Radical - a new range of gift cards (and there's a new milk bar print)

New things in the shop this week - gift cards that are full of colour and pattern. The RADICAL set features five cards, which you can buy individually or as a pack. They’re printed in Australia, on 100% recycled card stock, and come with a kraft envelope. Send one to a mate to let them know you miss them (thanks COVID) and you’ll brighten their day!

And there’s a brand new milk bar art print. This one’s in West Footscray and is still around, selling mixed lollies (and phone cards). My favourite thing about this illustration? All the bricks and tiles. Totally worth the RSI :)

More Colouring In Fun

I’m so humbled to be one of 16 illustrators contributing to Edition 1 of Happy Colouring, a free downloadable colouring book from local not-for-profit LiftMeUp. The work is all SO GREAT (other illustrators include Brook Gossen, Melanie Johnsson and Sebastian Curi) and I cannot wait to get colouring. And let’s face it, who doesn’t need a bit of a distraction and some chill-out time in the midst of a global pandemic?! And don’t forget to share your creations @liftmeup.aus on Instagram

LiftMeUp is a Melbourne-based charitable organisation that provides free support group sessions and social events to connect people experiencing loneliness, social isolation, depression and other mental health issues. They rely 100% on donations, so see the website if you want to learn more or support the important work they do.

Quilts & fabric

This is what I’ve been up to lately. Thanks COVID. My style of quilting and patchworking is simple - work with what you’ve got and Tetris it all together. Start out on a big table or clear the floor and put all the pieces together in a pleasing way. Mix them around until all the patterns and shapes and colours just work. Then work in rows, stitching together. Simple! I’ve long thought about creating a quilt pattern, but how do you plan for order when you start with chaos? :)

Anyway, I’ve listed a bunch of quilts in the Spin Spin Etsy shop, and if you’d like to make one yourself keep an eye out for mega fabric packs, coming soon. And take care out there.

Easter Baking

Some good things about the current COVID-induced slowing down of the world - people now have time to do things ‘normal’ life doesn’t allow, like taking family walks in the afternoon sun, planting seeds that will grow into winter crops of food, and making sourdough bread and other baked goods like hot cross buns (if you can source flour and sugar, that is.)

I’d usually have made a batch of buns by this time of year so yesterday, when I realised Easter is this weekend, I realised I’d better get baking. And having recently been given a copy of Beatrix Bakes, the new cookbook from the beloved local bakehouse, I was super excited to try their hot cross recipe. The secret ingredient? A whole orange - juice, peel and pith. Oh, and black pepper in the homemade spice mix. I was a little sceptical about the whole orange, as I’m not at all into peel, but my tip is to make sure it’s sliced up into teeny tiny bits (the recipe instructions are to food process the orange to a pulp, but mine still had a few bigger pieces of skin, so I chopped then into millimeter-thin slivers on the chopping board.) And the result? The most delicious buns I’ve ever tasted.

If you’re keen to give them a try but don’t have the book, Hardie Grant, the book’s publisher, has posted the recipe on their website. Get baking!

Downloadable Colouring in Sheet of a Fitzroy house for Together Gallery

I hope everyone’s doing OK out there, in these times of COVID-19. To try and bring some fun and distraction into our lives, Claire Ritchie and Luke John Matthew Arnold have created Together Gallery, where they’ll be sharing creative projects that will inspire and uplift you, as well as introducing you to an array of incredible artists from around the world. The first project is called Colour Full, consisting of a series of downloadable colouring in pages, and I’m thrilled to have a little Fitzroy house drawing included. Get colouring and share what you create - share on Instagram @togethergallery and tag with #togethergallery

Mid-century Melbourne Ceramics

If you’re a fan of ceramics, mid-century aesthetics and Melbourne history, I’d highly recommend a trip to the Art Gallery at Deakin University, Burwood, to see the exhibition John Nixon's Australian Ceramics. On display are around 200 pieces of functional ceramic wares - mugs, plates, jugs, bowls and similar domestic pieces - produced by artisans who lived and worked in Melbourne in the 1950s-’70s.

All of the work comes from artist John Nixon’s impressive personal collection of over 500 pieces, which he has built up over the last 15 years. En masse, it offers a glimpse into the post-war aspirational lifestyle of the Australian suburbs, at a time when people were reacting against austerity and also wanted products that they felt would enhance the quality of their life. It’s interesting to compare this to the current resurgence in popularity of locally, handmade ceramics (and handcrafted goods more generally), which is often a reaction to overconsumption and the mass-scale production of often inferior quality goods.

Phyl Dunn’s work - such great colours and patterns and textures

The exhibition features the work of the likes of Gus and Betty McLaren (who went on to co-found Potters Cottage in Warrandyte), Reg Preston, Phyl Dunn, Artur (Artek) and Sylvia Halpern, Charles Wilton and many more. The pieces are displayed on trestle tables scattered around the gallery, with each trestle strategically placed around the gallery, in relation to the others, roughly representing where in Melbourne the works were created. I also found it so interesting to learn that many of the artists were based at or near home, many had their own homemade kiln and they often used clay they had dug up themselves, from the surrounding area. Many also live off their work, teaching and selling the wares via stores such as Primrose Pottery Shop and the high-end Georges department store, which were both on Collins Street in the city.

It was fascinating to see how contemporary many of the pieces look, both in form and also in the use of colourful and textural glazes. The exhibition also made me think about so many other things, such as the fact that ceramics will be around long after their makers have passed on (as is the case with many pieces on display here), as well as the value of a collection of this scale, and how fascinating it is to see how the creators’ work developed over time. I also loved learning a bit about John Nixon’s personal philosophy - that the role of an artist needs to include teaching, curating, publishing and collecting.

If you’re interested in going along to the exhibition make sure you get there before it closes, this Friday, December 14.

LOCATION

Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne Burwood Campus, Building FA, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood VIC 3125.

HOURS

Tuesday to Friday 10am–4pm, Free entry.

Some of the work of Karl and Slawa Duldig, of Duldig Studio

The various trestle tables, arranged around the gallery

A selection of vintage ceramics books on display at the exhibition