still down under

i have some exciting news,

well, it seems exciting to me.

my almost neighbor genevieve nordmark and i

have been asked to participate in handpapermaking's

next portfolio, number 12, which pairs up olders and youngers

as collaborators to make art works for the portfolio.

this portfolio will be published 

to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

although genevieve and i are not quite 30 years apart in age

we are beginning to plan as soon as i return from oz.

Our intergenerational experiment seeks to consciously de-emphasize didactic mentor/student dynamics in favor of a creative melding of unique and vital perspectives in contemporary paper. We hope the finished paperworks will convey the spirit of youthful energy interacting on equal footing with the wisdom of experience. Each pair of artists will determine how to express these concepts visually through their work in paper.

i'm beginning to get a wee bit excited about this one!

(note: wisdom and experience)

~~~

while here i received the news that a few more copies of November, A Map 

have been sold

and my large 12 Moons shifu book has also found a home!

thank you alicia bailey and Abecedarian Gallery.

 in the town of the weird baby egg

some nifty buildings 

 and then a shifu two-day workshop

hosted by 

the papermakers of victoria

at an amazing old stables (a stud)

 these women all had great hand skills

and a lovely sense of community

and we made lots of beauty.

kami-ito stars!

 there were stories.
and terrific hand skills.
~

and below, this was part of the endless

beautiful attention to detail

now given over to artists and the community

instead of horses.

 there was some work by mark lander on the wall
and one of his critters and a valley beater
in the beater room.

 and everyone here thinks that flax 

is not my old friend of the blue or white tiny flowers and bast fibers long and strong

but new zealand flax!

 spinning kami-ito

some marvelous thinking was happening here.

 notes and first weaving

 some older experiments with paper and silk

which were great experiments

 a plethora of sampling and threads

 pattern paper and silk

 the warning:

 brushes

 deepening color

 something heavy and graceful to hang drying mitsumata on

 the effect of gravity

i continued on after this workshop 

to geelong, today to cape otway

to work with a friend.

 i had a great conversation with mary jane and wendy

at the school of lost arts.

 and in wendy's house

filled with books and textiles

 wendy showed me this amazing book.

after geelong 

and one more 2-day workshop

melbourne and then i turn east and north towards home.

where, i am told,

the robins and redwing blackbirds have returned.

i hope i make it

out onto the land

before the ticks wake up.