Arty Places 2011 : Sandy Hollow

Who could resist this welcoming sign? I was told that this was the place with great coffee and scones but the recommendation didn’t mention the wonderful surprising bonus - the ART!

I visited this really inviting, appealing, quirky and interesting art space last week - David Mahony Art Gallery and Coffee House - in Sandy Hollow on the Golden Highway Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Here are some facts about Sandy Hollow
• Village on the Golden Highway bordering Wollemi National Park
• Overshadowed by the dramatic sandstone hills of the Giant’s Leap
• 255 km north of Sydney, population 140
Sandy Hollow was originally a campsite for travellers at the junction of the Goulburn River Valley and Halls Creek. The surrounding area was settled by pioneering graziers in the 1820s. The town achieved a brief moment of fame when Captain Thunderbolt, the bushranger, held up the Denman-Merriwa mail service in the 1860s.

The tourist website blurb does not mention David Mahony’s sculpture garden or his other artistic endeavours all on display while you sip what one local patron described to us as “the best coffee around”, but I really recommend that you visit David, indulge in the devonshire tea, and spend some time appreciating the art, too.

There were even Australian art works in the toilet.

David also took time to explain the stories which inspired the mosaics - local legends of a female bushranger and the traditional stories of local Aborigines.

As my sister is an “owl collector” I was also engaged by the obvious affinity to owl art - a theme throughout - the advertising, the paintings, the mosaics. Owl afficionados would find this place a sanctuary . There was something very appealing, irreverent and humorous about David's art . My favourite was the “hung “ parliament which was overseen by none other than a larger than life Dame Edna Everidge ( for those non-Australians – our last election created a hung parliament, but certainly not as friendly nor as wise as this owl parliament!)

There is certainly an eclectic mix of art to look at – thanks David for making the change from the banking industry to art – you have provided a wonderfully refreshing highway stop for travellers and local residents.

From this little glimpse of David Mahony’s Art Gallery and Coffee House, it is certainly one stop you too should make on the Golden Highway at Sandy Hollow in 2011.

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Fragments

Some days are just your lucky days - today I was very fortunate and privileged to open the first ever Australian exhibition "Fragments" by UK Fibre Artist Sue Hotchkis . Here is a little about the techniques of this amazing textile artist from her own website ... Working intuitively with print and stitch, marks, textures and colours are exaggerated, intensified to reveal the detail and complexity within the images. Materials are deconstructed using modern methods, ripped, burnt and dyed. Time is invested in their reconstruction; pieces can take from a week to several months to create. Whilst being aesthetically pleasing the work can also act as a metaphor for deterioration and ruin, associated with urban decay and ultimately death and loss. They evolve organically, built up with layers of print, cloth, paper, and stitch into three-dimensional abstract forms that hover between object and image; to create a unique, visual and tactile lan...

Fabric Tags for Tag Tuesday

At Tag Tuesday, this fortnight Sandie is hosting the Steampunk/Mechanical challenge. Although this isn't a theme I usually tackle, Sandie's tags are so fantastic and inspirational that I was motivated to create a tag this afternoon. I had some fabrics on my desk which I discharge dyed last week.and this piece with the addition of a few copper cogs reminded me of " industrial and mechanical" . The way the background fabric was created was by applying bleach gel with a roller over the top of a plastic stencil. The fabric was originally a bluish dark grey cotton, When the bleach had removed the colour, the process was halted with a commercial neutralizing solution called AntiChlor. I have been told that a vinegar solution will also stop the discharge of colour and act as a neutraliser. The metal cogs were stitched on to the fabric by hand. Here are a couple of great resource sites for discharging colour with bleach. - Threads ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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