Adelaide's exciting Artist-run gallery with more than 30 Australian artists and designers showcasing contemporary art and craft in Gay's Arcade, just off the heritage-listed Adelaide Arcade
After the February Newsletter went out it was bought to my attention that we had a couple of errors.
1st – Liz Wauchope and Jane Burbidge had swapped months for their window displays.
and to top it off,
2nd – Jane Burbidge DOES NOT HAVE 2 R’s in her surname. Sorry Jane!!!
Liz Wauchope has an E at the end of her name. Sorry Liz!!!
March Window Display 1st March – 28th March
Window 1
Liz Wauchope“Something New”
I am always exploring new techniques, new media, new images, and new objects to make. I am a ‘workshop junkie’ and love to learn from the experts when I can. I also spend way too much time online, surfing around on Pinterest, but it’s wonderful to see the things other people make, and some of them even have instructions! I am also a sucker for any new tools or machines that enable me to do new things.This display showcases some of the most recent artworks I have been experimenting with, in textiles and printmaking in particular. For some reason, a lot of them seem to involve gum leaves…
Image:” Gum leaves” Polysols
Liz Wauchope – Laser Etching
Liz Wauchope – Gum Leaves Cut out.
Window 2
Suzette Hayley Watkins & Coates
Hayley Coates is a guest artist & Australian Landscape Jewelery Associate
“Branching Out”
“We have called our exhibition “Branching Out” because it will be largely botanically based but also it’s a bit of a departure for both of us.”
Silversmiths and jewelery designers/makers Suzette Watkins and Hayley Coates have been influencing each other since they were students at TAFE together. With Branching Out, they explore the world of botanically-themed jewelery, in sterling silver, semiprecious stones and even 2000-year-old Roman glass.
Works by Suzette Watkins
Images; Top left, “Cassia Necklace”, Sterling Silver. Top right, “Strathnairn”, Sterling Silver, patinated, Approx. 10cm. Bottom Left, “Eucalyptus Blossom” , Sterling Silver, lampwork glass beads by Bev Butler, Embroidered beads by Lynne Stone. Bottom right, “Pines of Rome”, Sterling Silver, Emeralds.
April Window Display 29th March – 2nd May
Window 1
Window 2
Ivana Di Stasio“Breakfast at L’Incontro” The Encounter
Inspiration for my T’Arts window comes from Adelaide’s iconic building, the Adelaide Arcade.The Adelaide Arcade has an old world charm which makes it very unique and beautiful to visit.
I hope to ‘capture’ some of its charm in my sculptural pieces as well as my jewellery. Very excited!!
Helen Vanessa
Moon Murphy“Celebrating 100 years of the zip”.
It is hard to imagine life without this amazing invention.
Every day we zip up our clothes, bags, boots, etc. and enjoy the form given on zipping up.
Vanessa Murphy and Helen Moon are collaborating in their textile dying and printing to create a new range of bags and clothes.
May Window Display 3rd May – 30th May A sneak Peek, just for you!
Window 1
Mothers Day
What are blank canvasses & empty cubes doing in Tarts??????????????? Panic not, friends, because Tarts members are working away on something very special! These 10cm x 10cm blank spaces are going to be transformed into art works of beauty 7 displayed in our annual Mothers Day window, 3rd – 30th May, 2015. The proceeds from sales of these tiny splashes of beauty will be all donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Sooooooooooooo, put the date in your diaries & start saving!!!
Window 2
Kathryn Hill
Kathryn Hill, Jann Makepeace, Liz Yates and Helen Dorsman
use snippets from the past, rearranged and reworked anew. Lost words, found pattern….. and the games people play.
Tutorial
“I was a felt ball tragic”, by Maude Bath
I was always known as the ball tragic in my felting group. Everyone else could effortlessly turn out beautiful hand-made, smooth felt balls.Not me.
For me they were lumpy misshapen things resembling a sheep’s brains as much as anything. Definitely not something to be proud of, or to use in felt jewellery. I was the butt of many jokes. I had to plead with other members to make balls for me.
Last October all that changed for me.
I attended the 11th Southern Hemisphere Convergence in Bunbury.
As we have for several previous Convergences, the SA Felters did a workshop called ‘Felt Jewellery for Beginners’. As usual, I was relegated to teaching rat tails, coils and licorice all sorts.
I was busy explaining to the group why I was demonstrating these aspects, and that I was a ball tragic, when a voice from the end of the table piped up,
‘Why don’t you make them in a jar?’
‘In a jar??’, I asked.
‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘we all make them in a jar in N.Z. It’s really easy. You can’t go wrong.’
I looked at her in disbelief.
