'Peace Book'

A week or so ago, Fiona co-ordinated an exhibition of 'Peace Books' in the local library display cabinet. It's always lovely to be included in these community collaborations, and as it's 'International Day of Peace' today, Friday, 21st Sept., it is nice to be spreading the word in my own humble way.
This is my contribution and words of explanation.

"My book represents the notion that life has become so complex with dark layers of ‘stuff’ forever present.

The high tide mark in the ink indicates that enough is enough.

It’s time to look beyond the distractions, however enticing, and to rise above the craziness to a peaceful, quiet, empty space where we can be replenished and renewed.

The mountains on the front cover are a serendipitous addition that appeared as the ink was settling – a wonderful metaphor for me because I truly need mountains in my life to achieve a peaceful state of mind".

Fiona's Peace book,

Barry's Peace 'Book',

Ken's two Peace 'Books'

My 'Sailing Inland' installation is happening this Saturday, 10 till 4pm. If you are in the vicinity of Gerrard's lookout [ about 1km Nth of Balmoral on the Maleny-Montville Rd] drop in and say 'Hi'. You won't miss me !!!
This installation tells stories of the past and of the present, connecting the coast to the hinterland.
The white sails echo the arrival of many of our forebears by sailing ship, along the coast that stretches out far below the escarpment.
The colourful sails reflect the hang gliders that regularly float and thread themselves across the skies above, taking off from the escarpment and drifting down below, bringing the mountains to the sea.

MORE WORKSHOPS & COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

September is a creative month in this neck of the woods. Spring is here - the weather is warming up, we have had no rain in ages and the green hills are now brownish hills.
We have 'open studios' happening for the next 4 weeks, 6 'art4place' workshop/installation activities, various gallery exhibitions, a major ceramic festival with awards and exhibitions featuring Jackson Li who we befriended in China last year.
I was part of a 2 day kid's conference recently - based around environmental awareness.
The art workshops were organised by Trisha Dobson, and held in the bush. My kids cut leaves from onion skin pre dyed recycled fabrics, which I had prepared weeks before. They then tied them to twigs and branches, to be attached to a large free standing ply wood tree in the conference centre in the evening. My friend Kim's group made lovely tree roots from recycled rags, and Jill had her group decorating prefired ceramic 'spirit' forms.
It was a fabulous day - perfect weather, perfect kids [thanks to great organisation and lots of helpers] and the final installation looked great. It is now available for display in Sunshine Coast venues - schools, libraries, workshops, etc. Contact Karen Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises if you are interested.

finished 'Tree of Life'

...preparing the fabric for my kids' leaves,

...lovely bush setting,

...kids arrived!!!

...making leaves,

...and a kookaburra from jeans pocket,

...some finished,

...and the tree being assembled in the hall,

...Jill,

...Kim,

...me,

...tree with stage lighting [just before the band practice - OMG!!! too old for all those decibels]

Mixed Media Madness



I had the joy of teaching my Mixed Media Madness to painters of the Buderim Craft Cottage last week.
What a lot of fun.
There were so many great paintings produced from a wide variety of materials and crazy hand made brushes, syringes, and spray appliances, that I have had to compile the pics into composites.

...but first some of the action.....

..and now for some of the amazing Mixed Media Madness Mark Making results....fantastic!!

Well done to you all.

Pojagi in Seoul

POJAGI [Bojagi in Korean] is the traditional 'patchwork' style of fabric construction, often from sheer fabrics, used originally as wrapping cloths to carry food, and all sorts of other goods - [the original GREEN BAG].

The POJAGI Forum in Seoul, Korea, had opened. I was hoping to go, but too much is happening for me back home.
However, I am thrilled to be included amongst the 35 invited International artists to exhibit at the conference.
If you have facebook, got to this link - there are some brilliantly wonderful works from all over the world posted here.

These are my contributions:

This piece is called 'Out of the Box' a linked series of about 15 x 3D silk forms [3 - 5 cm each], some tea dyed, with the traditional flat pojagi seams.

The next is 'Devil's Dice' - a statement about the mining industry's impact on the Australian interior.

This is the silk that I dyed with rust and green tea - amazing results from white silk.

This one is a little more traditional and inspired by the upcoming 'Peace Flag' project that many of us are involved in [World Peace Day - 21st September]



This is my statement sent to accompany the work for the PPP and promotion.

My Appreciation of ‘Pojagi’

I have always had a great connection with the qualities of ‘Simple, Honest and Noble’. The Korean pojagi, the Japanese boro, the Australian wagga, are all examples of textiles lovingly repaired and patched with whatever fabric was available. Not necessarily things of beauty, they have become objects of history, with a life and soul of their own, imbued with the energy of the time and place of creation. These traditional reconstructed fabrics were made in harsh times when money, materials and opportunities were scarce, but ingenuity, camaraderie, and ‘making do’ was prevalent. I imagine the [mostly] women sitting together sharing scraps of fabric, creating new and functional items for the home and family, at the same time sharing problems, hopes and dreams. The fabrics stirred memories from previous generations, helping to reinforce the traditions, stories and cultures that made each group or village autonomous and individual.

I feel very sad that in today’s ‘throw away’ society, we have lost these valuable connections. In my own way, I try to honour the traditions of recycling and reusing in my arts practice, bringing old energies to new life, and as a consequence ‘treading lightly upon the earth’.

Noela Mills

August, 2012

A Letter A Week, 'Dotty' alphabet

I have started my second alphabet for 2012. For more information on this fabulous international blogger network project, go to 'A Letter a Week' for the details.
These are my first 4 letters, created from paper immersed and allowed to dry in a rusty oven tray filled with green tea - great results.

...and my favourite piece of paper - yes, just green tea and rust on a cheap water colour paper.

This process also creates wonderful results on silk -

...which led me to creating some patchwork 'Pojagi' [Korean] for an exhibition in Seoul.

...more on that soon.