Skip to main content

Arty Places #11 : Maitland NSW


" Welcome to Maitland in the beautiful Hunter Valley. Maitland is made up of a patchwork of places, townships, colourful communities and immense history. As you explore the various destinations on offer you will notice the uniqueness and warmth which makes Maitland, Hunter Valley the wonderful area it is.... "  This is what  is written for tourists to Maitland, but nothing is said of  its art culture.
 I had a wonderful day in Maitland last Sunday. The Hunter Art Bazaar had its annual Winter event in the grounds of the Maitland Regional Art Gallery. With over 70 stalls of high quality hand made creations, the bazaar was such a stimulating and inspiring experience. I particularly loved the colourful fibre and felt wearables and was drawn to the outstanding quality silver jewellery and handcrafted silver art pieces - so much artistic talent in one place! 
photos courtesy of Bobbi Oliver 
It is always such  a great opportunity to catch up with friends and to chat with the artists. 
Bobbi and Jane -LamboArt 
I also took the opportunity to wander through the gallery - something I always promise to do more often.
image from http://mrag.org.au/
And if all that wasn't enough arty-ness for one day,we stopped for a late" lunch" at the Central Park Cafe at the Information Centre which offered another arty  surprise - an exhibition of knitted "local produce" by the Maitland Knitters. Every imaginable vegetable, fruit and even bottles of preserves in wool... I added an image of a little pattern book I found because I just wanted to come home and knit a whole vegetable garden. 

I also want to add that the food at Central Park Cafe was beautiful - highly recommended ! And the view from our table on the verandah was fascinating, too-  art on tree poles which also register the Maitland flood levels of the past. This park called Ministers' Park( named after the government ministers who have planted trees here  during  visits to Maitland)  has long been a favourite park of our grandchildren, but it was lovely to sit back with a cuppa and admire with fresh wonder what beauty there is locally! 


Labels:

Comments

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 Anonymous comments will not be published.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

Gourd Art

Last week, I rediscovered a few gourds "drying" in our garage... In fact, I was searching for them after doing a doll making workshop where we transformed gourds into doll bodies, with the addition of polymer clay and apoxie sculpt.  I have researched a little to identify the gourds I have - they seem closest to the water jug shape gourds. The gourds we used in the workshop were Chinese bottle gourds.  my gourd doll - a flower child /hippy fiddler?  Workshop dolls - Christmas sprite by Jane Lambert , and my doll  Flower doll also completed in the workshop by Lee Hennequin  Balloon seller - gourd art doll by tutor, Janice Laurent  Working with gourds made me very curious about the history and cultivation of gourds. A  gourd   is a plant of the family  Cucurbitaceae  or the fruit of the two genera of "calabash tree" .  The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some witho...
1 comment
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 15 - Diamonds Forever!

How much would you pay for a Christmas  fruitcake?  The world's most expensive fruit cake has been estimated at $1.65 million. Yesterday, I wrote about the less than positive term "Christmas cake as it is applied to unmarried women, so again it amazed me that  in Tokyo, this most exquisite and expensive Christmas cake was created. It took six months to design and another full month to construct. The beautiful cake is fully edible ... that is except for the 223  real diamonds  used as decoration. This cake was part of an exhibition called Diamonds: Nature's Miracle  and was one of 16 exhibits showcasing creative ways with diamonds . Apparently, the cake was auctioned, fetching $1.65 million US. While there have been other very expensive diamond encrusted cakes since this one in 2005 with estimated values of up to $75 million, this Japanese designed cake was the forerunner of the extravagant diamond studded wedding cakes in the higher price r...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christmas Countdown 3 ; Christmas tree # 23 - Mannequins and Motors

Mannequin   and Mercedes Benz logo Christmas trees  Advent Blog Day 23 - Mannequins and Motors ... or... What does a Mannequin have in common with a Mercedes Benz?   I have been in such a dilemma as I have so few days left and so many Christmas trees I want to feature.  So, in the spirit of balance today, I've combined a couple of categories into the theme of Mannequins and Motors -   winsome wonders and winning wheels ....  Mannequin and motor oil   Christmas trees  Hubcaps and Mannequin Christmas trees  Not satisfied with auto parts? Decorate with the whole car....  Mannequin and Mini Cooper cars Christmas trees  And tyres seem to be a popular choice and somehow they go beautifully with these 'green' mannequin trees...  Tyres and red ribbons  Tyres and baubles on mannequin Christmas trees  Red bird  wire form and sparkly tyres  Ch...
Post a Comment
Read more