Creative Tanks

In last week's post I briefly mentioned the Creative Tanks event that was occurring for the Carnival of Flowers this month. I was also involved in the Creative Tanks event last year. It's strangely nostaglic to be completing the same event, thinking about where I was twelve months ago. For 2011, I certainly wasn't in a place to post about the event as it was happening.

Didn't get around to it until January, tsk.

I certainly know a bit more about links now, too. Here is one that will take you to my artist page on the made. creative space website.

The event;

 



Setting up in the morning, inside the store

 

From the outside

Some of the supplies

Set up

 

Forest friends frolicking...it's all little too twee.

Dressed up for the Carnival. Flowers in spring, let it be said I was a paradigm shifter.



Peering into the murky depths of a wool basket

Playing in the DANGERZONE with a cappucino

Thanks are also in order for Leanne of Mary Ryan's Books, Music and Coffee. She's allowing me to commandeer a chair, table and a sandwich board, as well as space in her store over the next week. Artists don't get to do what they do without the support of people like her, who have the space to display them and the urge to share it. Thank you!

 

Lastly:

 

This is not in relation to Creative Tanks, and probably doesn't warrant spamming up your feeds with another blog post. The Artwork Exchange exhibition, in conjunction with MARS (fingers crossed I've got the connections right) kicked off this Friday in their gallery at theGRID hybrid arts collective.

Follow this link to be taken to a short video of the opening, which has a lot more about the work of the other artists.

 

Because I couldn't see my contribution in it, here is a still;



 

Local!

A little top hat bowler fellow. If you go in and visit, he has a superfluous third something located somewhere on his armless torso. Paying attention to ridiculous little details is what keeps me interested.

I have also heard an excellent argument for why his first and second ones are superfluous also, but you can make your own mind up about that.

 

UPDATE: The work is in the video. I just needed to have a little faith and watch a little harder.

 

Now, eagle-eyed readers might be wondering about the artwork that can only be glimpsed in the above image. Here it is, in marvellous fuzzy colour.

 

by HosHiko Street Art

Follow a link to their tumblr here. This picture really doesn't do them justice. If you like robots, candy and cute things, that's the place you should go.

 

theSPACE

So, theGRID's residency is over for me, and the new artists have moved in. I thought it would be nice to have a wee retrospect of what Danish and I (along with Dale Mundi, and Ben Tupas of Oh Darling Downs) did with the space at the end of the day.

 

It's been a gradual process, and I've added the photos haphazardly. The only way to best capture the madness might be stop-motion, over a period of weeks. But, here's a break down of what we've done.

 

Drawing on butcher's paper, hanging up collages and bunting

....so there you go then

 

[Desk.workspace] - Kelly's space

After about a month, I had a couple of desks and what not in the space that I was using infrequently. In part, that was because they were being used for extra height when painting murals (wall drawings?).

I eventually got tired of that and carved out an L-shaped deskspace, into which I piled paint, plastic, snacks, wools, matryoshkas, all manner of junk. That was then my space, but from it I could access/view the room's many wonderful features;

Flooring:

Loved that astroturf

Fireplace/vent (with helpful fire diagram above):

A corner of Ben's space (shelf + plants), example of Dale's work

                                     

 

Olive green velveteen couches (cranky old muppets not included): 

Some nice n' shitty couches - they are even worse in person

A role model for organisational skills (good feng shui?):


Ben's ultra-organised space
 

Eye-candy:

Dale & Danish's hellspace. Every piece of paper for itself in there.

No room is complete without one of these: 

Dale, again

Or one of these:

uni-CORNY ahaha!

 

Dale's latest plan: Genetically modifying snakes that shoot tears/upsidedown hearts at intruders to lull them into a state of confusion

This actually worked really well. Thanks, [flat-pack assembly furniture company]

 

Every week, there'd be some other thing on the walls - hard to see in this photo but they've really pulled the room together

Then, it was over. I packed everything in a number of boxes, pulled down the bunting, and left.

[End residency].

Beanbag bomba

Paper storage facilities also work for textiles!

Something I have started to run with recently is freeform crochet. I haven't done much research into freeform crocheting artists yet, but what I have seen I have really liked.



 

I wouldn't say you were making it up as you go along but...

I think that to freeform you have to be coming from a place of intermediate to advanced crochet knowledge, as you have to have an understanding of a variety of stitches and their effects, as well as the effect increasing and decreasing stitches will have, needle sizes, and plys. At least, you should have this to really be able to run with it, to foresee events and plan your stitches to pre-empt any issues.

 

 

....I also would. You have something in mind, and you make it up as you go along because you are boss at crochet.

What are these issues? Bubbling, sagging, too tight in places, too small in general. Too large. No longer machine washable. Tension too tight when changing needles. Tension too loose. Ugly ripples. The curse of the Dreaded Flutter. Button holes are sucky. Buttons don't fit. Sagging button holes (heh).

There's a few.

A tip is to go mad with colour, but not too mad. If you're gonna contrast, contrast, and if you want to compliment, compliment but don't compliment AND contrast colours nimbly-bimbly throughout the work. Hold the next planned wool against the completed piece. Does the colour work? Does it not work in an interesting way? How much should be used before it overpowers all the other colours?

Lastly, say NO to browns, ochres, mauves, mustards, khakis, beiges, greys, off-whites, taupes, ivories or creams.

Textures are good provided you can work with the wool (I'm looking at you, Flutter).

Two-thirds done.

 

At the start I had crocheted an opening for the beanbag to be removed from (machine washable, delicate cycle). This meant that at some point I had to stuff the beanbag into the opening and crochet around it, reducing the stitches to make sure everything fit snugly. Next beanbag, I may try it another way. Freeform! There's no rules here but the ones you have to follow.

 

Finally, that happy moment of completion:



 



As this was the 'top' of the bag, I went texture-happy. Lots of soft fluffy ones.

Then we take the glamour shots:

Top.

Sides.

..bottom? Beanbags are so undefined.

This was a really good project for using up those last few metres of wools. It's also kind of cool to look at it sometimes from the perspective of uniqueness. Only one with exactly this design on the planet, although this is not the only one ever made.

I took this to a festival recently and so many people were nostalgic of the similar thing they created in the seventies (and only that decade, for some reason) and I love that forty years is not long enough to forget a handmade thing.

Where are they all now?

I'm in...

Really excited to start my first week of artist residency at theGRID hybrid arts collective space.

Oh no!

Just kidding! I have been sitting on these images for months.

It looks like this now:

Our room!

Classy couches (don't look closer)

Best desk. Needs tabletop?

Quapoor has moved his drawings in...

A table with blackboard chalk.

A table with blackboard chalk!

Nice big drawers to hide snake corpses....also, wool.

Spent Monday in this room for the project, but today was too cold. So I spent it in the MARS gallery with some nice people and smashed out a headband and more beanbag. Project update later this week.
 

Leading up to the woolbombing

On Wednesday last week I began the afternoon sessions leading up to International Yarn Bombing Day. Things have started off slowly, for everyone else. Currently making a lot of everything, as fast as I can! Lots of little flags, cuffs, wraps and 1/3rd of a beanbag chair.

Picnic on the gallery floor

Crochet party of one

 

Thursday and Friday generated a bit of interest and I also got to hog the table on those two days, which isn't a given - the space at theGRID is really well used, at any time in the MARS gallery there's homework doing, grant writing, networking, relaxing etc. all going on in different areas of the room.

Beanbag chair - ambitious project of the week (beanbag bombing)

Kirsty, knitting

Tools, table, Kirsty working on pompom