Lights Camera Fashion – Kanari Pinku

The day has arrived, and it's been a long wait. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Lights Camera Fashion, a group exhibit hosted by incube8r. This exhibit has been in the itinerary for near on six months. The doll took a few months to make, and social distancing delayed things along the way. But we got through that alright, and incube8r is now able to open their doors for exhibits (Yay!). 

The theme of this exhibit is fashion, and the artists involved were invited to use art to intepret the fashion industry. My play on fashion came from multiple sources. I'd been reading books about Akira Isogawa and Romance Was Born, which became a mental visual source of inspiration for me. I also had the film Pretty in Pink heavily on the brain. If you're not familiar with this story – girl on wrong side of the tracks makes good with her rags, but chooses wrong boy from right side of the tracks (Yeah! I'm a Duckette – if this confuses you, you'll need to watch the film to be 'un' confused). I named the doll Kanari Pinku, which basically translates to Pretty Pink.

I've made a one off fashion art doll for this exhibit. Materials include fabric, clay, wire, thread, paint, yarn, acetate, and hobby fill. The doll is truly a one of a kind as her clay face has no mould. I've used a variety of techniques to make this doll. She has wire armature inside. Her clothes have been embroidered and spray painted. Her synthetic weft hair has been hand stitched and styled (and spray painted). Plus the doll comes with her own star stand (also spray painted). My proudest point of this doll is her kimono which is also a hoodie. Now I only wish this kimono came in my size.

If you're about Melbourne I recommend visiting incube8r, not only to check out Lights Camera Fashion, but to also explore the onsite shop offerings from local artists. Make a day of it in Fitzroy.

Hacky sack + Heart Pillow + Freddie Prinze Jr

Life is not linear. Have you noticed? You zig zag from place to place. Memories can drag you backward. You shuttle toward the future pulled along by anxiety. Then just when you think your head might completely spin off you're dropped into a lull-less ocean, completely devoid of ebb and flow. From there you have a choice – float and wait things out, or... you can cup your hands and gently begin swimming in some direction.

I used to be a floater. I still am to some degree, but only when I'm fatigued. When I feel I've floated long enough, I choose a direction, any direction, and I begin to swim. Very rarely do I hit an island, but that doesn't seem to matter. The important thing is that I'm swimming. It's important to balance these things out – rest and swim, rest and swim.

'Cup your hands' and 'swimming' are my metaphors for the work I do, whether that be Content Creation, Illustration, Photography, Design and Doll Making. These jobs are the peg that anchor me in today.

Do you ever feel this way? Do you have an anchor? What activities make you feel whole?

With restrictions beginning to ease, I am once again excited to spruik on about my entry into the incube8r exhibit Lights Camera Fashion. The show date was pushed back to later in the year, and now here we are. This particular exhibit will not have an opening night, but it will be open for a glorious four weeks.

This week on My Poppet Makes I have created for you a 'no sew' heart pillow project. It's super easy and fun for everyone. Head on over to My Poppet Makes to access the template and instructions.

So, who remembers hacky sacks? They've been around for decades in one form or another. Balloon hacky sacks and Freddie Prinze Jr were on trend when I was in high school. And now we can get them back on trend again (Hacky sacks, I mean.). Head over to Kidspot to find out how to make these juggling projectiles.

And here's a little nostalgic appreciation for hacky sacks, abstract performance art and a certain nineties teen crush:

Ready-a-Gocco

The Cat Rabbit exhibit
Outré Gallery

     I don't often go into the city, but when I do... I cannot pass up an opportunity to visit Outré Gallery. Today was just one of those days. Cat Rabbit had an exhibit at Outré and being that it was the last day, with daughter in hand, I took a proton pill, put on my helmet and battled the traffic.

    It was worth dealing with infrastructure just to visit Outré. It has been my cultural Mecca for close to twenty years. Many of my favourite artists are represented by this gallery. And Cat Rabbit is one of those artists.

    Cat Rabbit's playful exhibit is something of an ode to gocco – a now defunct home based Japanese screen printing system, which ironically is very popular amongst the artists and crafters that I like to follow.

