http://nancybrownstudio.bigcartel.com/
I have been creating a new set of delicate jewellery pieces from mud, and those that don’t crumble or break will ready for an exhibition at Richard Randall Studio at Mt Cootha gardens May 19th-24th: Botanique: artisan made work. Here are some photos of the work in progress.
A visit to Coochiemudlo island. My friend Hollie took me for a walk around the island she calls home, casting her artist eye across the wonders of sand, clay, confluence of bay, ocean and mangrove, talking about being surrounded by rays leaping out of the water. Coochie stories, Coochie secrets. The island absorbs the easter holiday makers, and we hear the small waves lapping on the crab sculpted water’s edge. The first time we walked around the island I didn’t take photos, surrounded by the quiet completeness of the island.
I will be curating an exhibition with a group of artists who work here. This time I took some photos. Hollie says the island is disappearing, and shows me the lines where the trees can no longer withstand the salt and action of the water, and the island drops away to sand, Huge trees, fall down to be bleached and shaped by the sea. Everything is changing. In the past bullock teams were swum across to the island to work, and there are traces of the old loading paths, they look like Angkor Wat, looped with mangrove roots.
On the theme of camouflage, I thought after watching the children’ s imaginative play with the long garden hose that we’d screenprint long some spotted and striped pieces of cloth. The children tore pieces of paper for the stripes, and drew and cut their own circles for the spotted cloth. I stopped to see what they do once the paint had dried and they could play with it.
The spotted cloth became a fire eating dragon that could tangle children in it’s tail. The striped cloth became a blanket, a shade cloth, belongings were dragged around in it. It was worn, climbed over, raised and wrapped around the children who had printed it.
some photos.
Northey St City Farm is one of my favourite places in Brisbane, and I felt happy to be back to run a lantern making workshop this weekend, It is always abuzz with activity, as the people there go about their purpose maintaining sustainable gardening practices in the middle of the city.
Some photos from the workshop
The tawny frogmouths who freeze silently on the branches of the wonder garden were visible yesterday. Some days we can’t find them.
As the preschoolers arrived, I noticed a theme- many of them wear camoflage. When I mentioned it, the reply was ” my dad’s in the army” “So’s my dad” ” My dad is too” and I had a sudden realisation about cloth, particularly the kind of cloth that we’ve been making, covered in leaf prints! Our lives depend on it, yet we ignore its presence, history and power.
I noticed this time that as the children collected treasures from the wonder garden they passed on information about where they found things: the spotted leaves, the wild berries, and who had found them first.
I brewed up and indigo vat, and we wrapped, folded and painted the silk and cotton with resist pastes. Then the pieces were oxidised in the air to deepen the blues, Photos from a Shibori session at Raw Art.
There is another workshop coming up on 26th May
Tuesday 26th May 2015 Indigo and shibori workshop Raw Art West End 10.30am-12.23 pm.
The environment is the third teacher, all the keys to learning are contained within it. I am resident artist at a preschool where the learning is modelled on the Reggio philosophy. . We are exploring cloth, ” wrap” “rapt” in the outside play area, where the only pieces of play equipment are an old fashioned gate that delineates the grassed area from a natural shady area of rock, creek and trees, and a sculptural bower made of sticks. There are no toys in the conventional sense, the children find their own. Watching how the children interact with the gate, running, tumbling across the soft grass, locking out the monsters, until puffed they race back for a drink and begin again is a joy to behold, and adds gravity to those old fashioned and seemingly lost words of wisdom: “Go Outside And Play!”
The children have been gathering rocks, washing them, collecting baskets of different shaped leaves, looking at the multitude of caterpillars, butterflies and birds hiding silently in trees. They find sticks and rocks, pick leaves, then arrange them, exploring how they interact with water, salt and the runny paint on the pieces of cloth, and wonder what will be the next step in our creative project.
http://www.reggiochildren.it/?lang=en
Can you print etchings on a clay press? I was invited to run a drypoint etching workshop at a school that didn’t have an etching press, and so the journey of discovery began. It was a two day Flying Arts workshop at North Lakes State High School, where International students were welcomed to the school with some art workshops. It was a very large class, and we had two complete days of printmaking, making artists books, screenprints and drypoint etchings. The students did some very focussed and detailed etchings, inspired by old engravings. We inked them up with water based inks, and they printed very successfully through the slab press.
The secret to printing etchings through a clay press is to use with high quality press blankets that I brought with me. They soften the rickety action and provide downward pressure so that the plates emboss. Some photos from the workshops.
Logan Reserve state school is a little school with lovely gardens located in a rural valley just out of Logan city. This garden has been a gift to Logan Reserve State School from the Ebbs family. We painted the animals and waterfall and another artist painted the panels above. The mural represents the totem animals of the area. Painting the mural was peaceful and cool, even on the hottest days of summer. As we finished the mural we had lots of bird visitors, attracted by the lilly pilly fruits and the fountain.
I visited St George, a small town on the Balonne river to run a Flying Arts workshop in textile printing. I flew into Roma, and then drove 200 km, amazed by the green countryside, arriving in the small historic town of St George, on the ever changing Balonne river. The town has flooded 3 times in the past few years. The workshop was for a local co-operative that is selling hand made local goods at markets. They are learning new techniques to use in the items they make. We carved blockprints and designed screenprints for the soft cotton scarves that I brought with me. Many of the women there are skilled at sewing. I was treated to a warm country welcome of delicious cake and lunch at the venue: the Anglican Church Hall, and enjoyed seeing the artwork emerge over the two days of the workshop.
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