So, the student became the teacher. This angel got up, found a Tupperware container, some fluff and a bit of yarn for fun, and proceeded to turn out ball after ball.
Look Maude, no hands!
I imagined this must have been a very closely kept secret in New Zealand until my innocent saviour let the cat out of the bag. A bit like the Chinese with silk, eventually the truth leaks out. So, now I’m going to tell the world – sorry NZ. Sohowdoyoudoit?
Find a squarish plastic container with an airtight lid. A Kinder Surprise plastic capsule or a small glass jar are also perfect. The smaller the container the smaller the ball.
Pull enough fleece in whatever colours you want. Trial and error will teach you exactly how much is right for each container; you need to about half fill it.
If you want to jazz up your ball, add a little bit of yarn to the pile at this stage; or glitz (one of my favourites), or anything else that takes your fancy
Poke the fleece into the container. You don’t have to form it into a ball, just stuff it in.
Half fill the container with water, Add a minuscule amount of soap if you want, it works without any, but i think it takes a smidgen longer.
Put the lid on tightly and then shake.
Shake the container in all directions as fast as you can. Make like the Zumba!
In no time at all a ball will form in the container.
Open the container, drain the water out.
Roll your ball in your hand a bit. If it isn’t as hard as you want, put it back in the container, add some more water and shake again.
Repeat the shaking and the rolling until your ball is perfect (hard and round)
That’s it!
You can use the balls to make great jewwllery, to decorate Xmas trees, or use as buttons or whatever. The main thing is !you won’t be a ball tragic!
PS you can make cubes too! Just over-stuff your squarish container and you get this…
Markets
Julie Frahm will be attending;
A Boutique Life DesignMarket
South Australia’s ONLY all home grown Boutique Design Event!
SUNDAY MARCH 15th @ 10am-4pm
ST JOHN’S GRAMMAR, (senior campus) 29 GLOUCESTER ST, BELAIR
FREE ENTRY and FREE PARKING
Penny Lane Market
Adelaide hills’ largest boutique market showcasing quality handmade goods and unique hard-to-find products and services
Saturday 28 March 2015
Cornerstone College Gym ~Imbarendi~
68 Adelaide Road, Mount Barker
10-3pm
Suzette Watkins, Australian Landscape Jewellerywill be attending;
Souht East Field Days
Yakka Park
3293 Avenue Range Road
Lucindale
Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March
from 8.00am each day.
Why not RESONATE with four ‘glass-ified’ deservedly-‘pedestal’ artists at Gallery M, Marion 13/2/15 to 8/3/15 (ably opened by Liz Wauchope): (Ivana Di Stasio, Cindy Durant, Julie Frahm, Sheryl Glassmith) generouslylaying bare the diverse and matured foci of those 4 ’take-no-aesthetic-prisoners’ T’ARTS members.
Oh, and bring sharp eyes or reading glasses so as not to overlook the delicate forms, the sophisticated patterns and the tactually-irresistibly textures, whilst nourishing one’s grey matter via a readable plethora of philosophical profundities.
A few random highlights from this 4-way hub, “RESONATE” (as viewed by S.Skillitzi, whose juxtaposed Gallery M mixed-media offerings seem arguably overshadowed):- IVANA: the bitter/sweet “LINDT CAFE 2015” referencing, via a delicate photo-imaging technique , the tragic Martin Place siege is curiously offset by an enigmatically-cute 3D cat. JULIE: five pristine-labelled diversely-coloured bottles are displayed educationally alongside their corresponding ’lamp-worked glass’ feminine-wearables. The macho “Coopers Ale” take on a new dimension here. SHERYL: masterfully fired-on enamel landscape scenes and patterns, sometimes sporting rusty metal additions evoke ’the great outdoors’, as in the purchased large-scale “Xanthorrhoea Triptych”. CINDY: sugary-surfaced pate de verre and ‘lamp-worked’ panels and wearables bespeak of her glass-studio’s untamed-frontier isolation from the smug ’big smoke’.RESONATE: an 88-item rare visual treat even for Adelaide, arguably overpopulated with talented glass artists. Only a few more ’sleeps’ until it closes, 8/3/15!
RESONATE 13th Feb – 8th March 2015
Exhibition Review By Stephen Skillitzi
Stephen Skillitzi
joined the T’ARTS for a few years, seeking to expand his face-to-face connections to the Craft world. He appreciated the mental stretch into the subtle art of retail selling, discovering early on that his normal 24/7 wrinkled grimace needed transformation into a welcoming smile from behind the shop counter. A humbling experience was always being out-performed by a phalanx of efficient female T’ARTS…. no ‘Glass Ceiling’ for them!!, Nevertheless he took note of what sells and what doesn’t and why. In retrospect, a cathartic life lesson in: “Life? Its Complicated!!!
