Learning to slow down

It has been all go here at our bricks and mortar store the past few weeks. I have been BUSY and am still in that slightly manic head space of lists of things to do and projects to complete.
We have officially moved shops and are now inhabiting the shop next door to the original Red Brick Gallery  at 216 Skipton St, Ballarat. This new, lighter, fresher space is now home to the 'new and improved' Red Brick.

We have been working late into the evenings to renovate the new space, painting and plastering, writing signage, re-covering the awning, making shelves and finding new homes for stuff in the store room.
 But finally we are there, the new exhibition is installed, the shop is all in place and it's been a busy weekend trading.

There's still lots to be done behind the scenes (you don't want to see the disaster zone in the back rooms) but I am officially exhausted.

I came back from my overseas trip with a fresh perspective that I'm having problems implementing... I have soooo many projects, ideas and DIY's that I want to achieve. So many home and business improvements I want to make. When I think about how I would like my business to be, for my home to look, for my garden to thrive, there is always so much WORK to be done that its makes me feel.... Unproductive. Unsuccessful.

 I have realised that I spend waaay too much of life worrying about the NEXT thing to be done, too much time spent looking ahead thinking about the next job, what's still to be achieved. There is no room in my head for acknowledging and celebrating my achievements thus far and this is no good. I need to sit back, relax and pat myself a little on the back.

So that's what I'm going to do this week.... once I have put up those shelves, installed the washing machine, painted another coat of paint of the bathroom floor, planted some seeds, fertilised the garden, taken a load to the tip, hung the door, made some window boxes and sorted out my studio. Hahaha.

Small Works prize 2012

It's that time of year again and we are opening entries for our annual Ballarat Small Works Prize.
We will be accepting all works in any medium at or under 30 x 30 cm in dimension. Last years exhibition saw nearly 100 works and this year is looking to be bigger and better. If you are interested in submitting works,don't be shy and hop over to the downloadable application form on our website. We are encouraging all to exhibit as this is an excellent change to show your work in an affordable way, with many gallery visitors and is an excellent way for artists of all levels of experience to show their works.

I will be working on a new paper cutting for the show (which of course won't be entered for judging) as I often need this kind of prompt to create new works I'm 'deadline orientated' in that way. How about you?

Meet: Aislinnn McKinnis

Aislinn McKinnis is a local artist and neighbour of ours who works in the most incredible coloured embroideries, I First met Aislinn at a 'crafternoon' last year and was mesmerised watching her work.

Determined to give it a go myself, Aislinn gave me some fabric and swatches of yarn and I got cracking! Although it was heaps of fun free-forming the design I found myself struggling to break out of the grid-like structure of the embroidery fabric and turned to Aislinn for some lessons.

On the 8th of June Aislinn is exhibiting with us alongside Pauline O'Shanessy-Dowling in a show called 'Fandango'. Both of these artists work in vibrant colours and free-form designs, yesterday I watched her work on the below piece and had fun taking pics of her working.

To begin Aislinn ties a simple knot in a length of yarn and beginning from the back she works stitches into the grid, in this piece she works stitches just one little grid length long, in others she might work longer stitches.  I learnt that to reduce the visual spaces between stitches she places the needle in the little space between the larger grid hole. (see the pic below)

My fave bit to watch is tying off the ends, using a simple granny knot she slides it close to the work using her needle, and then weaves the end into the work before cutting off.

It might seem annoying at the time, but the below examples show how much more 'compact' the back becomes if you take care of this little detail. It makes it so much easier to mount or frame once you are complete. Another handy hint is to leave a boarder of a few inches to make hanging or framing simpler too.

It's interesting to meet an artist working in colour through textile, rather than a textile artist working in colour... does that make sense? I can't wait to hang 'Fandango' and see the collaboration currently in progress. Keep posted for photos of that process.

Yesterday was my 'weekend' and I had a great day, I will be posting what we got up to tomorrow. Till then,

X Steph

Paper cuts

Marcia wrote a very complimentary post about me a few weeks ago and mentioned that I cut paper. I do indeedy and now my exhibition is out the way I have been working on some new designs for a range of gift cards. This post is really also my weekly Instagram update as I have captured my cuts-in-progress using my alltime fave app. I have discovered you can also view Instagram on the web at webstagram.com you can find me as theredbrick.

