An Exhibition of Small Things.....

I've had a really bittersweet journey with Art Galleries and Exhibitions.  

The first group exhibition I ever took part in, was a few hand drawn pictures from my journals that I quickly framed, to hang in the Internet Cafe/Desktop Publishing/Art As Play Workshops/Art Gallery, that was my first ever endeavour into the world of small businesses.  It was a joint business, between me doing the internet and computer bit,  and a fairly outspoken and well loved local lesbian who did the art bit.  We called it the Centre of Innovative Arts, or the CIA, and the sign I had was a triangle with an eye over the top in a circle.  I drew it myself.  And then designed it on my early desktop publishing programs.   

Incidentally well before illuminati conspiracies had really started to take hold.  

But that was when I was 26, and mostly still wishing I could come anywhere close to calling myself an artist.  I hadn't discovered spinning yet, or maybe spinning hadn't yet discovered me.  

Since that tactile and meditative magic has entered my life though, I've had the opportunity to be involved in quite a few exhibitions and group creative ventures, and it's gone from the sublime to the total rejection on a steady ski jump of a ride.  Overall I'd have to say I've truly enjoyed it.  Good bits and bad bits.  Shadows and all.  

But for the purposes of this post, I'll stick to the pleasant side.

I was part of a wearable art exhibition in Willunga....

Some dresses on the wall

A big blanket I sold for half cash and half massage....

My mum and a little Lilly near Ursula and a wrap

The Beanie Festival in Alice Springs.....

Jess and I strutting our stuff

Beanie Central, where many beanies existed

Currawong looking rather splendid

Part of the Fringe in Macclesfield, and incredibly lucky to hang my own work in the entry hall that I shared with the magnificent fibre artist Sandy Soul, to benefit from her many years of experience and expertise in the process.  We had such a ball together!

A crocheted face with my hat "We're all Sheep, except me, I'm a Ram!"

Blankets, Ursula, and a Tail

A whole bunch of wearable art and sculptures.  Had so much fun creating this scene

My first spinning wheel under the Bat Wings, and the big wooly roof installation

I created my own studio/gallery in Peterborough, around the time that we were birthing Spiral-Moon.  I think I may have been a little ahead of my time in that particular country town though....

Lots of wearable art and pumpkins that we grew in the backyard.
And a Currawong taking a picture in the mirror

The main studio gallery part of our house/gallery

With spinning wheels and wool bags and an old treadle sewing machine

Two of my custom made stands for wearable artworks

Me and Fuzznut in the studio, with Currawongs drums in the background

A hanging piece that I've used many times in many ways

The Scarf Festival in Melbourne.....

Me holding a little Spiral-Moon, standing next to one of my scarves

'The Weeping Camel', that the editor of Yarn magazine
made them create a special category for, so I could get a special mention

Our family looking quite small!  We thought it was big at the time

I was part of two amazing events called Tribal Fibres as part of the Fringe in Hahndorf, in which Tribal Bellydancers danced to Currawong and other musicians playing improvised music, and wearing my handspun creations along with the wearable art of others.  I decked out the stage for both Tribal Fibres events, and had an absolute ball.

Stunning photo of an incredible dancer called Acushla

My two favourite outfits of this event

Sleeves and a hip belt

My monster spider web and a lot of drapes

The boys doing their incredible thing

Currawong's always liked drumming out of the box

My work on display around the edges

All these outfits were worn on stage

The incredible wool cave that I made....

That a bellydancer erupted out of!

Two spider web skirts, that looked amazing moving

Like this......whirling dervishes

The whole stage, with me and my Fibre Fairy Godmother on stage at either end

I was part of an exhibition at Red Poles in Willunga called 'Unravelled'.  We were instructed to get a jumper, pull it apart, and then make a tea cosy out of it, hence the name.  

Ermintrudes Tree Cosy looking sharp

Sleeves, woolbags, hats on custom made stands, and a crocheted teddy bear

Believe it or not, those wool bags were the most expensive
piece of art that I've ever sold!!