Stephen has an 83-item show running at the moment at Gallery M and he has a “Meet the Artist” at Gallery M on Sunday 1st March at 2.00pm
Exhibitions – Art Events
BevBills and “Old Tart”,Charmian Quintrell will be joining their “Wild Fibre Artists” group in their 14th exhibition.
Robyn Zerna-Russell & Barbera Palmer will be participating in an exhibition with Part Part (Professional Practice), the other Collective they belong to. Details above.
“Timeless Land” by Robyn Zerna-Russell
“Generations” by Robyn Zerna-Russell
Anna Small will be part of the
Mosquito Hill Wines & Art Show
Sunday 15th March
2 – 5.00 pm
Taminga House
15 Orley Avenue
Stirling
This is a fundraising event to raise funds for the Jodie Lee Foundation organised by the team TLC (Tipsy Ladies Club)
Join Suzette Watkins and Hayley Coates, to celebrate the opening of their collaborative window display.
Janet Ayliff Art Tour
Interview with a Tarts Artist
Helen Moon speaks to Liz Wauchope to give you an insight into what it takes to have a successful art practice.
When and how did you start the journey with textiles?
I hadn’t done any art or craft since high school, but my mother was always dabbling, making all kinds of things, leatherwork, embroidery, china painting, anything. In 1982 when she was down on a visit from Alice Springs (my hometown) I took her to Hahndorf and we saw Annie Ubeda painting in the traditional French serti (gutta) style of silk painting. Mum bought the materials and tools, I tried it, and that was it! I was hooked. It changed my life. Gradually over the years I went from being a bored bureaucrat to an aspiring artist. Mind you, I’m still aspiring…
What attracted you to this medium?
The main thing was that it is fast, and easy. I am an impatient person, and at the time was a complete novice in art, so it suited me really well. Almost anyone can make a beautiful silk painted piece, because the silk itself is so beautiful, and the colours of the silk dyes are so vibrant. The two together are almost impossible to mess up. (Mind you, I have quite a few messes stuffed in boxes in my studio, waiting to be resurrected by yet another layer or the application of a different technique.)
Did you do other crafts?
I concentrated solely on silk painting for about 20 years, and really honed the craft. It took me a long time to become confident about trying other things. Then I did a course in Fabric Design and Printing at East Sydney Tech with Julia Raath, a brilliant teacher, and got into screen printing. That occupied me for a few more years, until I went back to live in Alice Springs in 1998. There I enrolled in the Creative and Applied Arts diploma at TAFE and spent the next six years as a perpetual student, taking classes in drawing, ceramics, print making, graphic design, photography and whatever else I could lay my hands on. I went to every workshop available at the local Crafts Council, and have never stopped learning since.
Is there a part you never get tired of? Is there a part you do?
I never get tired of trying out new techniques, new media and new machines. I go to workshops, get enthralled, and buy all the materials and equipment (if I can afford them) and then play, play, play. I am so lucky.
I do get tired of the humdrum side of things: steaming the silk, ironing the scarves, sewing (I am not good at sewing) and the paperwork side of being a professional artist. But there’s no avoiding that if one is to get work out into the market.
Where does inspiration come from?
Most of my work is inspired by the Australian landscape, and plants, especially those that relate to Central Australia. I also travel overseas a lot, and many of my photographic images come from those trips. I am always inspired by seeing the work of other artists, and at the moment I am totally addicted to Pinterest, an on line sharing community where people ‘pin’ wonderful images of things they have made, or have seen on the net, often with instructions of how to do them.
Do you like exhibitions and the challenge to create new directions?
I love going into group exhibitions because then I can make just one or two pieces. I always plan to do something different from my usual stuff, but too often that gets subsumed by the busyness of my life and I end up doing something quick, at the last minute…
I have had very few solo exhibitions in recent years: my life is just too busy. I want to be able to have the discipline to concentrate on making things, because a solo is when you get to really explore a new concept or theme, to ponder it for months beforehand, and develop a cohesive body of work.
Having said that, I have a mini solo in T’Arts window this month
Do “mistakes” inspire you?
They don’t exactly inspire me, but they don’t worry me, either. They can be a creative opportunity, as you seek a way to recover them. As I said, there are lots of boxes in my studio waiting to be ‘fixed.’ I call them unfinished projects.
Do you listen to music, and what sort, when you work?
