FEBRUARY 2009

Counter image by Jacob Walker
 		 Welcome to 2009!

Things are hotting up at Craft Victoria! The gallery has kicked off 2009 with two fabulous jewellery exhibitions – a Lisa Walker retrospective that explores notions of wearability and the Melbourne showing of Melinda Young's ongoing project, Take a Ball of Thread... COUNTER has had a facelift over the summer break, with fresh new displays and fresh-faced staff ready to greet you, so come on down and beat the heat!

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Banner image: Lisa Walker, Necklace, 2006.
 
IN THE GALLERY

Lisa Walker
Unwearable
until 7 March 2009
Gallery 1 & 2
Lisa Walker
Unwearable
The Catalogue
Melinda Young
Take a Ball of Thread...
until 7 March 2009
Gallery 3
Curated by Damian Skinner, Unwearable is a provocation. It matters when a jeweller chooses such a confrontational title for an exhibition of work from the past fifteen years. What’s the angle here? What is Walker’s game?

If you are at all familiar with Walker's work, one of New Zealand's most important contemporary jewellery practitioners, you won’t be surprised. The word "unwearable" does what all the best jewellery in this exhibition does when you consider putting it on: it aggressively challenges us on a material, conceptual and sometimes even practical level. Some of Walker’s jewellery is entirely unwearable, but the fact that we keep asking ourselves what would happen if we put it on is important. This is the connection to jewellery that is central to Walker’s practice.

Download the pricelist here.

Lisa Walker is represented by Gallery Funaki.

 This full colour catalogue documents the amazing 16 year history of Lisa Walker’s jewellery practice. It features over 1000 images of Walker’s work, as well as the writings of artists, scholars and curators such as Damian Skinner, Warwick Freeman, Chicks on Speed and Walker herself. Measuring at just over a metre in length when open, each copy of Unwearable has been hand bound in Germany and is a unique collector’s item.

Craft Victoria has a limited number of catalogues available for sale at $230 each.

Interstate shipping can be arranged.

Call Craft Victoria on 03 9650 7775 to order your copy now!

 Melinda Young's Take a Ball of Thread...is an ongoing project exploring the conceptual limits of jewellery. The works in the exhibition have been produced within a set of self-imposed boundaries: each piece must include pink cotton sewing thread from a found industrial spool sourced by the artist; all other materials must be gleaned from whatever is available in the artist's studio; the pieces made must be wearable; the project must cease when the thread runs out.

Take a Ball of Thread... has become a vehicle for pushing and re-working jewellery and craft based techniques. This is the first showing of the project in Melbourne.

Download the pricelist here.

Image: Lisa Walker, Brooch, 2007
Image: Lisa Walker, Unwearable Catalogue
Image: Melinda Young, Bloom 1, 2008
 
enCOUNTER [in the window]

LIGHTLY, Butterflies, 2009		 LIGHTLY
Time to Reflect
until 8 February 2009

Cindy-Lee Davies takes jettisoned domestic plates and redesigns them into products of delight. Time to Reflect exposes times gone by: materials are reinvented from the ordinary and transformed into a seductive, thought provoking collectables.

Gregory Bonasera, The Architect		 Gregory Bonasera
The Architect
9 February – 1 March 2009

Like its predecessor, the limited edition Fruit Tree bowl, The Architect was inspired by the way architects depict trees in plan drawings. A single, simple twig or branch element is repeated six times producing a seductively geometric result from an irregular basic element. Designed to be used as a functional fruit bowl or simply as a decorative piece on a table or mounted on a wall.
 
COUNTER


Melinda Young, Acrylic Rings $55, Butterfly Pendant $88
bartley
Flower Clocks Zaishu $350

 New in store

COUNTER welcomes Sydney-based jeweller Melinda Young. To coincide with her current exhibition, Take A Ball of Thread… we have a colourful selection of acrylic rings and pendants in store.

Also new to COUNTER is South Australian ceramicist Jane Robertson, who has created an elegant body of porcelain and stoneware tableware.

We are delighted to introduce Claire Faulmann's geometrically formed brooches and earrings. A recent graduate from the NMIT jewellery course, she is definitely one to watch!
 

Just in store – a fresh batch of Zaishus, including the new “Flower Clocks” print by Bird Textiles. The artwork features indigo flower clocks, brown vine leaves and peat green seed polka. Can be used as a seat or a table!

And the COUNTER girls can't wait to sample the collaborative “nibbles” by Queenslanders Shannon Garson and Rebecca Ward. This porcelain and silver jewellery range is inspired by food – expect cupcakes, iced vo-vo’s and all things yummy!
 
CRAFT HATCH

Meaghan Barbuto, Cards		 Craft Hatch Emerging Designers' Market

Held on the second Saturday of each month, Craft Hatch is a market that showcases the work of student and emerging designers. Craft Hatch is a rare opportunity for you to purchase the freshest, hand-made products direct from the designer; including homewares, metal and polymer jewellery, purses, badges, clothing and more. With a strong environmental consciousness, many of the featured artists have re-crafted found, common and recycled materials into practical, contemporary craft.