But the most professionally hung, and I think best looking display of my work that I've seen to date, is happening right now!  At The Channon Art Gallery.  And will continue for another 2 weeks or so. Curated by the incredible Jeni Allenby, who I'm fortunate enough to have in my life.  We've connected over the last couple of years, slowly bumping into each other at our Nimbin Market, the Weave and Mend Festival in Nimbin, and the Fibre Festivals at Blue Knob Farmers Market.  And I was a bit thrilled to find that my new friend also happened to have been the curator of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, in the Fibre and Textiles section no less!

My journey through the 'art' world may have been a bit hit and miss, but to have the attention and interest of such an illustrious person as Jeni has been a serious highlight in my career to date.  I told her about some of my more unfortunate experiences along the way, in particular how devastated I was at the way my main hats at the Beanie Festival in Alice Springs had been displayed, and she gave me such a gorgeous reaction that she set me on the path to healing the disappointment.  

She paid especial and empathetic attention to hanging my work, and creating a 3D effect with the gloves and hat rather than a flat one.  It was so wonderful to see my work look so good :)  And for it to be in such gorgeous and illustrious company.

The exhibition is called Small Things.

Currawong came along with me to the opening, and we had a blast!  Met lots of other funky artists, like the woman who made the bags and fibre baskets above, drank lots of wine (at least I did), ate delightful small nibbles, in keeping with the theme of the exhibition, and decided that I'd thoroughly enjoy doing more of this in my future!!

If you're keen to check out this exhibition, take yourself to the Facebook page of The Channon Gallery and have a look see :)

  

The First Day Of The Rest Of My Fibre Career......

Two weeks ago today, I had the tremendous pleasure of being asked to come to a beautiful yurt and show a group of women how to spin.  The wonderful Alice Moffett (who also took all these gorgeous photos), heard about me from someone who had seen me at the Blue Knob Farmers Market Fibre Festival, found me on Facebook, and then made it as easy as she possibly could, for me to turn up and share some spinning stories and inspirations.  

It was a real yurt from Mongolia, complete with horsehair rope and felt lining, put up 

by it's owner and her close group of friends.  Truly inspirational to be in and feel.

Got a lift from a dear friend and her little one, and Lilly came along too for the adventure.  First thing I did was rock up and spill my fleeces, skeins, crochet hooks, books, creatures, and fibre majicks all over her yurt :)  And started telling them stories as I did, all about how there's no 'proper' way to do anything, only your way to find, about the history of spinning and the spinning wheel, a perspective on it from archaic times to modern, and maybe most importantly to me..........the concept of how everything is connected and remembers where it's been.  And what we put on the biggest organs of our body (our skin) is important to have nice memories.  

I love other people's perceptions on what is photo worthy  :)

Lilly and Honu sitting with the various creatures.

Showing off crochet hooks whilst sporting a rather spectacular snake tattoo.

Skeins, fleeces, wool bag, hooks...

Searching for tools to get the spinning wheel spinning.

After the basics, we moved onto checking out the beautiful wheels that the lovely Chris, owner of the yurt had, and I showed her how to give them a basic service, and get them going.  We started out with learning how to spin, and getting the concept that there's the clockwise and anticlockwise spin, that are the two parts of the yarn whole.  First we spin, either way, and then we ply, which has to be the opposite way to the way it was spun.  Spinning is putting the twist into raw fleece, and plying is unspinning it round another yarn or thread.  

Here's Chris, her beloved dog, her mother sitting on the bed,
and her spinning wheel that we got humming along sweetly.

And her second wheel, which was a gorgeous little upright wheel,
probably locally made, which is common in the world of spinning.

Beautiful elegant lines on this upright wheel,
one of the nicest ones I've seen in my travels.

Sweet Marina probably listening to me telling her that there's no such thing as a mistake
when learning how to spin, and how it's like learning to drive, using feet
and hands at the same time, and it takes a while to get the hang of it.

Most likely saying something like "You're doing perfectly,
 and this is exactly the best way to learn, by just feeling it out".

We also covered drop spindling briefly, and I showed them how to make rope.  Chris took to it instantly, and loved my explanation of how this was like the perfectly balanced yarn, creating it with your hands only, and with both the spins built into each part of it.  She really dug the concept of being able to twist anything into rope with this method.  And what made it even more special for her (and me), was that the raw fleece she was using, came from a loved sheep of her mothers!

