Maker In Residence

 And if you are a creative type, you know I'm not talking about little green men. UFO = Unfinished Object.   A little suncatcher I finished on the weekend. First a disclaimer: I do have many UFOs in my house, in boxes or lying around. I also have several projects 'resting' on my craft table. But these days when I start something, I try extremely hard to finish it. Finishing projects (or not) is a huge factor in how my mental health is travelling. (I'll write another post on this tomorrow).   A bag of 'scumbles' which need to be crocheted together as a freeform crochet ... very much a UFO. So first off... what causes MY UFOs? When you look at the reason for a problem, it can help you tackle it. So here's a list of reason's my projects go off task; 1. I've discovered I don't yet have the skills to get the result I want. 2. I have the skills, but it's still not turning out how I envisioned. 3. I've decided it needs something else and I'm...

 WARNING! This will be a long one. As part of the Maker in Residence program, I've been encouraged to find my voice, my style, my artistic identity. In the first few weeks, this caused a serious doubt to well up inside me. I work across so many mediums that, at first I couldn't see it. My mentor encouraged me to journal and to experiment to find it. Then this morning, while in the shower it hit me (I often get epiphanies in the shower). I've already done all that!!!!! Ever since my teen years I've scrapbooked, journalled, flipped from one medium to another, followed and sought many influences. For one little moment there, I just forgot. So here is an affirmation. (for those who don't know me quite as well as others, these images are all my own work done over the past 30 or so years. And I apologise to those who have seen these images before, though I think this is the first time I have collected them in a statement like this.) My voice is evident in the sparkly mate...

 The making of dolls is an ancient practice, and dolls as healing is just as old. I can't really remember the first doll I ever made. I'm pretty sure it was in my teens though. But my first spirit doll came along only a few years ago. Spirit dolls are used in the Wiccan faith, usually placed on the altar and imbued with positive intentions. I had a desire to make one that I would infuse with the promise of inspiration. Once 'inspiration' was finished I posted her on facebook to show my family and friends. One of my friends who saw her and read the story of how she was connected to a Wiccan tradition contacted me almost immediately. A dear friend of hers, who was a practicing Wiccan had just passed. My friend asked me to make her a spirit doll as a passing gift for the lady who being buried according to Wiccan traditions in only a shroud. This doll I called 'Flora' This doll was even more special as I was given the large collection of beads that the Wiccan lady h...

 I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to explore in my first art work. I'm developing my concept for the art exhibition ReTiwined, ReImagined Fibers, Experimental Textiles, which will take place at The Hawkesbury Remakery in September this year (COVID allowing). I am really driven by the question asked by Graphic Novelist Alan Brooks in his TED talk titled 'When the world is burning, is art a waste of time?' Of course he concludes that art can affect people in ways the artist may never know. So I wanted to explore a topic that is both close to my heart and hotly contested today. Female. What is female? What personal indicators define being female? What are the traditional concepts of female and how are they being pushed at? Is it a biological gender, or a societal concept? Personally I love being female. I am what is considered a traditional female I guess. I have long hair, enjoy dressing up, have a womanly figure with ample bosom, and I pursue tradition...