"Located in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Art Library is home to
over 41,000 sketchbooks from over 130 different countries. Participants
of the project order blank sketchbooks, choose a theme, fill them up and
connect their books online."
I was very excited to participate in the 2018 Sketchbook Project and hope one day to visit the art library myself. My mum also joined me in doing this and there is also a piece by my niece inside also. My sketchbook also went on their traveling tour and it visited Toronto, Chicago and Atlanta.
As part of Artlands 2018, which was held in Bendigo, I participated in Crafting the Merch project which asked you to knit or crochet a scarf for attendants. I had never knitted anything before so I struggled with this for awhile and being left handed I felt it was a lot worse learning something like this.
Using wool from the Bendigo Woolen Mills I finally created something. I had knitted one long stretch of wool and then I used yellow ribbon to connect the ends that allowed the person wearing it to easily slip it over your head. Added a brooch pin with colored pom poms on as an embellishment.
Wonderland is the latest exhibition by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image as part of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces, as well as being a World Premiere. It is officially opened from 5th April until the 7th October.
"Explore the curious, embrace the absurd, believe in the impossible" from ACMI curator Jessica Bram, who worked up to almost two years pulling this exhibition together with Sarah Tutton (another curator) with a team of creatives.
^ Alice in Wonderland, 1910, down the rabbit hole.
The exhibition takes you on an interactive adventure as soon as you open the first door, plus don't forget to pick up your Lost Map of Wonderland, to unlock little animations throughout. Keep a look out for small draws for other hidden Alice gems.
^ A small selection of what can be found in Wonderland.
You will find more than 300 unique pieces from around the world including film posters to original concept work, even costumes from Tim Burton's 2010 film version, animation cells and props. There is also a digital Mad Hatter's Tea Party which runs for about 4 minutes which was quite interesting with how they incorporated moving visuals to create a different experience.
Lewis Carroll's vision came to life in the first screen adaptation in 1903 by Cecil M Hepworth, a British film maker and has since been in over 40 films and 30 television programs. Alice has remained an inspiration and an iconic figure in literature. T2 are a principle sponsor for this exhibition and very fitting. They have created a limited edition tea to go with Wonderland. It is called Mad Choc Berry and smells delicious. Another great purchase would be the catalogue from Thames and Hudson, especially if you are a collector and interested in art & film.
It was like falling down the rabbit hole and exploring wonderland. The interpretations of Alice in all sorts of forms including, puppetry and stop motion from all cultures was surreal and worth seeing.
As part of the Zinda Festivalthere was a small workshop held all to do with Chinese Tea, mostly about brewing, and the different types that are popular in their culture. It was held by Angela Zheng, who will also be holding various workshops through out the year at the Old Church on the Hillincluding calligraphy, tea, language and dumplings.
I learnt that with the leaf teas, you brew a pot but don't drink the first one; it is for cleansing the leaves, also allowing them to expand and open. Once poured you see the colour, smell and then sip. Tasting on both sides of your mouth. Some teas were sweeter than others, from a various leaf ones and including one similar to an Oolong tea.
Another idea that Angela suggested was making your own Orange tea by using the peel of oranges or mandarins, either drying them out in the oven or outside in the sun, adding them to the tea while brewing. You can even add some honey to create a more sweeter taste.
^ Rose Petal tea that was brewed & tasted in a small ceramic cup.
Zine Scene Bendigo this year at the Write on the Fringe Festival with a drop-in workshop for creating zines at the Bendigo Library. There were a lot of youngsters as there were many other activities on that day through out the library, it got them getting creative with books and words.
I contributed again this year to the cARTel Artisan Journal Volume 3. The Journals that have been bound so far are archived in the Bendigo Library, they were also all on display during this years Write on the Fringe Festival.
'cARTel is a guerilla approach towards the recognition and support of
artists, by creating alternative platforms from which the artist can
become known.'
^ Monsieur Jupiter by me, created with Graphite, Ink and Pencil.
It features art and writing from a number of Twin Peaks fans expressing their love for the Lynchian masterpiece."
Thanks to Laura of Bloomurder Zines for creating this fanzine and for myself and others to contribute our work to it. You can purchase your copy here. Can't wait to get my copy in the mail.
The Write on the Fringe 2017 program is now live and can be found via theBendigo Library website. You can keep up to date with theZine Scene Bendigo over on Facebook.
Another event to check out is the launch of this years Co.lab exhibition which is also launching with the new CartelArtisans Journal, which myself & Jaynelee Maxfield (who also has a piece in Co.lab) have a piece in.
Thanks to Laura of Bloomurder Zines for creating this fanzine and having people, including myself contribute to it. This will be the launch event, more details to come regarding where you can pick yourself up a copy.
