Weekend : Work or Play

Model United Nations Delegates and Secretyary -General

My schedule for last weekend:
Friday and Saturday : Secretary -General, Model United Nations Assembly, Muswellbrook ( in the upper Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia)
Saturday night: Miriam Margolyes Performance, Dickens' Women in Civic Theatre, Newcastle
Sunday : Workshop, teaching an updated version of the message stick art doll. Newcastle.
Much of this may be considered "work" but it was all so enjoyable, I think it could be said I have had a weekend of "play". . However, it was still an over-scheduled weekend and I still felt tired....

Model United Nations Assembly 2012

The Model United Nations Assembly is an initiative of Rotary District 9670 where senior students come together, as representatives of member nations of the United Nations. The delegates debate world issues from the point of view of their designated countries - a very difficult task, but executed with great knowledge, understanding, some diplomacy and a lot of lobbying and negotiation. As Secretary- General, my role is to moderate the debates and I was certainly "kept on my toes" throughout the Assembly with many well - constructed and strategic approaches, some complicated amendments, and always keen debate, discussion and argument. Congratulations to the delegations representing Timor Leste and Cyprus for outstanding debating, and although it seems hard to believe , the winner of the Peace Prize was Russia, for their efforts in promoting world peace . In this assembly Russia articulated some strong proposals as resolutions to difficult global problems. I always come home from this, thinking perhaps we should hand over governance to young people?

We then drove a couple of hours to get back to Newcastle in time for the theatre. At midnight, after coming home from the performance, I was still setting up for Sunday's workshop, so I was hoping that I had done enough for the day to run smoothly. What a wonderful day it turned out to be. We started off by having a stroll in the bush near our place to find some sticks to create message sticks art dolls. It was a beautiful sunny and crisp Autumn morning ( by the afternoon, it was wet, windy and cold...) And then we talked, laughed and created for the rest of the day ( and of course,we ate a cake or two! )

Workshop demonstration supplies

Workshop set up - participants' kits.

Workshop assistant preparing morning tea.

Wrapping - concentration+

Unique dolls created in the workshop

Each participant created in her own style.

As a footnote, I must also recommend experiencing the highly acclaimed Miriam Margolyes' performance of Dickens' Women - outstanding, entertaining, fascinating and intriguing . As another critic puts it " ...her unique ability to deliver everything she promises is without parallel. Margolyes has been pretty amazing for decades, these days superlatives are inadequate." - Stagenoise.com.

Phew ... what a great weekend!

Too Precious to Waste

Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons More than a year ago, a decision was made. The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2] A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that

'Anything Goes" and It Does Matter.

When 'anything goes", does it follow that "nothing matters" ? .... I think not. When I interpret "anything goes", I think it means taking a few risks and experiment, but also care about what you are doing and finding a purpose in the process. Currently, the Tag Tuesday theme is "Anything Goes" ... This describes my daily art practice at the moment. I am doing #the100dayproject and each day I am responding to weekly published colour prompts #coloricombo, curated by artist, Este McLeod. During the last week, the suggested colours were jade green, primrose, vermillion and purple grey. Each day, I've been trying to experiment with colour and technique with the goal of developing and learning. Here are some of the tags I created using these colours, or at least as close as I could manage with stuff from my stash... I have titled these "Fragments from Afar" as all of them feature an image or a postage stamp from somewhere far from

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 wrapping str

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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