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. 

Model Urban

Model Urban, a small sculpture show opens tonight at Manningham Gallery in Doncaster. The show has a pretty amazing line up of artists, I am feeling very privileged to have been included in this show. If you have time tonight - Wednesday 9 September from 6 - 8 pm please come and join me at the opening. If you can't make it tonight then it is on for a month.

Image: Greer Honeywill, Off the plan, 2009, wood, horse hair, found object, 124 x 70 x 84cm. Image courtesy the artist. Photo by John Best.

Featuring Daniel Agdag, Daniel Crooks, Sally Darlison, Daniel Dorall, Greer Honeywill, Llawella Lewis and Susan Robey. 
Curated by Davey Warnock.

A collection of small scale sculptural works engaging contemporary urban environments.

To be officially opened by Corbett Lyon, architect and co-founder of Lyons Architects and the Lyon Housemuseum.

RSVP by Friday 4 September

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 

Exhibition Open

Meeniyan Art Gallery hosted the opening of my most recent exhibition - Fragments of a Journey.
The gallery is on the South Gippsland highway on the way to Wilson's Prom around 2 hours from Melbourne. It is the hub of a local art community.
This Friday I will be doing a talk about my art work and on Sunday I am running a print and collage class. There are still a couple of places in the class which runs from 10am -3pm . Contact the gallery if you want to join in.

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!

Summer show

Term 4 is always a really busy time for me as a teacher, thus I have been slack and haven't written an update for ages!!

So... I was asked to fill the Meeniyan Art gallery www.meeniyanartgallery.com.au for the month of January, so I have put together a collection of work from my last show as well as a few new small Italian pieces and a couple from other shows.

The work will be on show from January 2 - 29. The show will be called Fragments of a Journey. 

Here's 4 new little 20 x 20 cm pieces who will join the show.

Cinque Terre

San Gimignano

Tuscan Tower

Venetian Canals

Tansen,Nepal

I have been in Tansen for nearly a week. It is a town perched on the side of a ring of hills. Apparently you ca see the high mountains from the peak behind the town, but sadly there has been heavy monsoonal cloud hanging over the mountains for the whole week.
I did catch a glimpse of the high Himalayas as we left Kathmandu and I live in hope that they will appear when I am in Pokhara and then on the trek I will be doing next weekend.

Tansen is a town where the weaving of the traditional Dhaka fabric used to create the Nepalese hats and other garments. I was able to visit where the weaving is done. The weavers sit in a dug out pit and the loom has weaving cards that determine the different coloured thread the shuttle sends through.
I have had a great time looking in the fabric and garment shops and have purchased a beautiful sari and shalwar chemise, as well as some of the traditional dhaka fabric.

A drawing a day and Teachers workshop

The first weekend I spent in Kathmandu was taken up with a full day of teaching art to Nepali teachers. it was a fun day with all of the teachers appearing to enjoy themselves learning while making artwork.
I have been diligently drawing everyday and have nearly half a sketchbook of imagery. It has been a good discipline to draw each day and I have certainly noticed an improvement in my skills.

The mystery of the missing diary, solved!

After getting a very smooth and comfy upgrade from KL to Kathmandu, my bag had decided to have a stopover in KL. Most inconvenient for me. However I managed to survive.... I have a lovely new outfit -such a hardship ! When it did arrive 30 hours later the only thing missing appears to be missing is my carefully prepared visual diary.
Diary found! My husband found it, finally. I had left it underneath something and forgotten to pack it. Silly me.
 So I have decided to work in a smaller scale in the little book I brought probably a better idea.
I have set myself a daily drawing challenge and so far have managed to keep up.
Here is one of the drawings/collage.

A New Adventure

This time next week I will be in the bustling city of Kathmandu in Nepal.
I am fortunate to be travelling with a friend who has lived there so I am looking forward to learning about Nepal from an insiders point of view.
I will be doing a some teaching for a day - running a workshop for teachers on creative ways of teaching art to young children.

I am also planning to create some visual memories for me to use at a later date in my own artwork.
I have prepared a new visual diary by painting some of the pages with ink and gesso.I find it easier to get into the drawing and layering if I already have started before I leave.
I have a little visual diary too that is pristine.

