we craft this city!

Happy new week everyone!
I hope you had a lovely and restful weekend?
Yesterday I was at Object Gallery....working...
But also crafting!
How?...{I hear you ask}
Well... Its all there for me at Object, tied togther with the latest exhibition in the main gallery space, which is called we craft this city!
The exhibition was curated by Kate Ford and featured artists' such a Craft Cartel, Loopy, Knitty Gritty + Ebony Bizys aka Hello Sandwich who I have talked about here before...

The show opened a couple of weeks ago with a lovely morning tea
...which was a great change of pace for the gallery, that is used to wine, beer and lashings of 7pm speeches!!

Look at all the lovely goodies that greeted me when I entered the space on the Long weekend!

This was after the official launch so the brown paper looks a little rough around the edges...so I can only imaging how lovely it all looked when it was initially spread out! The gallery and office ladies did a brilliant job baking...and alot of the recipes were found in the Frankie publication called Afternoon Tea!

Along with all the baked goods... Kate had organised a series of free crafting events, so people could get there hands working on some lovely crafting items. The workshops were conducted by some of the participating exhibition artists', so it was great to get fresh ideas and helpful instruction on how to make a few of the objects that were in the show!

Many of the pieces were also constructed using recycled materials...

so it all had a lovely sustainable message too!

I met this lady while she was busy weaving

and she showed me her tattoo which says...

'Hand Made!'

Now that is dedication to the cause!!

Every one was getting stuck right in which was so great to see...

People from all walks of life, kids, and artists' and gallery staff... all crafting together on the big table!

In the foreground of this shot you can see Ebony Bizys crocheting while being flocked by kids! She was definitely the kids favourite...

When it was getting really busy...

people were spreading out into the gallery space...

to chat..

to weave...
But I should show you a little of the we craft this city exhibition, which was a kaleidoscope of colour, texture, political thought, and of course, fun!

Bang bang bang!

Craft Cartel go off!!

These pieces were absolutely amazing...

Sticks of dynamite...

all weaved!

I love the gold tinsel at the bottom that is made to look like a spark...

so clever...

Love these grenades too..

all wrapped up in wooden crates!

Its the attention to detail

that makes this brilliant!

Craft Cartel aka Casey Jenkins + Rayna Fahey are two Melbourne ladies who formed a craft collective in 2007 in order to celebrate craft but craft that is a little bit different! They love to subvert and challenge peoples stereotypes and opinions on what craft can be, while creating a political voice of protest to causes that they passionately believe in such as logging + pulp mills. They call it craftivism and its definitely different!

They are lovely ladies and if you would love to get involved you can log into their website and learn how to make some of these sticks of dynamite and find out when+where their next events will be....

And to their right....

on the main gallery wall...

we couldn't have more of a contrast!

Its the paper installation of Hello Sandwich!
Its quirky, colourful, japanese inspired fun!

I love it!

And Ebony is a lovely person to boot! I meet her that Saturday and she was happy to be back in Sydney and happy to meet new people, open a few exhibitions, and simply craft!
Im always checking out her blog as I'm in love with all things Japanese at the moment...!
So it was great to see what papers and materials she had brought with her from Tokyo and hear about her transition into Japanese life...

Im alittle jealous...!!

And then there was C.O.L.O.U.R!!!

This is where my crafting skills went!

Into working with the ladies who make up the Knitty Gritty + Loopy collective!

And I think you can see why...!

Its like I was led to the colour and all the weaving that went with it!!

These pieces were all made using recycled shopping bags... which is genius!

Don't they all look so inviting?!

Like sweets on display in a lolly shop!

And as you can see...

people were getting into all the projects!
And what did I make???

This tiny little object!

I loved making it...

It's addictive once you get started, and Im so glad to have a new crafting skill up my sleeve!

And it fits quite nicely in my tiny hand!

Tiny pocket craft!!

Love it!

Thank you crafting ladies for sharing your skills !!

It was fun, educational, environmental and colourful!!
I hope you enjoyed looking at it too....?!