the school of nomad arts

I am pinching myself ... but it is true.

I have taken the plunge.

(what on earth is she on about, I hear you mutter)

Thanks to my friend Christi Carter telling me about Seasonal Affective Disorder, (something that was unknown to me) which prompted me to dream up a February project to help keep the February blues at bay...and then her insisting I really needed to make a video for the FB group (created for those who invested in the Bagstories book)

and then the darling Bagsisters being so very kind about my filming skills (and a bit of pride myself because I was able to make a wee film without saying UM or anything naughtier).

All of this gave me the confidence to create a virtual campfire that I am calling

the School of Nomad Arts.

it is the place you can go to learn and to make, all while curled up in your armchair, wearing your favourite jimjams and without having to brush your hair if you can't be bothered.

the first ever class is

the Alchemist's Apron

starting on March 22 (but open for enrolments now).

care to join me there? I hope so.

the last 9 hours before the pond hop

on the beach at San Gregorio

no stones, so i piled driftwood

a favourite winding road

California poppies wild in California

Pacifica

i spend my last nine hours in California revisiting favourite haunts

driving familiar roads that take me back in time

stacking wood and then some stones - that pale one on the top

came in my pocket from Drakes Beach, near Point Reyes

and 

the third one down

was found perfectly split

i had a perfect and ridiculously cheap lunch

at the small taqueria that occupies part of the gas station

at Pescadero

across from the thrift store where i found a number of cashmere sweaters #

my friend Claudia gave me this white stretchy dress

one of a new series she is working on

it has great shape

and fabulous pockets

i stitched around the neckline while waiting for flights

[it won't stay white for very much longer]

there was an all too brief stop in Auckland
followed by a fabulous view of beautiful Awhitu

and then after a few more hours i was home
where someone was waiting
[and immediately took up her position on the suitcase]

+    +    +    +    +    +    +    +    +

#  to be transformed into a big sloppy-joe/hoodie arrangement

with a big pocket across the front for my hands to meet in

and perhaps a tiny silk pocket on the back, just in case of notes.

i need something warm and soft and comfy for cool evenings

literally the last chance

this summer i've been deluged by emails enquiring about classes

so at the risk of becoming overly repetitive

wanted to remind my gentle reader that in order

to attend a class with me in the Deep South this year

you'll have to be quick,

the class in Brisbane has been full for some time 

and rumour has it that the one in the West has also filled

and

while i will be cooking for Roz Hawker's class in Goolwa

it won't be dyes

and

i will not be teaching. 

my lips will be sealed [unless i'm adjusting seasonings]

so

if you live in the Deep South

and would like to take a class

this is literally your last chance

"the wayfarer's wanderbook, looking into the heart"

a retreat that will take us via windfalls and dye cauldrons

into the realms of poetry [as well as stitching and book forms]

- fear not, sharing your writing with the class will be entirely voluntary - 

in the Lud Valley near Nelson on New Zealand's lovely south island

beginning January 20th

contact details here [please scroll down until you find Judy Keylock mentioned]

[i'm very curious to see if Griselinia littoralis 

will print pink on paper

as well as on cloth...]

and while on the subject of workshops
i've just heard that at least 6 really nice people [who have become my friends
since we met in workshops] have signed up for Sandra Brownlee's class
'Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word'
that will be held in Scotland in August this year.
i'm particularly pleased about this because
Alison and Jeanette [who run the Textile Centre at Newburgh]
took a leap and booked Sandra at my suggestion
and
even better
timed her workshop for the week after my artist residency there
[which follows on from my workshops]
so that i could be a student as well.

+   

in which i went to the Big Smoke

i was invited to Sydney
to give a talk [kindly organised by Dr Lim Chye Hong who besides being a noted scholar of Asian Art designs, makes and wears her own clothing with inimitable style]  
and to hold my nearly shortest ever workshop
[the shortest ever was an hour spent sitting in the street with passing children in Hyderabad, India in 2006, helping them beat leaves into their clothes with a small hammer...Hapa Zome on the run]

i came away having with my cup overflowing
having gazed at the Kamisaka Sekka exhibition
had a small taste of the Sydney Biennale
seen my work in a new book [more of that later]
and met the amazing Erin Manning
i use the adjective advisedly
she is a visual artist+dancer+philosopher+author
and very likely more


who is here with a thought-provoking project on Cockatoo Island


and the Book?

