Whinge alert!

I have been flogging my poor brain senseless trying to write an essay and am beginning to think (with the three or four brain cells that remain undamaged by the utter boredom that is in text bloody referencing) that a formal arts education could well see all my creativity fly out the window - or maybe just seep through the floor boards! Whinge, whinge, moan moan ... In order to reassure myself that all is not lost I fished out my latest castings and imagined what I might make with them.

They look a bit motley at the moment but I think most of them should come up ok.

See that bunny there - I think he will be a component in my 'Alice Range' ! Oh I really do have to get all this wretched theory work out of the way so I can get back to my bench. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I'm late, I'm late - but I must take a photo ...

Dear old Adelaide is not as renowned for its lane-ways and graff-art as Melbourne, although there has been a spate of quite excellent paste-ups recently - I think their impermanence renders them kinda polite graffiti which also kinda suits Adelaide. Still the other day I was rushing to Uni and took a lane I don't usually use and just had to stop and take some snaps of some really vibrant wall art.

I was rushing because my train was delayed and I needed to meet with a fellow artist to set up an installation - we were on a deadline! All ended well though and we were able to set up in time. Our brief for this installation was to create a Cabinet of Curiousity in response to a visit to the Museum of Economic Botany. This museum has some great stories to tell about our interconnectedness with plants. It made us think about sustainability - much of the variety shown in the museum is now missing in the real world and also the role of the museum in preservation of both objects and stories.We chose to create some plantforms that a future museum might house - hybrid botanicals that have morphed with the junk redolent in our dirt.

 We filled the cabinet with layers of plastic rubbish and polystyrene

Instead of placing our objects within the cabinet, we decided to place them on top

The plant forms

We cast the forms with soap - something we use daily that we hope will remind us of the daily impact we have on our environment.

This process was a bit fraught as neither of us had any real casting experience. We learned a lot and I am delighted with the outcome - a contemporary Cabinet of Curiousity. It seemed to  generate some interest and discussion almost immediately so that is a good response. It was great to work collaboratively with an artist that I was so insync with - it doesn't always happen and when it does - magic!

Mad March

I feel as if I have not been keeping up with things lately. Perhaps I am getting lazy in my middle years? Hhmm. I have had a little recap of what has been happening here during Mad March and maybe lazy is the wrong adjective! There has been an abundance of Birthday Celebrations, some of them for significant Birthdays like 21sts and the big 5-0h too. So that means costumes and gifts to make, food to prepare and bunting to sew - and champagne to wash it all down!

 via

Just one more 21st party and that will be March done!

There have been two average sized assignments to research and write for Uni ..

Yes it is true - I still write my essays in long-hand first!

I have put together a small body of work ( a dozen pieces I think) for a show with a fellow student - some pieces like these ...

And I also designed and made some fabo jewels for a Year 12 Formal - big and shiny was the request ...

Dangly, dangly ear-rings to match the dress...

and a cuff to go with ...

 Yeah - big and shiny are two of my favourite things - except when it comes to noses - I prefer them on the smaller side. I used a lot of lovely Swarovski crystal in Golden Shadow - mmmmmm - shineeeeee!

I have also been playing here:

I spend two days a week at Uni and they feel like long days now because it is dark when I leave home. Plus there is the usual "Mum" stuff of dealing with broken hearts, tricky work situations and Year 12 workload and there seems to be an expectation that there will be food in the house and the occasional load of washing done. And shirt and tie shopping for aforementioned Formal. And an appearance at the last ever school sports day for this family (yay!). I haven't replanted the herb pots or rung my niece or tidied my studio but I have managed the odd conversation with the ManBeast even though it is Vintage time and he is rarely sighted.

Crap, it is no wonder I haven't had time to shave my legs!