Mapuru weavers coming to Melbourne

Two and half years ago I travelled to Mapuru, a small indigenous community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, where I sat the women weavers and learned the basics of their beautiful, highly skilled craft. I blogged about it here and here. The image above is of a basket woven by Mapuru weaver, Margaret Bambalarra. After buying the basket from Margaret I carried it all the way back to Melbourne. It's now hanging on my wall at home. Each time I walk by it I drink in the colours of the top end and think about that wonderful community of women weavers.

If you live in Mebourne (or even if you don't but are prepared to travel here) Friends of Mapuru are bringing some of the Mapuru weavers to Melbourne in late January 2014 to participate in a cultural exchange. Part of that time will be spent sharing their weaving skills. If you'd like to take part in the weaving workshop check out the information on the Friends of Mapuru website and sign up. It will be a blast! Believe me, you will learn so much more than weaving skills from these amazing women.

weaving the land

one of my pieces. i loved learning this weaving style.


dilly bag by Gitjpulu


open weave bag by Gitjpulu


basket by Margaret Bambalarra


dilly bag by Gitjpulu


dilly bag by Gitjpulu



Oh my goodness. I cannot begin to put into words how I feel after the 10 day weaving trip I've just finished to a very remote community in north-east Arnhem Land (in the Northern Territory, Australia). So much learning on a cultural and making level! These images of my precious purchases will have to suffice for now. Please note the first image is one of my humble weaving pieces (I'm a beginner). All bags are hand made from pandanus leaves stripped and dyed with natural dyes. If you'd like any more information about the community or the weaving program please click here.

two places

A new series of woodblock prints is in the planning stages. These pics are snippets from my drawings. I'm a little bit excited about them but the proof (as every printmaker knows) will be in the printing. I'll be using some of that gorgeous shina ply I had shipped over from Japan via woodlike matsumura.

On other creative matters have you heard the debut album from seeker lover keeper (aka Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby & Sally Seltmann)? I especially love this song. I've even put it on my blog side bar - see the ipod widget. Three amazingly talented Australian musicians! Sadly, I will miss all four of their performances in Melbourne next month as I'll be in Arnhem Land on the weavers trip. Some say escaping Melbourne winter for a bit of northern territory warmth is a good thing at this time of year. But this is one time I'd really like to be in both places at once!

colour/color everywhere

I've been thinking a lot about colour in the last week or so as I was immersed in these beautiful sandstones tones at Aireys Inlet. I could just look at the blues of the ocean and sky and these gorgeous sandstone cliffs forever. There's also something about the autumn light which begins to put a more gentle feel to things in Australia at this time of year.

Anyway, as I was saying, colour.....I've been thinking about the colours I'm drawn to using in my work and even the ones I wear. And also how colours are made. It came up again over the weekend when I went to a briefing for the Arnhem Land Weavers trip I'm doing later in winter. We saw some amazing photos of the women weavers cooking up colour from the earth to dye their pandanas leaves before weaving them into glorious baskets. All those swirling earthy colours in the pots looked so rich and almost edible. Yum!

I find mixing colours to print (woodblock print, lino block print or screen print) really very challenging. I know I love a dirty colour (picture dirty red, dirty green, dirty blue); to me a good measure of black in there just seems to help ground the colour. I'm on the hunt for some good colour recipes so if you know of any or where to find some please feel free to share. I'd also love to hear what colours you're drawn to. Fluros anyone?