Monday, August 30, 2010

Tree Change

Lake Bonnie, Barmera

After a Sea Change last year, to a small town on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, and then a short stint back in the city of Adelaide, we have moved again! This time to a small, peaceful and rather pretty town called Barmera, in South Australia's Riverland. I've been here for two weeks so far and I absolutely love it!

I finally have my very own pottery studio! It's completely separate from the house - made of brick and has two windows (with a nice view of the garden). The power supply to the shed was perfect and it took the electrician 10 minutes to have it ready for me to plug my kiln in. Everything has just been too easy. I'm so happy with my new space. It certainly beats working from the Verandah and taking over the house!

My new studio!

After a huge weekend of cleaning and sorting, it's almost ready. I'll post some photos once it's done!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Elements Opening

Oh dear! It's already been a week since the opening of Elements and I haven't posted anything yet! Sorry, life's been really crazy lately!

The three artists

Elements is an exhibition by three artists; Humna Mustafa, Nick Graalman and myself. Humna came up with the concept and approached Nick and myself to get involved. We have been working on the show for about 5 months. Humna painted her closest friends with henna (body art) and capture it on camera, Nick has been filming constantly and I've been making ceramic pieces as a collaboration with Humna. The whole process has been about intertwining our crafts and making pieces that could never have been made on our own - with each artist bringing their own unique skills.

Diya Studios on opening night

The opening was last Saturday in Diya Studios as part of the SALA festival (South Australian Living Artist). Humna and her husband Mustafa transformed more than half of their home into a gallery space and shop! I have to start by saying a big thank you to both of them, especially Mustafa who has been so supportive of this show. The house has been set up with a ceramics exhibition space in the first room (work by Humna and me)...



The main room has Humna's photographs and also a screen where Nick shows his time lapse video. The video was shown a few times on the opening night and will be shown throughout the open days and the closing night.


The opening was such a great night! We had so much fun celebrating all the hard work we put into the show. It was wonderful that so many people turned up. Here's some photos from the night:



Opening speech from Annette Tripodi (Operations and Program Manager, WOMADelaide)


During the opening speech

Bollywood Dancers

Everyone got up and danced

After the speeches



Thank you everyone who made it on the night and to the helpers - you guys are wonderful!

Some of the helpers doing a great job!

The gorgeous girls taking sales.

The retail shop (some of Humna's and my work)

Retail shop.

We set up a retail shop in one of the side rooms. You can purchase all sorts of pieces by Humna, ceramics by me and even a DVD of Nick's video that is in the show.

All the photos used in this blog were provided by Tanti Lovell. Thanks Tanti for capturing the night on camera for us!!