July 30, 2012March 10, 2013 by Leonie Andrews

Seen in Sydney

While in Newcastle for the Fetish exhibition I took the opportunity to take a quick trip to Sydney to see the Kamisaka Sekka exhibition, Dawn of Modern Japanese Design, at the Art Gallery of NSW.

I’m glad I made the visit to see the exquisite work of this designer. The show is displayed over two floors and is drawn largely from works from the Hosomi Museum in Kyoto.The introduction to the exhibition shows works from a number of artists of the Rinpa School who influenced Sekka’s work.

This plate with decoration by Ogata Kenzan of Chinese bellflowers (1712-1731) is a particular favourite.

I also like the working drawing showing various versions of this plate design by Sekka 1920-30, Kiyomizu Rokubai V, made the plate.

Cigarette case 1920’s, design by Sekka and lacquer by Kamisaka Yukichi.

These pawlonia wood trays with designs of pine trees were high on the list of ‘if I could have one thing from this exhibition…’. Design by Sekka 1920-25.

A woodblock print from the series A World of Things, 1909-10. The original watercolour for this particular print, Plum Blossoms Beside the Eaves, was on display and was thoroughly engaging.

I’ve been working on my own response to the show, tentative steps at present. This design of 100 Flowers, 1903, in brocade for a window curtain caught my attention. I particularly liked the multi-coloured hydrangeas. Each sepal was one colour and was bordered by a second colour

My response, rather brighter, was to make ‘hydrangeas’ in crochet. Not sure how I will use them as yet. I’m using up left over tapestry wool that I found in a Newcastle op-shop.

Closer to Sekka’s painting style are a series of paintings using Japanese pigments I’ve had sitting around my workroom for several years. Time they got used.

July 24, 2012March 10, 2013 by Leonie Andrews

Fetish – Opening Night

Wow the show is up and all the work looks fantastic, thanks to the massive coordinating prowess of curator Eleanor Jane Robinson and hanging help from Clare Weeks (whose beautiful photograph, Noisy Minor appears on the exhibition invitation, see previous post).

Podspace was absolutely jam-packed on opening night and Jen and the other Octapod staff gave us great help in setting up and managing the food and drink.

The opening in full swing!

Seen here in the gallery window are Gazes 1&2 and 3&4, by Eleanor Jane Robinson. These amazing works are all stitched with black thread (no not drawn) and just to add to the degree of difficulty all the stitches are all made vertically.

Here is another of Robinson’s works from The Glimpses series.

Daniel Smith’s work is both quirky and amazingly detailed. The top image is Tension and the one below is Beauty Therapy? His series of small diorama’s are made with scale model figures and quite a bit of imagination. More of Daniel’s work can be seen on his site.

Sylvie Ray’s works added the extra dimension of sound to the show and encouraged interaction with gallery visitors. People were surprised to hear the gentle sound made when the grains in the basin were poured over the porcelain lips in her work Lipsink (above)

Ray’s found object and porcelain Tongue Tired (above) also received a great response and was one of the most commented upon works on the night.

Here is my contribution, The Odd Couple 2, Calling and Washed Up (from left to right).

My apologies for not having good images to show of the work of other artists in the show. These include Sarah Barron’s Muybridge series, complex images using cyanotype and mixed media processes; Rose Turner’s paintings Fecund Phalanges; Sally Dooner’s Mossy Point series, using images composed of delicate shells and bones and her lantern slides of birds; and Gina McDonald’s print series Love Fetishes in Brancusi’s Studio.

It was really good to see that there were plenty of sales across the exhibition on opening night. Music to an artist’s ears!

July 10, 2012 by Leonie Andrews

Fetish

Three shows in a row! which goes some way to explaining why not much is happening on the blog. Far too busy stitching.

Anyway if you are in Newcastle over the next 3 weeks you can see my work, along with that of 8 other artists at Podspace, 401 Hunter St Newcastle from 18 July to 4 August. Opening night is 19 July 6.00 to 8.00pm. Hope you can make it.

Invitation.pdf

June 20, 2012March 10, 2013 by Leonie Andrews

Petite Miniature Textiles

Last weekend was the opening of the Petite Miniature Textiles exhibition held at the Wangaratta Art Gallery, in Victoria.

I was very pleased that my work The Odd Couple had been selected for the show.

There was also a strong showing from other Canberra and region artists with work from Lisa Molvig, Helen Gray, Dianne Firth, Sairi Yoshizawa, Maryann Mussared, Carolyn Sullivan and Rachel Bickovsky.

The work from the 118 participating artists was of a very high standard. There was a strong showing of tapestry artists with some very fine work from Sue Traylen, North South Weaving; Abigail Howells, Wing Details; and Kim McKechnie, Coast.

Other stand out works for me were Anita Larkin’s Things That Howl in the Night, a series of domestic objects that were covered in a felt of wool and human hair; Mandy Gunn’s Unnatural History, made with echidna spines woven onto fishing line; John Parkes‘ Quilt for the Upper Torso, an intensely stitched reclaimed shirt front; and Ilka White’s Billabong Line 1, 2 & 3 created by threading hollow grass stems on fine thread.

Unfortunately there is no catalogue for this exhibition and photography, other than of your own work was forbidden, so you’ll need to go in person, if possible, to see the work. There are some more installation images on the Wangaratta Art Gallery Facebook page.

The show runs until 22 July 2012.
Opening Hours 12-5 Mon-Tues, 10-5 Wed-Fri and 1-4 Sat-Sun.