Enter the countdown to 5th June 2025, when load-in and setup for THE GROUP EXHIBITION 2025 commences at The Shop Gallery, 112 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW.
I have lowered the cost of entry to $50.00 per work due to the cost of living crisis, trying to keep overheads as low as possible so that people may still join in hard times. I strongly encourage anyone who is THINKING about exhibiting, to just commit to it for the sake of bringing something exciting together in the future, and having a deadline to create for.
Entry form/Terms and Conditions can be downloaded from a link which will be placed in comments.
Myself I have made two wooden sculptures and I am working on a botanical triptych which explores a limited palette of blue/yellow, into green using Matisse paints which are made just over the hill in Rhodes NSW.
I will be heading over to Noodler and Scratch Art Space, to do a bit of life drawing in those two very different spaces and see what comes up from POST COVID life drawing.
Who remembers when it was a very academic pursuit, rooms full of professional artists honing their skills. Then it went postmodernist, natty costumes, off form poses, and even worse wine was life drawing for a bit there. What is life drawing in 2025?
I will find out in not too distant future, might draw up 25 miniatures on a big sheet of paper or, try to work each pose using only 24 marks on one sheet of paper.
The theme for the Group Art Show is "twenty five", the cost to enter one work is two x twenty five, in the great art of covering overheads.
@sesquitria@noodler@scratchartspace
#art #theshopgallery #theshopgalleryglebe #artistsofsydney #australianart #contemporaryart #modernart #fineart #artshow #exhibition #glebe #sydney #australia #tafensw #emergingartists #reallifeart
Today a special little blue tongued lizard is getting a special little house made for them. The @dremel 4000 makes cutting a circular hole in plastic very easy, using a combination of abrasion and heat where a traditional saw makes a bad cut in the devil's medium of plastic.
#dremel #lizardcage #diyordie
Rejecting the Paradigm: here is a "nice" little black vest that is some type of brand or corporate wear. I found it dropped on the road and here's two options:
1. Leave some junk on the ground to get picked up by the council or clog a drain or get mashed into a garden bed; or
2. Pick it up, determine it fits and will be quite "nice" to wear to work.
But, I'm a punk at heart if someone wants me to wear their brand they better offer a good deal or throw their sh** back in the can where it came from.
So, I'll replace the brand patch with one that celebrates Aboriginal culture. In a country where 30% of the population is born overseas, it's important to keep reconciliation for first nations people at the top of the political scorecard. Where Australia's first people still have appalling statistics for housing, incarceration and preventable death: it's an argument that's all too easily rolled into a showcase of performative Welcome to Country words, while the real goalposts of keeping the world's oldest culture alive are disappointingly shifted time and time again to preference privelege over precedence.
Wearing this patch will open conversation, and conversations are the prevention of conflict. We don't need culture wars: we need solidarity between the people to resist corporate conveniences and to force those with excessive resources and power to leave enough for the common people to prosper.
#peace #reconciliation #anarchy
How to build something that hasn't been built before?
1. Research the subject.
2. Sketch it out.
3. Work from an understanding of how the thing comes together.
4. Model it in small scale before going large.
This photo is a series of sketches which came about from desiring to make a replica Ned Kelly Helmet, and studying photos of all the armour of the Kelly Gang to truly understand how the metal fits together in an irregular shape.
Irregular shapes are so appealing to humans because they blend in with nature. It's the old way of architecture, to make something which is grand and obtrusive, designed to grab attention - in the old way, this is a church or other grand building wisely designed to appeal to the human psyche. Or, to make something rustic and natural, such as a cottage or farm building which fits in with the surrounding environment and adds to the overall charm.
The Kelly Gang armour is made from components of ploughs and is instantly recognisable in it's crude humanistic form. Only a most determined mindset would bend steel by hand to create their masterpiece. The tale of the Kelly Gang is one which sits on either side of the law, there's no doubt there was malevolence in their behaviour but, the malevolence came from a lifetime of persecution and oppression, the desire to rise out of poverty and to have nice things like other people.
The ongoing worship of the Kelly Gang is occasionally hijacked by criminals yet in it's essence, the cult of the Kelly Gang is about freedom and autonomy to rise above injustice and to be let alone.
These sketches are in advance of me creating my own addition to the legacy of the Kelly Gang and Australian social history and folklore. And may the story of Ned Kelly stay alive long after I am shot down on a hillside as this nation fills up with greedy and vile grubs hooked on the system of exploitation.
#australianfolklore #thekellygang #bushrangerhistory
It's a fine morning to replace a broken metal zipper with a functioning nylon zipper. But, why does the zip in a brand new garment even need to be replaced? I can say after 25 years of sewing zips that the metal one has been made lighter, more comfortable, better suited for a fast fashion brand and my fingers can tell that: it's far too light to be a properly made metal zip despite being manufactured by the global leader in zips which is YKK - they have manufactured zips since the 1940s when that method of closing garments was invented and went mainstream.
