the master class.

Happy Queens birthday Long weekend everyone!

{or should I say.... everyone in Australia who in enjoying a public holiday Monday!}

For many it has been a - how should I put this - ' a somewhat difficult' weekend. Difficult for the fact that it has been cold, wet, grey and to top it off, disrupted with volcanic ash and flight delays from Australia to New Zealand. So - yes - I think difficult could be an apt word to describe the last few days. At the other end of the scale, Ive been pottering away at home, and at work, while being stared at by a sad little dog who is desperate for a walk and a sniff....!

So in light of the weather, and the grey colours of the day, I thought I would try my hardest to lift the mood, and the colour palette, and post my images from the amazing Sunday I had last week, where for a few hours in the afternoon, I listened, learned and watched some artists' display their talents at Manly Art Gallery in Sydney.
As you can see... the exhibition is called Kuru Alala 'Eyes Open', and it is a group exhibition that includes the Tjampi Desert Weaver Women, Colombian/Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Alison Clousten. The exhibition consists of multi-textured artworks that respond to a series of bush trips and artists' camps held in 2008-9 in the Ngaanyatjarra and Pitantjatjara Lands near Central Australia.
And for me, the woven installations of the Tjampi women were what I wanted to see... as each intricately woven work went on to describe bush stories and rituals of daily life, in outback communities that I am yet to see.
But the icing on the cake was when we were let loose with bus grass, raffia and the expert advice of the Tjampi women, and let loose on the gallery floor to make our own animal sculptures and woven forms!

Within moments animal creatures started to appear and it was so fantastic to watch....

Then some of us tried our hand at these new skills....

But it was tricky... and the finished articles of the Tjampi women were a class above...

So then it was our turn to weave.... in all the colours of the rainbow...

And make a mess on the blue tarpaulin sheets on the floor!

Some had more fun tearing open the bundles of raffia than weaving... And I don't blame them...

But for many of us, it was a privilege to watch, learn and play....

Love this shot of the hands working furiously with the materials.... trying to make sense of it all!

Leaning in for advice...

to try and make....

..... something!

The beginning of my 'something' is on the left of this image. And in the end it was just a fun afternoon, sitting on the floor of an art gallery on a lazy Sunday afternoon....

Enjoy the rest of your day and keep warm and dry! x