with classes at Brisbane Primary Schools. Visual and mosaic artist Catriona Holland has been co-ordinating this project with a team of artists through Hands on Art. These photos were with grade 3 class at Morningside where we looked at the leaf shapes and roots of an iconic local tree, the Moreton Bay Fig, with great roots that reach down to the earth from their branches
I’ve been exploring some new things: encaustic painting and silver etching, inviting both mediums to push the boundaries of the printmaking process and its curious alchemy.
Tutors:
Encaustic painting: Colleen Woods
http://www.colleenwoods.com.au/
Jewellery: Clare Poppi
I made three plant themed shifts. for the EKKA: they were hand printed linen with handcrafted and printed porcelain buttons and jewellery.
The prickly shift: a layer of self protection to live with enthusiasm and inspiration. Sharp spines guard the sensitive being underneath.
The Vegetable gown: Connects to the earth body and soul. The soil nurtures , inspires, fuels our lives and our dreams and brings us back to it’s own wondrous reality.
The Fruitful shift: Planet earth is a garden.
A project at Mayfield School with the years 1-3 It is part of the G20 cultural celebrations. We discuss the school environment there. The classroom is visited by birds from time to time, they just walk right in! We draw, then cut out flocks of birds, paying attention to the shapes of their heads, necks and bodies, and we draw and cut flying foxes, and some of the fish that we see in the creek. I show how to paint horizontal lines on the fabric to create a sense of landscape, and everyone places their stencils down.
Everyone prints library bags and an artwork for the school, as well as the material for an exhibition at Hands on Art. One of the children is interviewed at the exhibition by the ABC for the evening news.
As a child I listened to Dad’s tales of cattle trucks, dust, and the mines at Mt Isa. He flew there with my sister once and then they both talked about this marvellous place in outback Queensland. Well my turn to visit arrived this weekend! Flying Arts and the Julia Creek Cultural Association invited me to run a workshop in Julia Creek. I flew into Isa and drove the 250k through Cloncurry to Julia Creek with my bundled up ingredients for art making in two bags. Three generations of families came along. new friends were made, and some creative talents uncovered in the prints that we made on cloth and clothing.
Art teachers in schools do an amazing job that goes well beyond the paid hours, infusing schools with lateral thinking, enthusiasm and creativity. This Saturday was an opportunity to give something back to them. School Art Supplies https://www.schoolartsupplies.com.au/ organised a professional development day with sensational demonstrations of what is new and old in techniques and materials, a delicious lunch, and some workshops where creative processes were explored. I facilitated the Artist Books workshop through Flying Arts http://www.flyingarts.org.au/ and the results were pretty magic. Some photos from the day…
nancybrownstudio 
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