There is something so magical for me about using such simple materials to produce a design. You should try it, I promise its lots of fun!
x Steph

SHOUT OUT

The Ballarat Small Works Prize opens tomorrow (Sat 9th of July) at 3pm. I can't let this show open without doing a massive shout out and thankyou to RU Advertising in Ballarat who are sponsoring the main prize for this competition.  Without the support of businesses like RU Advertising, we wouldn't be able to hold events like this.

RU Advertising is a progressive and award-winning agency with extensive media and design experience. Local, national and global organisations rely on the passion and expertise of their community-spirited advertising agency to deliver an integrated communications solution that is creative, consistent, targeted and results-driven.

RU advertising is another example of the amazing services Ballarat has to offer.

http://www.ruadvertising.com.au/

- Marce

Monochrome

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Valentines window last week, I love a bit of schmaltz and all those lovey-dovey Valentines sentiments left me feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Today has been a lovely, slow Sunday and I have been planning for tomorrow when we will be building our new window. I have been taking the opportunity to make a mountain of these beautiful paper flowers.

I am constantly inspired by the amazing window displays created in London and Paris. Department stores Libertys of London, Harrods and Printemps are always enthralling me with their ever enchanting windows.

Real, inspired window dressing is an art form I miss. As a little girl I would love gazing at the spectacular Harvey Nicholls windows, sadly Ballarat is a little lacking in the window department (c'mon Myers... whats going on?!) so I have decided to bring a little Paris to Skipton St. This months window is inspired by Printemps, I'm sure you can guess the literary theme!

 

A Downpour

On Friday night we had our opening for the Red Brick Group Show, a really fun evening and a great opportunity for us to connect with so many different artist working in different media. The night also came to an exciting end when a deluge hit and water began lapping at our doorsteps!

We snaffled some sandbags from some local roadworks (thank you Ballarat council!) and crossed fingers for the night. Perspective is a valuable tool and knowing that so many people and communities across the country are suffering so much worse makes me thankful we are getting away lightly.

 (Image courtesy of The Courier... I couldnt share the pic they took of my car drowning!)

  So to be be positive, I really did have the best time last night. So great to meet and chat with so many artists and their entourages, family and friends. One of our visitors was Amy who graciously hosted us on her radio show The Tinderbox last week. Sometimes you meet people who are good at getting things done and Amy and her fabulous sister Lauren are those folk. Passionate about the arts and equally as focused you can hear these girls on Ballarats Voice fm, 99.9 on Thursdays from 6-9pm.
They are also running and an exciting project for Ballarats' heritage week and are currently calling for artists to participate. get in touch with them if you are interested.

Red Brick Group Show

A wise sage once said that if you wish to make a living baking bread, don't open a bakery. If you do, you will be making a living running a bakery instead, and that is a very different kettle of fish indeed. You will have to pay someone else to bake bread because you won't have time yourself and there will be no bread-baking joy there at all!

 This is a fairly obvious statement, however once it was a revelation to me and mulling that comment over made me really THINK about what it actually was in life that I enjoyed doing the absolute most!

The answer seemed obvious at first, I love to create stuff, to draw and make and to teach. One might have thought combining these things would equate to the perfect job, but after several years of teaching my first passion of ceramics did a great job of killing that joy for me. The last thing I wanted to do at the end of a day in the studio was work with clay!

So I got to thinking, what do I REALLY love to do? The answer is clear. I love to talk. I love to meet new people, form new connections, share the things I love with others and be inspired in return. I love beautiful objects, handmade with love, I love meeting the people behind theses creations, forming collaborations and connecting people to make wonderful, creative things happen!

And so, I have set about making Red Brick blossom. I work with a really amazing woman who is as passionate about the arts as I am and we have combined our talents to try and make something special happen, create a space which is creative, and welcoming, and most importantly a hub to help connect all those exciting and talented spokes that we meet along the way.

Anyway, to cut to the chase I am proud to announce the inaugural Red Brick group Show! Our first show to pool the collective creativity of our region and beyond. An opportunity to celebrate what can happen when we come together, new bonds to forge, new relationships to build, new ideas to share. How terribly exciting and fun! I can't wait until the opening on Friday at 6pm, to celebrate all that is great and creative about Ballarat!

We have many more events like this in the pipeline, in many different formats but all with the aim of give art a home in Ballarat, and I can't wait to meet you there!
-Steph