Upcoming market dates for your diary are Saturday 14 February, Saturday 14 March and Saturday 11 April 2009 from 11.00am – 4.00pm at the City of Melbourne's City Library, 253 Flinders Lane. Featured February stallholders include: Meaghan Barbuto, Box Hill TAFE Jewellery, Moj Habibi, Myf Kemp, Janine Kleynhans, Cate Lawrence, Christiane Poulos, Catherine Preston, Samantha Thompson and Studio Hip (Damien Hipwell and Jacqueline Cuijpers).

 
CRAFTBASE

Amy Wright, Triffid, 2008 		New makers on Craftbase

Craftbase, our online imagebank, continues to attract new Professional Members. Last month's new designer/makers are:

Alana Clifton-Cunningham, Fibre
Brydie Dyson, Jewellery
Barbara Gambin, Jewellery
Paul Mills, Metal
Sophie Milne, Ceramics
Carolyn Roberts, Art Objects
Jasmine Targett, Glass/Art Objects
Clare Vivian, Ceramics
Amy Wright, Fibre/Paper

Craft Victoria encourages all Professional Members to get involved and showcase their work to an international craft and design audience. For more information, download the Craftbase Userguide or contact Craft Victoria.

View Craftbase online.

 
CRAFT VICTORIA EVENTS

Craft Victoria Memberships
Half-price rates now apply

Half-yearly rates have been implemented for Craft Victoria Memberships that expire 30 June 2009.

This year, there is a renewed program of members’ events, including sessions on retail and exhibition development. As a Craft Victoria member, you have access to exhibition, retail, grant and residency opportunities relevant to the craft and design sector. Professional members can also benefit from free professional development consultations, by appointment, with Craft Victoria staff including the Retail and Sector Development Manager and the Coordinating Curator (usually $45 inc. GST per ½ hour).

To read more about the benefits of Craft Victoria Memberships, including our Members Discount Program, visit our website.

Join online now.

Make It, Design It, Fund It

An information session discussing how to apply for an exhibition, how to prepare a funding proposal and why exhibition design is so important. Speakers include:
Anita Budai, Exhibition Designer, Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Christabel Harvey, Arts Development, Arts Victoria
Nella Themelios, Coordinating Curator, Craft Victoria

Date: Monday 23 February 2009 6-7.30pm
Venue: Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Bookings: 03 9650 7775
Cost: $10 / Free to Craft Victoria Members

Use this session to help you prepare a proposal for Craft Victoria's 2010 Exhibition Program.
 
Call for Exhibition Proposals
Craft Victoria 2010 Exhibition Program

Craft Victoria is now accepting exhibition proposals for the first half of 2010. Individuals and groups are welcome to apply. Proposals are examined by an exhibition committee with representatives from each of the major media. We encourage applicants to attend Make It, Design It, Fund It at Craft Victoria for advice on preparing an exhibition proposal, or contact Craft Victoria's Coordinating Curator Nella Themelios.

Download the Exhibition Proposal Guidelines here.
Deadline:Monday 30 March 2009

Jewellery Workshop
Melinda Young: Ball of Thread

Create wearable jewellery from your own ball of thread. Participants will need to bring a reel of medium-heavy weight cotton or poly/cotton sewing thread, a pair of sharp sewing scissors, a packet of sewing needles in mixed sizes and a selection of small found objects that the thread in some way. 

Date:Saturday 7 March 2009 1-4pm
Venue: Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Bookings: 03 9650 7775
Cost: $15 Craft Victoria Members/ $25 Non-members

 
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
Pablo Fanque
Anna Davern: Rocks

In a departure from Anna Davern's previous body of work where she used imagery from found metal containers, the Melbourne-based jewellery artist has printed and adhered pictures to steel using the technique of sublimation. "I’ve created oversized fake versions of traditional styles of jewellery. It’s kind of an homage to one of the initial tenets of Contemporary jewellery which was to react against the use of precious materials. These works are also an alternative to the real thing at a time when the real thing may no longer be affordable."

Dates: 3 – 14 February 2009
Venue: 1 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW

 

 c3 contemporary art space
Colour Accord

This group exhibition features jewellery and small sculptures by a number of artists, including Craft Victoria members Jill Hermans, Deirdre Hoban, Felicity Large, Regina Middleton, Nicole Oostwoud, and Jasmine Targett. Consideration of colour is the binding theme of the exhibition. The outcomes are diverse and unique, demonstrating the influence of colour on each artist's practice.

Dates: 4 – 22 February 2009
Venue: Abbotsford Convent, Gallery 1, The Basement, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
 
Skepsi on Swanston
Owen Rye

An exhibition of new work by renowned ceramicist, Owen Rye. Rye aims to achieve an irregular organic quality in his vessels, embracing the distortions and flaws created during the woodfiring process.

Dates: 10 February – 7 March 2009
Venue: 670 Swanston Street, Carlton

 Geelong Art Gallery
Nicholas Jones: The garden of forking paths

Nicholas Jones has been making artworks from books for the past decade. This exhibition features works made over the last five years. Altered books have been folded, cut, torn and sewn to create intricate sculptural forms.

Dates: 14 February – 19 April 2009
Venue: Little Malop Street, Geelong
 
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The information in the Craft Almanac is subject to change. Although we attempt to ensure that the content at the time of publication is correct, we do not guarantee its accuracy or currency. Craft Victoria accepts no responsibility to you or anyone else arising from any use or reliance on the information contained in the Craft Almanac or any inaccuracy in the information.

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Craft Victoria is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria, and through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative
of the Australian, State and Territory Government; and the City of Melbourne.