Skip to main content

Contemporary Craft Retreat - Canberra

Tranquil surroundings, creative and talented participants and good organization are ingredients for a great event. The Contemporary Craft Retreat was not just a great event – it was an exciting and inspirational learning experience. Congratulations must go to Lex Sorrentino, the coordinator of the retreat, who seemed to think of everything anyone might need, right down to extra cakes of soap and lolly bags for the tutors!
I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to lead two workshops. One was  the Bio Bowl – a wet felted vessel inspired by biological beauty.


The second was Message Sticks and Spirit Art Dolls with many beautiful imaginative and creative interpretations of my wrapped message stick art doll. I’m not sure anyone used  the collected wise sayings as messages,  but the dolls were inspirational on their own.


 

 

We were also privileged to see some amazing “show and tell”. This beautiful art doll by Janice Laurent was created with a bottle as an armature, and what you can’t see in this photo below are the tiny circus dolls inside the bottle. You will see this beautiful doll  in Art Doll Quarterly to be published in February 2012. Weren't we fortunate to see it "in the flesh" in Canberra?

Demonstrations from various tutors each night were also popular and enjoyable. Here is my friend Hector Vera (Vera Designs) demonstrating the art of kumihimo.



Most of all, it was a weekend of fun, friendship and free expression, so please don't miss  the 2012 Retreat :12-14 October 2012. More  news and more photos of the retreat  are on Facebook
And will the stick doll workshop participants ever look at ordinary garden sticks in the same way again?

Comments

  1. What a wonderful example of a blog page Wilma. You share your stories with such affection for the work and those who attended and organised the retreat and your wonderful array of photos are such an inspiration to us all. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoyed looking at your photos and I would have loved to have been there too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So attractive arrangement.Well done carry on.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons   The work for the "Stitched Up " Project  continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood  Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours.  Trimmed and cut if necessary  Ends sealed with matte sealing solution.  Drying  - solution goes on white but dries clear.  First wrapping - foil to create a body shape  Second wrapping - stretch fabric.  Third wrapping - fabric strips  Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to come.  Follow thi

May I Present Mrs Chalumeau...

Finally Mrs Chalumeau takes a bow …She is a Pearly Queen … 695 buttons on the doll and 10 on the journal.(I think – could be more). I would like to thank Paula from Antiques and Collectables here in Hamilton, Newcastle and Raku Buttons ETSY seller for supplying me with about 500 of the vintage mother of pearl buttons, and the rest I had in my stash. I think they look great on my pearly queen, but I am truly tired of sewing on buttons. It made me think however, how many buttons must be on the elaborate clothes of the real pearly Kings and Queens! I drew my inspiration from the lovely lady pictured here, and the following description from Wikipedia. ... A Pearly King ( feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's wealth. .... This doll is all cloth – a little different from most of my other dolls which generally h

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

  Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape  Background : The Golden Cape is a collaborative project for ATASDA members and it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ATASDA in 2024. 50 present day members have  received  an image of one of 50 yesteryear members artworks, to use as a muse, to create new artwork based on the past. Inspiration can come from textures, colours, style, design, subject, culture or history of the original artwork.  The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable .   The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.  Vine  (Exotica 2009 ATASDA exhibition ) : Norma Warnecke Meg Buchtmann chose Norma Warnecke's 2009 artwork shown in the ATASDA  exhibition "Exotica" as her inspiration for her contribution to the golden cape project .  Golden Cape panel 2023 : Meg Buchtmann Taken with the colour combinations and the 3D natur