Creative Perspectives exhibition 

I have recently completed a small mini series of collages about New York. We travelled there a few years ago and I have been planning to make some work about it ever since. My work is in a group show at Quadrant gallery. 

Unfortunately the opening clashes with a wedding I am going to so I won't make it, but I dropped into the gallery today and it looks good, plenty of good work to look at. 

check out my Facebook page Sally Darlison-Artist  or Instagram @saladele for more photos 

Here's the work hanging in the gallery. 

Hello again

Such a long time has passed since I have written.
It has been a difficult time for me over the past 3 months as my Mum sadly was diagnosed with cancer and then died 6 weeks later.
We also have been working towards selling our house - and my beautiful studio, so that has involved quite a lot of tidying up and thus not much art work!
But...
Soon I will be back into the work in a big way as I will be part of a show at Manningham gallery in September.
 It is very exciting as it will be my first public gallery show - where they asked me!!
It is called Model Urban and will include small sculptural works engaging contemporary urban environments.
My piece Walking the Cinque Terre will be in the show and the rest .. well that is yet to be made. Watch this space. 

Hope For Women in Unexpected Places

Hope for Women in Unexpected Places is an exhibition  by TEAR Australia, it is a photo exhibition, but I was asked to create a piece for this show - that isn't a photo.

I was very excited to support TEAR as they do fabulous work both here and overseas with those who are the poorest in our world.

I was asked to create something that honoured women and the work they do. I chose to focus on water as this is an essential of life and sometimes one that poses difficulty.
While I was in Nepal I  noticed that the women collected water in large metal containers and then often carried them in a large basket they carried slung from their heads. Washing is also often done in public, communally, at the water taps or down near the river. This also involves carting the garments in the basket.
Washing in Nepal is a colourful palette flying in the breeze and the dhaka fabrics, traditional to the area I visited, are particularly beautiful.

I chose to combine these images and fabric along with a map of Nepal to create my piece for the exhibition.
Washing in Nepal is the result. It depicts the water vessel, the woman carrying the basket of clothes and the washing blowing in the breeze above the stepped rice fields of Nepal.

 detail of dhaka fabric and map of Nepal used in the piece.

Washing in Nepal

detail of the water container image

If you would like to see this piece and the rest of the exhibition you can find it at 

Chapel on Station Gallery 

cnr Station st  & Ellingworth Pde, Box Hill, Victoria

from February 20 - March 4 

Tues - friday 11.30- 3 

Saturday 1-4pm

Sunday 4.30 -7pm

There is an event on Friday 27 February with speaker Hailey Bartholomew of 365 Grateful 

and music from 2 members of The Tealeaves

hope to see you there, tickets are available here 

Print and Collage Workshop in January

Want to learn how to create a print and collage with me?

I am running a workshop in Meeniyan in  South Gippsland Victoria at the Meeniyan Art gallery on January 11 from 10am - 3pm. It is a plant inspired workshop.  You will learn to create a print block and use papers and fabric to create a mixed media piece.
Come and join me for a fun day.
see below for the details. or follow this link to the website

Plant inspired mixed media class with Sally Darlison

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WHEN:

11 January 2015 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

WHERE:

Meeniyan Art Gallery
84 Whitelaw Street
Meeniyan VIC 3956
Australia

COST:

$70 per person plus a $10 materials fee

CONTACT:

 Meg Viney-Bell

 56642430 (bus. hrs)

 

Learn to create simple print blocks and combine your print with images and fabric to create a collaged art piece.

This class will use images of fruit and vegetables as a starting point for the creation of a print block. After printing the image onto various fabrics and papers participants will be guided through the design process, using various images and papers, machine and hand stitching, to create a piece that can that can be framed.

Please bring:

• scissors
• cutting mat
• images of fruit or vegetables
• old vegetable or fruit gardening books or photocopies of images
• words etc for collage
• plain fabric in colours of plant of choice
• sewing machine and threads and/or hand sewing requirements.

Provided: soft cut print block, use of lino cutting and printing tools, pre-dyed silk organza, backing fabric, ink, paper and printing ink.

Exciting news

I'm excited to tell you that the latest Artwear Publication Embellish has just come out and there is an interview in it with me about my artwork.
There are heaps of pictures of my work and quite detailed information about the process I use to make the work.
You can buy it online or have the paper form delivered to your door or find it in shops where all good art magazines can be found!

Artist Talk - What fun

Around 25 people came down to the gallery this afternoon to join me for a talk about my work, the processes and techniques I use and the method I used to gather the ideas for this exhibition.

I showed them some of the photos that were particularly influential in the creation of the art work, the kit of art materials I took with me on my trip and the print blocks, dyed fabric, brochures and map bags I collected for each place.

After the initial demonstration we wandered around the gallery to look more closely at the travel books and their relationship to the larger works of art.

A big thank you to Eugene at Quadrant gallery and to those who came, I enjoyed meeting up with old friends and new.

