You may have spotted on Instragram last Thursday and Friday that I attended the inaugural creative workshop at River Hawk Ranch an immersion into art and nature with Dominique Sutton
To say the workshop was amazing is an understatement , a couple, of days deep in art and nature on a beautiful property by the river in Brunswick heads was magical.
We foraged for materials and tools, painted by the river and in the new studio at River Hawk
Lucky there is going to be more click here to see more and to find out about other workshops
Fenton and Fenton have travelled from Melbourne to Sydney for a week long exhibition/showcase of their furniture and some of their favourite artists, including Jai Vasicek, Emma Gale, Arly Williams, Dianna Miller, Louise Kyriakou, Dion Horstmans, Stan Piechaczekand Billie Justice Thomson,Its an interiors lovers dream! and the best part everything on display is for sale . This one off event is on until next Sunday at ‘The Studio’ 2/85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery, NSW October 20th – October 29th, 2017
I discovered Artist Amia Caffarena on Instagram (of course) I LOVE her beautiful steel wire sea creature sculptures especially the whales! she makes things with what she finds from Bogliasco (Italy) with no fixed address but a Van called “rusty” living the creative life as an artist currently in Byron Bay
Back home she was just a Yacht Design student, studying something she didn’t really like. When in library, instead of studying physics and mechanics she was sketching whales on her notebook. No wonder one day she said ” Sorry mum, I can’t do this anymore I need a change, I’m going to Australia”.
She came to Australia in November, bought a 31 year old van (named him Rusty, of course) in Darwin, then started traveling/exploring Australia.
“I started to shape whales almost one year and half ago, just as an hobby.
Why whales. I always had a super strong connection with the sea and the ocean, it’s a family thing, I just feel sick without my salty friend. And whales are rulers of the ocean, so magnificent and dramatic, smart, poetic, powerful and magical, all in one marvellous animal”
Testament to being in the right place at the right time and open to the universe she says destiny wanted for her to meet now friend talented artist, Elise Cameron Smith , in the car park of the National Park in Noosa Head on new years eve, all thanks to her Van Rusty, Elise said “Cool van!”and noticed a whale drawing and an adventure they were friends ! Amid showed Elise her sculptures and it was her who suggested she try to sell them, introducing her to Sibella Court
She came to Australia, fell in love with it and found something special, unexpected. Now when people ask her what she does she is proud to reply: “I’m an artist!”
Favourite Artist and long time friend Miranda Skoczek‘s latest (Sydney) exhibition “fragments and fantasy” is now showing at Art House Gallery( I attended the opening last night) The exhibition showcases her signature bold, colourful, dreamlike style there is a explosion of colour, I love this latest group of work a slight new feel whilst still capturing her signature style.
Ok, so a few weeks ago a very exciting email popped up in my inbox, asking if I would like to meet iconic Australian Artist Ken Doneof course i jumped at the chance! It’s not every day you get to meet an Australian Icon!
To those of you not familiar (there can’t be too many!) Ken is one of my Favourite living legends, growing up in Australia you could not help but be influenced by this legendary artist. So an opportunity to meet him was a dream come true! ( we even swapped books!)
I couldn’t pass up this opportunity and share some insight into a few of Ken’s favourite things, It was great to learn that Ken is as colourful and optomistic as is artworks, it was a great to visit and spend time in his studio where the magic happens
Tell us about your journey -how you became an artist?
I went to art school at 14 and a half but I was 40 before I had my first exhibition. I didn’t become an artist, I was an artist. It’s just when I was young I didn’t know it.
Where do you live?
At Chinaman’s Beach, near Mosman.
How would you describe the look/style of your space at home
A simple villa. A studio overlooking the beach. A house full of paintings.
Where is your favourite place to holiday?
We have been travelling for many years. We’ve holidayed in the Arctic, Europe, the Pacific, America, and the Antarctic. Some holidays are in the snow, some holidays are in the tropics where I can continue to snorkel and explore my love of the reef.
Favourite thing in your home?
My family
What are you loving right now?
The latest painting that I am working on.
Coffee or tea? (And how you take it?)
Either.
What’s your favourite day of the week?
At my age, any day that you wake up is good.
What’s your favourite thing to do on the weekend?