 I hope to spend time drawing and collecting papers - as usual, and then cut, glue and draw over the top.

Small Works exhibition

Small Works Exhibition: Brunswick Street Gallery

This show opens tonight. I have 6 pieces in the show. If you are in Melbourne it is always well worth having a look at the Small Works exhibition as there are always interesting pieces and usually a bargain or 2 !

SMALLWORKS 2014, 3 August - 20 August 2014 

8 August 2014 from 6pm - 9pm ~~ Please join us for drinks with the artists, the opportunity to view all the work, and to meet each other.

The exhibition of works measuring 30x30x30cm or less, in all mediums and concepts will be on display from 3 August - 20 August 2014

This open call Art Prize encourages our community of emerging creatives to hang their work, meet and connect with each other, and compete for a prize of $2000, and a prize of an exhibition at BSG in 2015.
PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENTS: 8 August 2014

Special ART THIS WAY Drinks: 15 August 2014, 6pm - 9pm 

A good read!

Today I received the link to an e-magazine called Threads.In-fusion. issue 5. I received this because I was asked to write an article for it by the publisher- Dale and Ian Rollerson of The Thread studio.

My article is about the process I used to collect information and ideas for my artwork- in particular the work I made for my most recent solo- Not All Who Wander Are Lost.

If you are interested in the magazine you can purchase it through the website ( click link above). it has a number of great articles. My favourite was one by Jacinta Leischmann who writes about inspiration for art.

to give you a small taster of my article it begins......

Journeys

by Sally Darlison

Journeys are the focus of my art work. Both physical and metaphorical. I am an observer of people and places. Pattern, colour and behaviour fascinate me. Teaching has taught me to observe and process my observations. I watch people and how they interact with each other and the world around them, often creating stories about what I think they may be doing or where they may be going. I like to make links between people and ideas. Part of the process of art creation for me is finding these links, or making links - a little like a story teller. In fact, I see my art work as story telling. The story can be read in many ways though, dependent on the viewer’s perspective or experience.

I have always loved to tell stories, embellishing the truth ( just a little) for the sake of a laugh or added drama.............

If you want any more of this you will need to check out the E-mag.  

Well, it's back to the paper work for me, another article to compose, exhibitions to enter, lessons to plan and I'm on holidays- from school anyway, so maybe a little relaxing as well. 

Have a great day!!

Not All Who Wander Are Lost - artist statement and inspiration

Artist statement 

I have realised that those of you who read this blog- thanks so much!! - may be interested in the artist statement for this current exhibition...... so ........ dah dah here it is.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Sally Darlison

Quadrant Gallery Hawthorn, May 8 - May 31 2014

"All That is Gold Does Not Glitter" by J. R. R. Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

Wandering, exploring, seeking and learning. Traveling allows us to find new places, learn of others, creates empathy, opens our eyes to other ways of living. 

Wandering isn’t always aimless

Traveling for 3 months through Europe and Morocco in 2012 was the catalyst for my body of work.

 Traveling and creating can be difficult and to help me record and remember this trip I collected the brochures and maps along the journey. Using these and my little travel kit of water colour pastels, pencil, fineliner, glue stick, gesso, needle and thread I created a set of little books, to be a reminder of the trip, to challenge my creativity, give me time to be and help me to process the impact of such an epic trip. 

These little, flimsy and not too perfect books along with my many photographs have been the starting point for my artwork. 

Each book represents a place in the journey - a country, city or several smaller places. 

Each piece represents a small drop in the ocean of learning that took place on the journey. 

Look with new eyes wherever you go, it will always be refreshing

Sally Darlison

2014

Inspiration and resulting art 

I have also included some photos and the art that has sprung from it. For those familiar with my work you will have observed that I don't use white very often at all. However while in Switzerland the contrast of white and black were so strong and the mountains so magnificent that I had to work them into my body of work. The result was 2 large black and white pieces.

 Photos and Art 

Here is an example of how I use image to inspire art. The photos are taken in Switzerland  of snowy mountains, bare trees and black birds that swept overhead. 

photo of birds flying overhead 

completed piece with sweeping birds in the centre 

Wood engraved prints of bare trees white on black fabric beside the inspirational photo of the bare trees on the mountain side

Photos paired with the stitched piece.