    In Cat's very own Cat Rabbity way she takes mundane, everyday items and makes them fun by turning them into little felt crafted pieces. This is simple and genius! And I love it! Naturally I couldn't leave without picking up a limited edition Gocco: Play Date book. Now I will never forget this exhibit-exhibit.

    Thanks Cat! Can hardly wait to see what you create next.

    To find out more about the very sweet Cat Rabbit simply go to –

www.catrabbit.com.au

The Cat Rabbit exhibit
Outré Gallery

The Cat Rabbit exhibit
Outré Gallery

Keeping Cat Rabbit In Mind

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

    Today I took the family to Tinning Street Presents gallery to check out Cat Rabbit's textile exhibit Kept in Mind. It was a long trip for us, coming far from the other side of the city, and most definitely worth the hike.

    Cat Rabbit created a variety of art dolls, wall pieces and charms reminiscent of things from her past - books, breakfasts, trips to Japan. There are familiar elements with her work, such as the cat dolls. Cat Rabbit has a real life cat who is both parts companion and muse, so his face appears in much of her work.

    The peach people are a relatively new development in Cat Rabbit's doll making and are constructed with a combination of hand stitched felt and needle felting. Cat Rabbit has branched out into needle felting this past year, and this works very well with her sculpting the faces. The peach faces look like a coloured illustration as a result.

    The art dolls are not complete without clothes and accessories. I love the fact that she thinks of the small details. None of us are complete without our bags and wallets filled with stuff that make up our lives, and the same goes for her big-little animal people.

For more information about Cat Rabbit you can find her here or on Facebook.

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Cat Rabbit: Kept in Mind
Tinning Street Presents exhibit

Walking Around in Tim Burton's Mind

My interpretation of the Tim Burton exhibition

On Saturday, I went to the Tim Burton exhibit in the city.

I cannot express just how insanely talented and prolific Tim Burton is, as an Illustrator. It was a beautiful, darkly disturbing and brilliant exhibit, and the curators worked so hard with the artist to pull the whole thing off.

As well as whole walls being covered in artwork, there were also film models and costumes on display from Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, Batman, plus so many more.

I was amazed at how tattered Catwoman’s costume was — they sure put that thing through the wars when Michelle Pfeifer wore it. And I had no idea that the Mad Hatter's hat was so massive. I noticed lovely little details, like the embroidered birds and rabbits along the hem of Alice's blue dress.

I have been to exhibits before, where you would find a handful of work by a single artist. But this exhibit was so much bigger than that. It was like one massive brain dump.

This show will be winding up very shortly. So if you are a Tim Burton fan and you haven't gotten around to it, I highly recommend making the time. This is one exhibit that you do not want to miss. Click here for more details about the exhibit.

I Went to the Circus

Well actually, it was Arthur's Circus, a quaint, nostalgic shop in North Melbourne. I went to the opening night of an art exhibit titled Milkbar's, Laundromats & Urban Beauty, which was co-curated by Gemma Jones and Natalie Jeffcott.

The exhibit explores faded memories of the past as they appear in the urban environment. So between the shop itself and the exhibit there was no doubt of the nostalgia I felt, when walking around looking at everything. I recall the milkbars of my childhood with fondness, because if you were really lucky, you would walk out with a little paper bag filled with sweet candy. On truly hot days you could have a paddle pop icecream - my favourite was rainbow flavour. And when you were in need of a fast snack, it was a can of orange soft drink and a sausage roll.

Another noticeable name included in the exhibit was Eamo whose polaroid work was on display. As well as being a photographer, he is foremost an Illustrator, whose style is nostalgic for the Australia that we knew in the 80s. You can visit his blog here.

I spoke with the lovely Gemma Jones, for a bit. Her photographic work was on floor tiles. For the past year or so this has been her photographic passion. 

Baby Gwen, came with me to the exhibit and also enjoyed herself. She got to look at lots of vintage toys, and new homemade, and knitted toys. There was a toy tree house that was just so. Why don't toy companies make product like that anymore?