But, @dickies are a workwear brand, right? And, that's the problem with fast fashion is that brands ride.off their reputation while cutting every corner in quality, and that's what's happened to this lovely jumpsuit that's based on a great pattern but the fabric's too thin, there's no reinforcing, and the zip broke after 2 wears, leaving the owner without any wear to work in.
Some might say, "Ah well it was only $100! Throw it away and buy another one!" But, it's a great act of rebellion, and ownership, to take a good zip off a blanket bag going to landfill - that's where I got the nylon zip - to repair the garment better than it was manufactured, and to save $100 which stays in the pocket of the person who trusted in a leading brand but was let down by their choice to sell out from supplying heavy duty workwear to disposable fast fashion.
Wake up world! When rivers, seas and cities are choked up with textile waste - it's a fine day to repair, reuse and reject the garbage antics of fast fashion and consumerism that keeps us all broke and chained onto an unsustainable model where investora and shareholders walk to the bank as you walk to the rubbish bin. Reject fast fashion - repair, reuse and remain off the grid of consumption which eats up everything worth anything, leaving only rubbish and emptiness behind.
#anticonsumption #righttorepair #garmentmaking
It's a fine day to make a small curtain for purposes of blocking out some harsh lighting with a decorative piece of fabric. Prior to the invention of mechanised weaving, textiles were highly sought after for garment making or small, utilitarian items to protect timber surfaces within a house.
Once large scale looms were perfected using water and steam power, hanging a large piece of cloth up on the wall was seen as a status symbol due to having proximity to technology, and disposable wealth to procure the newly made produced products.
Tapestries remained a symbol of upper class wealth due to the vast quantity of labour needed to weave a pictorial or decorative scene.
But the humble curtain remains as a very practical way to shade houses, shield items from excessive light, and as a soft focus way to control the amount of light in a space.
Another benefit of using drapery is that fabric catches and controls sound, providing a muffling effect and reducing echo within a space. I find it ironic that the "modernist makeover" of many newly renovated or built spaces is to strip everything out, install harsh LEDs and create a stark white box.
It is quite simply a brain-dead aesthetic best suited to fridges and art galleries, but one that people go mad for in modern times as they plug their ears with headphones and distract their minds with endless screens.
Why tune out of life when a comfortable environment can be crested with centuries old techniques? It beats me, one thing I have learned is "you can't put brains in statues" nor can you instill good taste in people with a reductivist mindset.
#drapemaking #interiordesign #lightandshade
An old workers adage: the cost to repair your item is $5000, $1 to tap the hammer and $4999 to know where to hit the machine.
This fuzzy item which was previously shown as hand stitching, is a deconstructed hat made out of farmed rabbit fur. Why deconstructed? Quite simply it's really easy to make a "proper" hat, just cut out the shape, sew it together and voila, I have created an item the same as anything available from a factory.
In this item I have chosen to use the fundamentals of patternmaking and hat shaping, but by using the whole rabbit skins without trimming it down I can create features out of the inherent natural features of working with leather. This includes soft edges, flappy bits and excess which is artfully used to make something inspired by the classic Australian film, "Mad Max".
Cowpunk being the art of mixing farm style with rock and roll, I have mixed up jacket studs and rivets, added an old necklace to represent a chain type of feature which, when worn drapes in the style of western mediaeval, and contemporary middle eastern style.
Here I have bashed the "chinstrap" onto the side/s of the hat and I reflect on the process of making hats on and off over my lifetime, and having taught myself to work in leather around 2009.
After many years of drifting around it's astounding to me that each process is still in my muscle memory and that making a deconstructed hat has been challenging by way of design, but simple by way of execution.
It will be satisfying to use up some of my maker's stash with this and other projects, and I am likely to show them at an open studio event sometime this year ahead so if you're interested in something already made keep your eyes open round Springtime. If you see yourself needing some type of garment, traditional make, deconstructed or cowpunk send a DM anytime.
#millinery #leathercraft #designandmake
A recent studio cleanup has revealed some ancient treasures!! Here I am doing a fur stitch by hand to create something that, people who know me would know as a trademark look come wintertime. First I make the shell, then I make the lining, and just because I am going to decorate it in a cowpunk style. Cowpunk is where country and rock and roll intersect, and having walked both sides of the line it's a style that's served me well over the years despite trying various disguises, fads and trends it's said "you can take a person out of the country but you'll never take the country out of a person!"
After more than 20 years after losing my first studio and working hard to regain real estate, rhythm and resources I am delighted to be starting up some new projects. Moral of this story is, never trust your parent/s they have the power to destroy your life and won't even apologise for the fact of wasting 20 years of precious life but, I seek to write a book about my life if writing wasn't such a maddening pursuit. Literally as I spent three months last year writing shows in front of a computer, it's so wierd to spend all day sitting down and have "nothing" to show for it. But the other side of making things, is having to find wearers and buyers for items made.
