march of the red dragonflies

Thanks to the lino cut magic of Sandra Krumins I've been inspired to finally finish cutting my dragonfly lino block and do some printing.
I started off with a whole lot of blue ones (somehow the colour blue just fits with dragonflies in my mind) but then moved onto some other colours including this slightly dirty red colour. I like the translucency of the print above which I was able to create by deliberately not inking the blocks up to heavily. This lot have been done of paper but my next step will be to print them on fabric. However, I do have a one-of-a-kind paper print available in the shop in case you're in the mood for purchasing.

lino creative

Ooooooh goodie, look who I found through Blanket Magazine: the incredibly talented, Sydney based lino cut artist, Sandra Krumins, aka Lino Creative. Look at the gorgeous collection she has in the Art section of her website! I love the way she works with the texture of lino cut prints and then manipulates them in photoshop to get her final look. She's inspired me to play with my lino cut dragonfly tomorrow. I've been meaning to try it out on some fabric I bought a few weeks ago.

lotus moon

I love it when you see an exhibition and something about it, the objects involved, the location, the subject of the exhibition or even the smells connected to it take you right back to another place, or as was the case for me today, another country and another culture. The exhibition I'm talking about is Black robe, white mist: Art of the Japanese Buddhist nun Rengetsu showing at the RMIT Gallery in Melbourne until Thursday this week (sorry about the late notice if you hope to get to it). Otagaki Rengetsu or Lotus Moon was an 18th century Japanese Buddhist nun who made beautiful ceramics (mostly tea bowls and saki cups) and inscribed poetry about love, the seasons, nature, joy, life, sorrow, celebrations on their surfaces. For the exhibition, the verses have been translated into English so you can really sink into the mind of a wonderfully creative woman living more than 200 years ago. The exhibition also includes her calligraphy on elegant scrolls.

I spent a lot of time drinking tea in Japan out of tea bowls that were so beautiful they held me spellbound. And I can say the same about the sake cups I drank from. There is something really earthy and soulful about the ceramics of these everyday vessels in Japan. As I walked through the exhibition today in Melbourne I was teleported back to Japan through the scrolls, poetry and ceramics I saw there. It was deeply moving and made me very homesick for my other home, Kyoto. Go see the exhibition if you can.

Further info about Rengetsu can be found via the National Gallery of Australia at this link.

nikki mcclure

Goodbye New York. It's sad to leave but oh what a great time I've had!

Another great find of mine through Renegade (and being in the USA generally) has been the paper cuts and illustrations of American artist Nikki McClure. She makes exquisitely detailed paper cuts using black paper about domestic scenes or images of nature. Also, people tell me her annual calendar is one to watch out for. I was in a tiny shop in Brooklyn a few days ago and was lucky enough to see some of her cards. Absolutely gorgeous. Here's hoping I can snap up one of her calendars later in the year.

handmade nation

Someone and something exciting I discovered by going to the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair last weekend was Faythe Levine and Handmade Nation. Faythe is a filmmaker, author, independent curator and creative director. In 2006 she traveled around the US interviewing more than 50 crafters and made a documentary film on the rise of DIY and the new wave of art, craft and design titled Handmade Nation. The film is set for release later this year and the following clip is a sneak preview. It looks really really inspiring:

renegade craft fair

Yesterday we braved the heat again and set out to find the Brooklyn Renegade Art Fair in the Greenpoint area. It was a bit of a trek but we found it in the end. The funny thing was the directions said that it was at the McCarren Park Pool but we didn't expect it to be in the pool itself! That is, the pool was drained of water and you stepped down into it to walk around and look at the stalls. I'm not sure if the pool is actually used anymore as it looked quite old. But what a great venue for a craft fair! The posters pictured above are screen printed ones advertising the fair over the past few years. They were really gorgeous.

Etsy had a prominent stall there which is good to see. And I also recognised some etsy sellers there like Tugboat Prints and Fun Cupcake. There were lots of really cool screen printed tees being sold and the vibe of the market generally was great. It reminded me of the Rose St Artist Market in Melbourne but about 5-6 times the size!


And we went to DUMBO in Brooklyn on Saturday, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass because it really is. It's also right near the beginning of the famous Brooklyn Bridge so I had to take a few pics of that. That's Manhattan in the background, in case you ever doubted it.

printing in brooklyn

It's lovely to have a bit more green space around us in Brooklyn. We moved over here today (the very funky Park Slope area) from Manhattan because there's a lot going on in this neighbourhood over the next week that we want to get to. Also we have a friend who lives here and swears that this is where all the interesting stuff in New York is happening. So far it looks fantastic.

I was able to stroll down to Lotta Jansdotter's studio this evening for her interactive print session to launch her new book: Lotta Prints. What a lot of fun that was! Lots and lots of people came along to participate and as a printmaker, I think it's really, really inspiring that so many people are getting interested in printing by hand on fabric.

Quite a number of people were having a go at printing on fabric swatches using carved potatoes, lino blocks, and paper stencils. And others were checking out Lotta's beautiful products and books and standing around chatting and drinking wine. I bought one her new books and even have it signed :) Now how nice is that? I can tell already that I'm not going to want to go home in a week's time.