I listen to an eclectic lot of music when I work, mostly female singer like Norah Jones, Joss Stone, Michelle Shocked, K D Laing… but also to CDs my son has selected for me, or made for me (he’s into sound production) so I have been introduced to people like Xavier Rudd, the John Butler Trio, Fat Freddy’s Drop. My daughter has given me a CD by local Adelaide group Halfway to Forth, which I love, too.
Lately I have been listening to audio books that I get from the library. It’s the only way I get to ‘read’ these days.
How is your workplace set up?
I am very, very lucky: I have a big studio in the back yard, well lit, and spacious. However, it is way overcrowded by all the ‘stuff’ I have collected over the years. I have two big print tables which I try to keep relatively clear enough to work on. After 10 years of being back in Adelaide and using the studio in a very higgledy piggledy set up, I recently had lots of shelves put in, so it’s a bit more organised. Though somehow, now I can’t find anything. I guess I’ll learn my way around over the next ten years!
Liz Wauchope, in her studio.
Artists with New work
Helen Moon
Two years ago i went to the Grampians Textile forum and spent a week stitching/painting flowers particularly Waratahs.
Since then i have finished off one project and experimented with this technique.
I recently painted new cards and tried to include some native flowers.
From there I did some larger silk paintings of Waratahs, Gum blossoms and nuts, and Macrocarpas. Then i stitched and added layers of fabric to create dimension and texture. After considering how to frame these , I decided to use recycled frames and stretch some pieces onto canvas boards.
They are now in Galleria Innocente if you would like to see them and your comments would be appreciated.
Carolanne Wasley
This is a black and white collection of porcelain earrings from my latest firing,
using a selection of styles including stud or hook attachments and chains for a longer look.I have also made a selection of coloured porcelain earrings with similar silver attachments.
There are necklaces to match both ranges.
Marg Marsh
January Competition Results
Marg Marsh thanks everyone who played the bead guessing game during her January window display. The correct number of beads was 501 (267 in a beaded clutch and 234 in a resin set flower pendant). The winner who estimated closest to this number was Noreen Pardoe (guessing 512 beads). She has received a complimentary bag from Marg’s current collection.
See the beaded bags in a variety of colours in T’Arts now.
Hand made beaded bags, by Marg Marsh.
Resin set flower pendant, by Marg Marsh.
Embellish Magazine
Out Now !!!
Out Now !!!
Out Now !!!
Don’t miss the latest edition of Embellish Magazine, available now at the newsagents. It contains two articles about Susan Napoli’s wonderful fabric collages…including a project with instructions for you to make this beautiful passion vine piece. Check out their website: http://artwearpublications.com.au
Liz Wauchope has been writing articles on T’Arts members for this magazine for some time now, and there will be more coming in the future: the next one is about Kathryn Hill.
Title : Passion Flower. Materials: painted and dyed silk, painted calico, a range of blues, greens and purple cottons for machine embroidery, brushes, pencil, scissors, sewing machine. Dimensions: 21 x 30 cms.
What’s Happening in the Gallery
New Hanging Signs
The Promotions & Marketing committee started a campaign of trying to entice people to come into the gallery without spending lots of money on traditional print advertising. They realsied that if you stand at the entrance to Gays Arcade from Adelaide Arcade it looks like there is really mainly food in Gays Arcade. Our original sign, while being bright and bold, really didn’t alert people to the fact that we are a “Gallery”. So after a few long months of contacting the Arcade for permission and sourcing metal from Anna we have come up with these signs.
Customers have commented on the fact that the signs bought them to the Gallery.
New Window Signage
Every month a Tarts member has the opportunity to have a small exhibition of work in one of the 2 windows available. This allows us, as artists, to challenge ourselves in our chosen medium and/or to delve into areas and mediums we don’t get a chance to “Play” with normally.
The Window Display Committee have, for the last 3 months, been putting new, frosted, decal signage on each window to alert our customers and the public about who each artist is and the fact that these windows are mini-exhibitions and therefore very special.
Thank You Thank You Thank You
Thank you to the very generous T’arts members who donated beautiful work for the silent auction at last Saturday’s quiz night . This was to raise money for the amazing work of Dr Luc and the Mission and Health Care and development ( Mother and child health programme).,in the DR Congo. Our contribution of glass pieces, beautiful textiles and pictures raised over $1000 . The total of the evening was $5000. I wasn’t able to give much time to let you know of the event, but next year I will know more in advance when Dr Luc Mulimbalimba will be coming to Australia. I think it is my very exceptional dentist, Dr Julie Monis Ivett , and the Zonta club, who sets all this up to support the work being done by this young doctor and his friends . I felt really proud of our T’arts contribution , and it was a great array of money made, which will go directly to the MHCD . Thankyou all again , Janet.(Ayliffe )
