Maker In Residence

 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...

 Still in lock down. Still creating. I finished this lovely suncatcher. It was a bit of a prototype and I also just really like it, so I think I'll keep this one. The crochet around the outside is actually plastic, though it looks soft, it isn't, so the whole thing is quite safe to be out in the weather. It's gracing my front entrance now and I couldn't be more pleased. I can't wait to make more. I need to wait until I get a little oven for the garage to melt the beads though as when i created this one it made the house quite smelly and Mike asked me not to use our kitchen oven again as he is concerned the smell will permeate the interior of our oven and be unsafe for cooking - fair enough. A new little oven will be about $60. And this is what I've just started. Can you guess what it will be? Today I should get a call from Liz - one of the co-ordinators of the Remakery to discuss how things will flow. Of course this was meant to happen last week, but lock down h...

 Welcome! I thought it would be beneficial for myself, for the Remakery and for makers who follow and for anyone else who is interested to document my experience in the Maker In Residence program. It's due to begin tomorrow at the Windsor Remakery. NSW Covid Lockdown had other ideas. But that doesn't mean I can't still get busy with my making. As a matter of fact, as soon as I applied, I started work on some projects to kick start my involvement in the Maker In Residence Program. The first picture is a WIP of some CDs I stripped to repurpose as suncatchers. They will be swinging in the middle of some of my circular crochet sculptures later. And here is a LARGE work I have in progress. I repurposed a quilters hoop I wasn't using to crochet around and the first layer is yarn from a repurposed jumper. This is going to take a long time I think. Did I bit off more than I could chew? I hope not. This one is nearly finished. It will be suitable for the garden, being crocheted ...