Using her mums fleece, and asking Lilly to hold onto the beginning,
I demonstrated to Chris how to twist rope into being.

The raw fleece doesn't have to be prepared in any way, except for thinning it out as you twist.
Check out Lilly's fingernails with the nail polish not quite cleaned off!

We were both so impressed with how delightful a process rope making was for Chris,
and she kept going on with the yarn I'd pulled out to show her, till it was all
beautifully roped up.  Love her angel wings in this photo :)

I also gave them a bit of a tour of some of the things I'd made, letting them try on and play with whatever they liked, and showing off some of my design tips as inspiration for them to make their own things their own way.

I do love these moth wings, and how they wrap round your fingers.

After years of doing markets and festivals, I've learnt the art of squooshing as much information into a tiny portion of time as I possibly can.  So all my stories about spinning had large dollops of other concepts I'm passionate about thrown in as well, like self organisation, and the gifting economy, and trust and surrender.  There was a gorgeous woman with her baby (I'm so sorry I forgot your name) who REALLY wasn't into crafting, but sat and observed and listened nonetheless.  And after all the hurly burly was mostly over, she came up to chat more about some of the other concepts we'd discussed, and I was so glad, that even though crafting wasn't her thing, she still enjoyed herself and was stimulated by the stories.  She really dug how a yarn was a physical as well as metaphorical yarn all at the same time.

Chris's mum and the gorgeous mamma on the bed.

And I reckon my most favourite moment of the whole event, that really sums up what I love so much about my chosen field, was this precious moment, when Chris was having a go on my wheel, (My Little Gem, the Rolls Royce of spinning wheels no less) spinning some of her mothers sheep fleece.

Such a beautiful photo.

She was talking to her mum about the sheep, (forgot his name too), and what he did when her mum fed him.  They had this warm moment of reminiscence about the sheep, while she was spinning some of her first yarn, which was all perfectly big and chunky and bobbly and full of character, as your first yarn always is.  And as I was winding her first yarn into a ball, I told them all how perfect that was, to be talking about the sheep whilst spinning his fleece, full of his memories of living with her mum, and how much he loved her in his coat, while her mum was listening, and there was oxytocic bonding, and all of that went into the yarn, and would be held in it's memory forever.  How gorgeous is that?

I did the whole thing by donation, and only realised in doing it, what a perfect way it would be to make a living from living.  On my own terms, having a real life adventure and meeting new people, who are already interested in what I have so much passion for, that I'd do it for free.  It's like all the best bits of the markets and festivals I've done over the years, but being able to connect directly with people already curious, rather than trawling through a whole bunch of totally uninterested ones.   Spontaneous and unpredictable enough to keep me engaged.  In person, instead of on the internet, which never really worked for me with the fibre feeling thing.  So inspiring to do, that I forgot about time, and the whole thing left me feeling charged and energised.  And almost like a party plan for my book.  Cause when folk have met me, they often feel they'd like to keep a bit of me.  Which my book certainly is.....

Even though a lot of people (and me), get a good giggle about how there's not that many things that I have that are actually for sale, and I leave just about everyone with the statement from Aileen Stace about how 'spinning's not something you BUY, spinning's something you DO!'.....there always is the odd thing that can be coerced out of me with trade or swap or donation or cash.  So a few skeins or yarns found a new home, and as a last leaving I showed them how to create a centre pull ball on a rolled up piece of paper.  

Started off with holding the skein around my knees, old fashioned way...

Then Lilly kindly offered to hold the skein and make the ball winding easier for me.
Lilly was a huge hit at the session, had some awesome conversations, and
really connected with Chris in their love of animals.

Telling a story and obviously incredulous about something.....
But look at that ball!

So I guess what I'm saying is.......to help me in my quest of bringing back the 70's Fibre Revolution, and making a living from living, I'm up for coming just about anywhere, anytime (bit like the Goodies), and sharing whatever skills I have, with all the stories that seem to come with me, and we'll all have a lot of fun :)  Schools, festivals, communities, interest groups, friends, whoever, whatever, just contact me and we can work something out.  If it's appropriate, the whole family circus could come along, with some drums, and some dancing and big family energy.  

I think this is a very exciting installation in this journey I'm on.