Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Often,  after I have repeatedly made artworks especially art dolls , I wonder why I have done them in a particular style, shape or colour.  Lately, I have been in a 'blue" mood....  This week I made a couple of dolls , These are stick dolls in the style I made quite a few years ago.   Why blue? Was I thinking of the sea and/or sky? This seems rather unlikely as I am not a lover of swimming or beaches and the sky has mostly been grey during the last month. Perhaps sapphires, blue topaz and aquamarine are in my subconscious . While we respond to colour differently, blue appears to be universally associated with calm, serenity, peace and stability.  Some further information is interesting as a cue to the answer to the question of why create in blue?  Blue is  often linked to creativity . A possible reason this takes place is due to the physiological responses evoked by the color. Blue lowers blood pressure and thus slows down heart rate. Under these ...

I Here is flashback to a couple of  years ago - one of the most popular posts and one of my favourites... I hope you enjoy reading it again. I am soon to re photograph these dolls for a publication, so it was timely to republish this post.  Sunday, July 9, 2017 Wednesday's Children and Others. STITCHED UP is now in its third week of exhibition and breaking all records of visitors - such an overwhelming response - so it is inevitable that a few people have had their photos taken with Wednesday's children,  the stick doll installation.... First of all, Ben, a member of the amazing installation team at The Lock-Up. Thanks for taking such care installing 'the girls' - the digital laser level worked wonders and did I hear you talking to a few them?  Ben from the  installation team The Lock-Up  Wednesday's children up on the wall.  Then, of course , my own family - not all posit...

This time last year was a frantic time of preparing for the "Stitched Up" exhibition opening at "The Lock Up" Newcastle, NSW , Australia.  Here is a beautiful visual record of the memorable experience of being involved in this exhibition and honouring 193 previously forgotten girls from The Newcastle Industrial School 1867-1871.  Thanks to co curator, Anne Kempton from Timeless Textiles Gallery,  Nancy Crawford for the narration of this video ( Nancy is one of the featured artists in this exhibition ) and Konrad Breuers for the video imagery.  Thank also to all the artists who participated in this project and to Jane Ison, whose research made this project possible and real.  Wilma Simmons ( Co-curator, Stitched Up ) 

I woke up this morning with a shock - it is February! Not sure what happened to January.... It's been a busy week - top of  my "to do" list was to do some preparation for the Wise Women Exhibition, which I will be curating to celebrate International Women's Day. The opening is on 8 March and the advertising goes out this week. The photo above is of some "almost finished" art dolls which will be included in the exhibition. Participants in my "Wise Women" workshop will also be displaying their work. Here is one of them - a fantastic result from a beginner doll maker! To find out more about these workshops  before the exhibition -  please check  Timeless Textiles I have also just managed to keep up with the blog group challenge  Tag Tuesday . I struggled a bit with both the themes "White" and  "Vintage" but in the end was fairly happy with my tags.   I tried some different techniques with this vintage one - a ph...

I promise every year that I will be organised for Christmas and for our grandchildren's birthdays in December. It's happened again ... I am not ready. Only a few cards made of course,  none ready to post. And  I just "got over the line"  with a few extra things made for my friend's Christmas Boutique Sale  last Saturday. We had a great day.  My stick dolls were perhaps a little out of place amongst the absolutely beautiful fine embroidery, but they were all sold so they must have had some appeal. My own favourite was joyous one ( between the two green ones in the photo below)  - wrapped in sari ribbon and nurturing a baby dragon. Going with the popular trends, what seemed to appeal the most of my items were the matryoshka doll brooches, so I am currently making more for the Handmade Treasures Sale in a fortnight. Owls were also popular including my very large and heavy doorstop owl and the little owl families, made from hand printed fabric by...

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 bo...