My wonderful weekend of weaving & collage workshops

Art ClassesBehind the scenesIntuitive ArtKids Art ClassesStudio musings

16 Jan

I absolutely love the feeling of attending art workshops. Learning new crafts and techniques from those who have spent years on their creative style, and meeting new people, really floats my boat. I highly recommend it as regular, nourishing soul food!

This weekend I attended a wonderful weaving workshop with Quandamooka artists, Sonja and Elise Jane Carmichael at Redcliffe Art Gallery. They were such beautiful and generous teachers and I learned to weave my own twine and a couple of mini baskets using raffia and ghost nets.

weaving workshop with sonja and elise jane carmichael

I turned one of them into a necklace to commemorate the day. The baskets I created feel earthy, robust and almost a spiritual-vibe of shared humanity, via techniques handed down by First Nations People worldwide.

It was an absolute gift to experience learning from Sonja and Leecey.

I also had the pleasure of attending a super fun collage workshop facilitated by Mel Brady, as part of her Bribie Island mural preparation with Moreton Bay Regional Council.

If you haven’t met Mel before, she’s an absolute delight, full of colour and generosity. Her artworks are inspired by vintage fabrics, pattern and colour, and her love for these flowed into the collage workshop beautifully.

We began the workshop with colourful collage imagery, printed photographs of Bribie Island’s meaningful places, alongside pens, glue, colourful washi tape and watercolour squares.

Here’s what I created … inspired by nature moments and dinners on the beach with my partner, and memories of childhood visits to the beach.

Later, we all brought our creations to the table and Mel assembled them into a pattern, featuring elements to help inform her mural design.

I love how everyone’s turned out so different, yet they came together beautifully because of the coherent square shape of each collage. Super cool stuff!

designing a mural with collage squares with Mel Brady

The colourful, collaborative nature of the combined artworks reminds me of my recent mural project with the senior students at Clontarf Beach State School.

Colour and shape and pattern galore!