Busy Week

It has been a busy week in the studio this past week. I have been turning out the work fast- nothing like a deadline to speed me up.
In between finishing works of art I have had the work photographed, visited the framer (to part with my life savings in order to have amazing frames put around the work - it certainly makes a difference), picked up the hardcopy invites and now it is back to the studio to complete the final series - Tuscany, and I am done..... I think.

Here's a few details of works- don't want to give away all the images before the show!

Berber Doorways - detail

Outside the Riad - detail

Paris Carousel- detail

Woohoo, business cards and postcards arrived!

It's hotting up here in the studio, business cards and postcards arrived, another 2 pieces sent off to the photographer and another on the way.

On holidays from one job, ramping it up on the other job. It's a busy week here in Sal's Studio.

Time is running out, so I am on speedy street, stream of consciousness art pouring out of my fingers. Hope they don't get burnt!!

Count down is on,  only 1 month to the opening.......... Argh........

Here's a peek at the latest and the new cards!

detail of Roma 

business cards and postcards

5 Frames

 I was asked by a friend, whose daughter worked as a teacher in Ernabella Anangu School for a number of years,  to provide some art work for the 5 Frames exhibition.  

5 Frames was established as a fundraiser for the Ernabella Anangu School Ceramics Work Project. Ernabella is a remote Aboriginal community in the north-west corner of South Australia. The Ceramics Work Project provides senior girls in the school with the opportunity to study ceramics as a Vocational Education and Training unit in an environment where employment options are very limited.

 Each frame holds a piece 14 x 19 cm. The resulting art works are sold for $100 each with all proceeds and donations going to the ceramics project. 

The opening of 5 Frames 2013 is on Sunday May 26^th at the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club. The Club generously provide us with the venue at no cost and works will be exhibited until the end of June.

Here are my contributions. Get down to Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club to view the whole exhibition from may 26 until end of June

The emergence of a building

Next on the list for construction was a house book box. 

This is to contain images/ books that I haven't made yet, getting there! Just seem to be slow at the moment.  

It is representing Avignon in Provence and the books to go in it will be about the area surrounding Avignon. 

I have made the house using box card, and covered it with paper dyed with tea and caustic soda, then layered with dried teabags and painted. 

Each window will contain a book and the spaces for these are lined with maps and brochure pages from Avignon.

 It has taken me in excess of 12 hours just to construct this.

Anyway, I must go as I now have the books to create!!

Workshop Fun in Ballarat

Ballarat Embroiderers Guild hold an Autumn Leaves Seminar each year and this year I was invited to teach a class called Fabric Collage and Design.

The 6 students enjoyed dyeing silk, creating several print blocks and different surfaces on their paper and fabric before putting it all together to create a collaged piece.

All in 2 days!

I will give you a peek at the kind of work they did.

First some photos of the luscious silk dyed using Instant Dyes from Beautiful Silks, these silks are THE BEST dyes. I love them and have been using them for some years now. They are literally Instant! You either put the silk into the dye bath and take it out or you brush it on and then it is done! Quick rinse - barely any dye washes out and dry. Very colour fast.

The class started with looking at cooking utensils as I gave a general theme of Preparing a Feast - from the ordinary to the extraordinary. The students used the items to draw from to create print blocks, then did rubbings on various things like the egg lifter, sieve, lace doilies. layer upon layer using paper and fabric they went on to produce these works seen below.  

Lois                                                                                                     

Dianne S

Maria

Suzanne

Dianne 

Jan

Workshop preparation

In 10 days time I am heading up the highway to Ballarat to spend 2 days teaching at the Ballarat Embroiderers Guild conference- Autumn Leaves. 

I am looking forward to it and I have been getting put the materials to take and working out how I will present the class. 

 So far my plan is to focus the class with a theme of 

 " Preparing a Feast : when the ordinary becomes extraordinary." 

I am excited as this will give the participants plenty of scope but hopefully give those who find it difficult to know where to begin, a starting point. 

We will be doing heaps of fun stuff, like printing, dyeing and collaging. 

A Jacob's Ladder book for Jacob.

Recently my son Jacob turned 21.
I have started a tradition of making a book for my children's 21st. Naturally, Jacob's would be in the form of a Jacob's ladder.
It works for him for at least 2 reasons. This book is one that moves on its own and Jacob has always been a mover, from when he was little to now- he is a triathlete,  and of course the obvious one is its name.

 I have uploaded a video of the book on youtube, for some reason I can't get it to upload onto this blog but if you want to see it in action click here

Book 9 Rome

Roma, such a big place, so much to take in. Rome needed a book of it's own as I found the size and amount of history almost overwhelming- fascinating none the less.
 Thus, for a 5 day visit Rome gets a biggish book all of its own.
This book has a number of signatures - of varying sizes and is stitched- a sort of Coptic but not quite Coptic stitch. I have used a number of pages from a brochure, several tickets and a map or 2 for this book. Gesso again was useful for covering up the stuff I didn't want and creating a surface for drawing and painting on.

I would love to hear from anyone who is following my trip via the books I have been making. Please comment and let me know what you think.