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]

'Treeline' - Major Creative Event

Our local council is admirably showcasing the Arts in the region with a month long suite of exhibitions, workshops, talks, kids' events and interactive 'happenings'. All of the Council owned venues are participating. The whole project is called 'Treeline'. Many of our wonderful locals are involved.
Fiona ans Barry have posted on the 'Tread Lightly' exhibition, a beautiful showing of works using recycled materials [mainly paper] - held in the new and amazing Arts and Ecology Centre at the Maroochy Regional Bushland Gardens in Tanawah. Such a treat - the show, the building and the gardens.
Here are a few more pics of the opening to add to Fiona's.

...recycled, cut book forms by Rosie Miller

...Kim Schoenberger's works,

...artists unknown,

.....Fiona's 'Rainbow Stack'

and 'Lotus Books',

...and 'Weedly', a collaborative workshop project.

I will post on some of  the other components of 'Treeline' over the next week.

 

'Culture 2 Culture' exhibition

http://rosebedstgallery.com/exhibitions-coming-up/

At last the past six months of work is coming to fruition.
My artist friend Christine Elcoate and I went to China in October 2011 and connected with many artists, thanks to our Sister City friendships and local government support.
We organised 4 fabulous workshops in March with Chinese artist Li Jun, here on the Sunshine Coast, and now we have a collaborative exhibition at Rosebed St Gallery, Eudlo, with 12 artists [Li Jun and 11 locals], and school children's works from 2 Chinese schools and 3 Sunshine Coast schools.
The centrepoint of the exhibition will be 300+ domino sized ceramic tiles - made in Australia, some glazed here by local artists, others glazed in China and brought back for the exhibition.

Maya, Noela, Annie and Christine looking at ways to display the work in the gallery.

Here's a sneak preview of some of the wonderful works to be exhibited:

...watercolour detail by Li Jun,

..."The Burn" detail, by Pam Walpole [one of my favourite artists of all time],

..."Never Green", detail by Merv Jefferson,

...Southern Ice Porcelain Beaker by Kim Schoenberger,

...lidded vessel by Mieke van Sambeek,

...detail of jacket by Christine Elcoate,

...free standing sculpture by Ken Munsie,

...carved porcelain light by Robyn Gill,

...calligraphy by Fiona Dempster,

...'Bus Stop Mountain' detail by Wyn Vogel.

...little book detail by Noela Mills.

My sincere thanks to all the artists, the gallery owners, our new Chinese friends and all the tile makers, especially Kevin Grealy, who made and fired many of the 300 tiles. Your trust and faith is us and the project has been wonderful.

It will be a fabulous representation of how the Chinese cultural traditions have inspired and influenced us all in so many different ways.

Please join us for the opening, Friday 25th May, 7pm, at the Rosebed Gallery, Eudlo.



Open studios weekend

It has been a busy weekend on the Range - open studios for about 30 artists and community activities in the park as part of the 'Festival of Walks'.

As part of our art4place activities, I helped make 'cairns' from collected sticks in Pecan Park. Children and adults wrote wishes, hopes and dreams onto leaf shapes and placed them in the cairns for the wish fairies :)

 

 This park is a hang out for the local rebel teenagers, and overnight they must have found the temptation to have a bonfire too much - I took this photo the next afternoon.

...rather a nice 'circle of fire'.

Open Studios:

I was one of the very few local artists not open to the public for various reasons, so I enjoyed a bit of time visiting some of the studios.

Fiona Dempster:

 Barry Smith:

Ken Munsie:

Kim Schoenberger demonstrating at Main Street Gallery, Montville:

..a busy weekend and it all happens again next weekend. All feedback has been very positive - lots of interest and sales and good promotion for the Arts on the range.

Well done, gang.

I hope to get to a few more of the 30 Open Studios next weekend.