Studio During Arts Open

Last weekend I had a wonderful bunch of people visit my studio during the 'Arts Open - Meet the Makers' Festival that happened in sunny Castlemaine.  It was huge success for the organisers (who did a wonderful job) as over 4o venues opened to public.

I very much enjoyed welcoming people into my space, and hearing their comments.  It is such a pleasure to see people enjoying my work.  So a big thank you to all that visited.

Most of all I want to mention that the whole event was initiated, marketed and executed by the artists.  Such a fantastic example of a community working together for the common good.  Yippeeeee!!!!

More pics below ...

Website and Roses

The website is up.
www.catherinepilgrim.com
I'd love to hear any comments you might like to share.

This image is from a lithograph I made a few years ago.   The reference for it was a rose at Heide, a garden that is part of a very special art museum complex in Melbourne.  If you don't know about them, you can read a little bit about the story of John and Sunday Reed by following this link. http://www.heide.com.au/about/the-heide-story/the-reeds/

Craft Victoria and Saffron

Craft Victoria -

I am now officially an accredited member of Craft Victoria, and am proud to be associated with such a wonderful organisation.

 http://craftvic.org.au/author/catherine-pilgrim

Thank you Craft Vic for all the wonderful work you do for so many arts professionals.



Saffron -

While I was having a lovely time at the Castlemaine Artist Market an especially wonderful couple noticed one of my cards with a garlic drawing - and we got to talking about saffron bulbs.  This is the bulb they consequently showed to me so I could have a go at drawing it.  I took quite a few photos so I had a good record of this silky bulb, then did some sketchy drawings that didn't do this wonderous little thing justice.  It is much the same size as a daffodil bulb, but the papery exterior is silky. (The photo doesn't show the texture well enough, but I reckon it would keep that Princess from the Princess and the Pea happy).  I only had the bulb for a few hours as it needed to be planted, but I am grateful for having had the opportunity to see it.  There are so many things that help maintain a sense of wonderment, which are only amplified by the generosity of complete strangers that share ...

Arts Open - Meet the Makers - Castlemaine and District, Central Victoria

This promises to be great fun!

About 40 studios will be open for the general public to visit Thursday 26th - Sunday 29th April 2012.

Check out the website www.artsopen.com.au

The brochure (which you can also view on the website) was officially launched last Friday night in Castlemaine by Martin Paten, Director of the Castlemaine Festival. As you can imagine the evening had a wonderful sense of community. I live amongst such fantastic people, and a whole damn amazing bunch of artists. I am blessed.

Meanwhile I spent some time at the Castlemaine Artist Market on Sunday with some of my purses and a few prints. It was a lovely lovely day. The weather was great and people were out and about. All in all a great time!

Some of the purses below aren't quite finished, but you get the idea ...

Teaching an Old Dog Some New Tricks

I am feeling like the old dog, but maybe that is just tiredness. It is possible to teach an old girl some new tricks - just good to keep it all in perspective and not expect too much too quickly. Regardless, it is such a fantastic ride to step sideways and learn new skills. Makes me realise that we really can do anything we set our mind to. (Note to self, think about how to best impart this information to the kids without sounding like a trite and annoying mother!!)

I have been learning how to make bags - and I'm having an absolute ball! This spider hasn't made it onto a bag yet, but it will. The ever important balance of aesthetics and functionality is foremost in my mind tonight. That and the realisation that I have so very much more to learn. And there are a multitude of images I want to put on a multitude of bags and purses ...

The meticulous art of Catherine Pilgrim - ABC Central Victoria - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Here is the correct link for the recent radio interview I did re 'Widow' exhibition at La Trobe Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo.

The meticulous art of Catherine Pilgrim - ABC Central Victoria - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Beethoven and Purses

This morning I have been listening to Beethoven via youtube with my boys. We often listen to and watch music clips while we make pancakes on the weekends. I have tried to expose them to older music they have limited exposure to - classic rock and roll to jazz to blues and soul. I even had a disco themed morning with them once. We often dance around the kitchen. There is something incongruous about youtube and classical music though...

This photo of the purses was taken last week at Cascade Print Room in Maldon, Victoria. I am about to start a batch of spider image purses for them this week.

Spider Purse

As promised, some pics of one of the spider purses - this one is make-up purse size. The original image is a stone lithograph (ie the image is drawn on lithographic stone and then printed) which I have then used more contemporary technology to transfer onto fabric. I have then sewn up the purse thanks to a Nicole Mallalieu purse pattern. The lining is from a basic fabric shop. My apologies these pics are snaps rather than documentation quality, but you get the idea.

January Camping Trip

I have always enjoyed camping ... the sense of getting completely away from routine, making life so much simpler for a time. The smells of the bush, the cosy tent, the not worrying about day to day things that are going on in the news ... taking fantastic food and wine then eating it from a tin plate and drinking from a plastic cup (think French cheese cut to order and Heathcote Shiraz). I have enjoyed looking back at these shots from a month ago and remembering the wonderful pleasure that came from taking my boys and really stopping for a few days.

I didn't get much time to draw, but did take a few photos.

Widow - Show's Up

The exhibition titled 'Widow' opened at the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in Bendigo on 2nd February. Elly Varrenti gave a truly wonderful opening speech for me - I am so very lucky. I will try to get a copy of her speech to publish here. It was a sensational, well attended opening. The dress image is a cropped (by me) version of a photograph taken at the opening by Nicola Loder. (Thanks Nic)

I also did a short radio interview on our local ABC station, which you can follow a link to here -

www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/02/03/3422468.htm

It is all about the spiders!

(Sorry I'm having trouble getting it to 'link', but you should be able to copy and paste it.)

Meanwhile I'm getting the purses together, and also need to get some photos of the purses with the spiders (I decided at the eleventh hour to make spider purses for the exhibition) to show you.

The purses are slowly but surely coming together...

Widow

Getting geared up for this show, getting ready to start really working at the purses and bags, and trying to pack for a camping trip ... I'm hoping the boys will give me a little time to draw while we are 'out bush' ... we'll see. I'm looking forward to doing a few drawing exercises, like finding something I'm not familiar with (in the bush it could be an unusual leaf or twig, if I'm lucky a bit of body a bug has finished with) and doing a whole series of really quick drawings. Then once I've really got my eyes tuned into looking properly, doing some of those long studies that really are meditative ... ok so there's a fair chance I won't get the long drawings done but I'll look forward to the quick work.