We swim every day and have breakfast by the beach, however Sunday breakfasts are a bit more indulgent.
Favourite street to shop in?
I like Mosman Junction and the shops at the airport
Favorite place to eat?
Near my gallery – Quay for special occasions, or the little Japanese restaurants tucked away in the Rocks or overlooking the Opera House, and sometimes at the Park Hyatt. (Yuki’s and Nakashima)
Favorite places to shop?
Parkers Art Supply Shop, it’s like being in a sweet shop.
What are you reading/watching/listening to?
I’m reading crime fiction, I’m watching English comedy, I’m listening to rhythm and blues.
Favourite city?
Sydney
What’s your motto?
Look to this day
Favourite meal?
Beluga caviar, once a year
Any pets?
Sadly, no dog at the moment, but we are very attached to the magpies, seagulls and lorikeets we feed in the morning and the half a dozen large bream that I feed from the rocks in front of the studio.
favourite song?
at the moment, The Jealous Kind by Ray Charles
Your signature cocktail?
Anything with vodka
Where’s your happy place?
In my head
What do you collect?
Some expensive art, some worthless junk. Both beautiful to me.
What/who inspires you
Living in Autralia and beside the harbour in Sydney is a constant source of inspiration
What are you working on right now?
Paintings of the Antarctic
What’s next?
A series of talks related to the launch of my newly released memoir (Ken Done: A Life Coloured In), then the exhibition in June of the Antarctic pictures to benefit the McGrath Foundation.
I recently met George here in Sydney (but have followed him on instagram for ages) I was instantly drawn to his work. In true coincidence and connectivity we have mutual friends in LA (also coincidentally another favourite artist Paul Davies and his wife Sarah) I love the optimistic, colourful and graphic moments George captures, of course I love LA but there is something magical about his point of view.
George Byrne’s L.A. series ‘Local Division’ resonates with a quiet, deductive intensity. Borrowing from the clean, vivid clarity of modernist painting, he also references the New Topographics photography movement via a subject matter firmly entrenched in the urban everyday. Byrne’s oeuvre is to spin L.A.’s most disposable architecture and redundant landscapes into seismic moments. He seeks the subliminal and sublime in the everyday.
Born in Sydney in 1976, Byrne graduated from Sydney College Of The Arts in 2001, travelled extensively, and then settled in Los Angeles in 2010 where he has been focusing on his photographic practice.
Byrne started using Instagram as a visual scrapbook in 2013, his gallery (@george_byrne) has evolved to become an important and popular extension of his broader art practice reaching over 40,000 followers.
George Byrne photographs Los Angeles in colour, outdoors & usually in blinding sunlight. Figures occasionally float by like ghosts through washed out pastel plains. Streetscapes become two-dimensional, angular cutouts. Shadows dissect. A handrail rests poetically in space by virtue of perspective and its own simple form. For Byrne, any subject matter is fair game so long as it’s conducting light, everything evokes. Composition is king.
Born in Sydney, Byrne graduated from Sydney College Of The Arts in 2001, travelled extensively, and then settled in Los Angeles in 2010. He started out studying painting but in his late teens discovered a love of photography. He says his early creative inspirations came from Pierre Mondrian, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney & Jeffrey Smart, all artists who would go on to deconstruct their environments with compositional exactness. Only later did he discover Walker Evan, William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Andreas Gursky,
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 Australia | T. (02) 9327-3922 | info@olsenirwin.com | www.olsenirwin.com
Byrne’s habit is to spin LA’s most disposable architecture and redundant landscapes into seismic moments, he seeks the epic in the everyday and revels in the irony that is beautifying the unbeautiful. His images reflect a sense of stillness often echoed in Edward Hopper’s own investigations into the modern human condition; the ideal vs. the reality, the emptiness that can lie at the heart of a busy modern life, and those questions that often rest uncomfortably between the lines.
Artist Belynda Henrys exhibition “Higher” opens at Kosleka March 14th Her acrylic, abstract landscapes use Cezanne-like blocks of colour to construct the rolling forms of the Dooralong Valley, NSW – her home. I love her colour palette of soy and bold shades with the organics shapes, be sure to pop this in your diary! click here for full details
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