I am blessed to have outside work and studio work in my life, and I look forward to releasing some more complex creations as most times I am working professionally under confidentiality of an external client. Still, after having many of my designs and concepts ripped off by unimaginative people over the years, I will mostly be selling and making direct to client for people who value one of a kind items that fit and move as good as a birthday suit, only, you will get let into nice venues.
#comeback #handmade #persecutednomore
What do you do with a fairly pricey weather station when a flimsy plastic attachment breaks?
Contact the retailer and buy a new one?
Well, @vevor.official don't believe in selling parts and told me to get a whole new unit. Say what? Nope. It's not just the money, it's the futility of such a flimsy product that I don't want it if it's not going to last a long time.
Thankfully I had found some @loctiteglue Kintsuglue at the local shops and I actually wanted to test it out for making decorative doodads for wizard sticks and buttons and snake hats and all types of artistic things.
But when my weathervane snapped it was a fine day to use a product for its intended purpose: using a plastic compound to repair a plastic item.
I am pleased to say the Kintsuglue did a great job of getting the weathervane to do its job again, which is to sit inside and always point in the direction of the window.
I am displeased that many less resourceful people out there would simply throw their non-biodegradeable lump of plastic into landfill and buy another one. And we wonder why the weather doesn't work properly any more?
Desertification is real and in the near 20 years I've lived in this area, the weather has changed drastically and that's directly due to loss of farmland, trees and open paddocks, and the concretification and urban sprawl of what used to be a nice city, now is a worn out rag overpopulated and full of angry, unhappy people laying off mortgages in angry, unhappy dogbox housing arrangements as they suck down anger and unhappiness and vapid distraction on their phones as they schlep slowly haphazardly, can't even walk with self respect when they're drooling from a digital downer in the hand 24/7.
So it's a real kick to be able to easily repair this device and keep it out of the garbage bin. In my life there's not too many things made of plastic as it's such an unreliable medium.
But, @vevor.official who make a living out of making junk out of plastic: lift your game and sell spare parts.
And thanks always to @loctiteaustralia for supplying great adhesives that save time and money whether it's a vehicle or a weathervane.
#righttorepair #reducereuserecycle
Line is the foundation of shape!
In a drawing, line defines a hard edge.
In timberwork, line defines a hard edge.
In garment marking, line defines the eventual shape of the finished garment.
After months of stop/start toil I have finally "replaced" an item lost in 2005 - my Lycra catsuit pattern. As a commercial pattern purchased from overseas it has required a lot of work to prepare it for use, and a lot of thinking to make sure it goes together correctly.
The paper pattern will get traced back onto cardboard, then the original in the photos will get cut up and shaped for a test garment.
That's about three days work before cutting and sewing the final fabric which is a hard to handle stretch Lycra. But as the old saying goes, "nothing worth doing is easy, and nothing easy is worth doing".
When this project is 21 years delayed, what's another few days of waiting? I don't know. But one thing I do know, is by the end of this project I will be able to re-create Lycra bodysuits for all sizes in a range of fun colours and designs.
#thingsworthfightingfor #garmentmaking #patternmaking
Today the Meerkat draft gets shaped out in timber ply. There's a few things going on here, a limiting factor of the scroll saw is that it has a set throat depth that requires run-off cuts which remove some timber to allow the next pass to go through the machine. Here I am "cheating" the run-off process due to wanting to cut this shape quickly in order to practice finishing techniques, on the first cut.
Next in this process will be making the second cut, using my fine line pattern which has been scanned into the computer. The second cut will refine the run-off cuts which will get marked onto the paper and digital pattern, and allow refinement of the finishing process.
What I am seeking in the long run, is the art of turning photos into line drawings into flattened images on timber. CNC, laser etching, digital printing, vinyl stickers - they have revolutionised these types of images and products but I find them very cold and mechanical processes that produce cold and mechanical products.
For me I don't want to slave over a graphic design programme so that Computer 1 tells Computer 2 how to create a stock standard product. I like to be an artist, using my brain and hands. The computer, social media, creating mass junk, is not of interest.
#scrollsaw #timberwork #artandcraft
After completing an etched letter task on timber as a Christmas gift I decided it was time to go back to basics of lettering and work on getting a nice freehand form for alphabet. If the scale and proportion of characters can be lodged into memory I reckon that's a great way to expand from tattoo and block letters into expanded forms of lettering.
This set of block letters is very rough but I see it as a progress and a lesson in defining subtle shifts of scale and proportion. The old way of lettering has been established by the width of a chisel, or a brush. In pencil, those limitations are removed but the art of lettering still comes down to knowing all the proportions of the English alphabet and, keeping those true across different mediums.
Once the fundamental form is discovered then it will be a case of figuring out again in brushwork, before taking the same discipline back to chiseling on timber.
#lettering #art #english