Shibori Recreated by Karen Davis and Pepa Martin
a contemporary look at an ancient craft/art
there's very good company in these pages
and i'm honoured to be included

deeeelighted to announce

my friend Roz [whose exquisite stitched work many will have spotted in Second Skin]  has been lured to South Australia
to give a workshop near the biggest river in the driest state on the driest continent

[in the Brewery at Goolwa]

it will be fabulous.
i know quite a few folks have been lusting after treasures similar to those lovely pieces of silver that dangle from a string around my neck
this is your chance to make your very own amulet AND do some fabulous stitching [and have your lunch prepared by me every day...i'm cooking!]


here's the link to Roz's blog where you will find sign-up details [and much nicer pictures of the work]

still following the thread below

Marianna has added her piece of the story
over at her blog
skip over the rainbow to read...

scarlet stars

when we first came to live in South Australia
in the early 1970s
[yes, children, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth
and your mother was dodging lava puddles and errant meteors]
there was barely a tree to be found on the main street of Stirling
there was one brave oak
that marked the position of the local hamburger joint
[now a jewellery store]
and the deli next door
which some ambitious soul designated as the "Oak Tree Plaza"

Mount Barker Road was an expanse of bitumen
wide enough for a bullock cart to be turned in
[even though the chances of a bullock cart struggling up the hills from the plains were by now pretty slim]

so my Pa
who in those days was quite a bright chap
and coined phrases such as
"the driest state on the driest continent"
-  a snappy descriptor still applied to South Australia -
hit upon the notion of planting a few trees

due permissions were gathered
not without protest from the traders of the time who argued that it would take away parking spaces, people would be killed by running into [the trees], falling limbs would crush cars etc etc
Liquidambars were selected, not only for their glorious autumn colour but also as a fire safety measure...eucalypts are lovely trees but rather prone to explosive combustion and in the likely event the Mount Lofty Ranges are again consumed by fire 
having less flammable trees in the main street is probably a good thing

this winter it will be 40 years since we mucked in
with other hardy souls in the community
and helped plant some fifty trees
that now provide welcome shade in summer
scatter scarlet stars on the pavements in the fall
and whose branches trace delicate drawings in the mists
of our most chillsome season

might be time to gather a few leaves
and make a commemorative bundle
- i'll let you know how that goes

jack dandy

i had occasion to go to town today
on a client visit
taking a shortcut to the hills again
i swung by an emporium on a quiet back street
and having a minute or two to spare
popped in to have a look about

i found this extraordinary treasure
a Union Jack
stitched together from carpet pieces
and not just any old carpet
they were pieces of Afghan treasure
so far as i could tell

i was mightily intrigued by this, so i had a little google-rummage
and came up with some interesting links
here and here
it's a lovely piece but somehow i can't imagine chopping up perfectly beautiful rugs in order to piece a flag...

here and there

and the inflight stitching continues

yankalilla

those nine days away were fabulous

working at Yankalilla
in the midst of beautiful rolling hills that look like sleeping beasts



driving down the coast each evening
to a wee house by the sea
wandering over the cliffs in the gentle last light



we dyed and dyed and stitched and stitched

97 leaf-printed flags will flutter at the Leafy Sea Dragon Festival



and a huge hand-pieced patchwork will hang at Yankalilla
dyed with the "Colours of Home"
[about 3 metres high x 6 metres wide]

the last stitch went in at 7pm last night
by which time it was getting a little dark

for photography

and now i think of it
my first solo exhibition since 2009
opened at the Orange Regional Gallery last Friday
there will be a gathering in the space on April 13
...swing by if you're in the area?

found to be in need of stitching

found to be in need of stitching-
my favourite pair of jeans
of course
from a San Francisco thrift store
lovely bootcut Levi Strauss

i used Japanese sashiko thread
good sturdy cotton
a stitch in time, they say
but i needed a lot more than nine