Steampunk! Exhibit at Artisan Gallery

I managed to get myself to the Antipodean Steampunk Exhibition at Artisan Gallery in the Valley with the lovely miss Angelita on the 20th.
We had a great afternoon of chatting and arty stuff and coffee and Steampunk!
I was allowed to take a few photos (sans flash so had to use my phone, apologies about photo quality).
I'll be posting a proper review later, for now, suffice to say, it was exceptional. :D

The Samson Revolver (2012) by Caleb Heinselman

Lady Lepidopterolgy (2012) by Alexandra Gill-Chambers (Clockwork Butterfly)

Gentleman Assassin (2011) by Gallery Serpentine and Steampunk Rifle (2010) by Dj Djjor

Clockwork Universe (2007-12) by Tim Wetherell

Pianophone by John Doe

Origin of Species by Tim Wetherell

Collection of awesome.

Works by Michelle Murray and Romy Sai Zunde

Tea Bag Jiggler 5 (1993-94) by Russell Anderson

There was also a selection of maritime objects from the QLD Maritime Museum that rounded out the beautiful Victorian aesthetic of the exhibit.

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1st Year Fine Arts - Semester 2 Sculpture Finals

Critiques went... better than expected, even the scary one where I had to perform in front of my sculpture class; talk about out of my comfort zone!
Everybody did amazing work in the second part of the semester, it was clear people had hit their stride and were doing great conceptual works.
My own piece was a performance installation based around some recorded interviews of my parents, all in Spanish, regarding their lives before and after migrating to Australia and what they think of how their lives have unfolded to this point.
It also goes into my own point of view of their experiences here and delves pretty deeply into my cultural identity... subject matter that is very close to my heart and difficult to confront, but once I got it out there it was amazingly cathartic and a precious insight into the minds of my parents.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the actual performance piece but here are some photos of the prop I made to go with it.

Here are photos of some of the works from my peers.

Works included here belong to: Debbie, Courtney, Ellise, Georgia, Lauren, Maria, Monique, Nick, Sarah and Trevor.

I think I'm missing 3 or 4 photos: Katherine, Susan, and Rebecca's.

Also, I'm terrible with names so if you see your work here and not your name, let me know!

Looking forward to next year! :D

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Critiques are Creeping Closer

Second semester critiques are creeping closer, looming more like, and I'm starting to feel the fear.
Why is it always the way that as something bigger looms closer, the easier it is to procrastinate? O_o

I recently spent some time on the Gold Coast to teach kids bookbinding, it was both fun and frustrating!
Kids are difficult to teach but I am always amazed by how creative they can be once they get into the headspace.

Also, made a bracelet for my mother, she has a thing for rainbow colours (which I can't say I share, give me themed colours or limited colour palettes any day!) and Swarovski crystals (this one, I can totally understand); a messy if amazingly sparkly combination, but the bracelet did turn out rather gorgeous. :3

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Finality

I can't recall if I posted about it or not, but my beloved dog, Frida, died late last month from a drawn out illness.
She was one of my best and most loyal friends and a wonderful listener. She taught me so much about life, love and, finally, death.

Today, her ashes arrived in a beautiful wooden box and the whole emotional mess came back with a vengeance. I clutched at that box like it was her.

It's a strange, bittersweet feeling; she's home and yet she's not. The loop has closed.
It's a painful finishing of a book, like finally reaching the end of a story you never wanted to end.
And yet it's the way it has to be.

I miss her so much.
Farewell my precious friend.

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Chipping away... Jewellery and Drawings

I've been on holidays recently, and as most of my holidays go, I had great big plans and of course, barely got half of them done. :p
Just a quick update of what is currently on my workbench and what I have actually finished. :)

My current workbench as of this blog post! This is actually a few different pieces in progress. ;)

A finished cuff. This should be up for sale on my Etsy store soon. 

A cuff in progress. I'm addicted to Euro 4 in 1!

A finished set in silvered enamelled copper and lampwork beads for a family friend. Byzantine weave.

And lastly, my ATC's for the Doodle Project Project round 13! All finished and mailed out. :D

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Have I posted these yet?

I can't remember if I've posted these or not yet so... here they are. Possibly again lol.

This one's for sale (the original drawing) at my Etsy store: Here.

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Le Macaron

One of my favourite things. :D

<3

Trying Out a New Vendor

I've decided to close my Artfire shop and move it to Handmade Artists:

http://handmadeartists.com/shop/MVSilva

As much as I loved the Artfire community, it just wasn't working out for me, perhaps it was my fault, perhaps not, either way, my time with them has come to an end.
The new site has the same books in it that the old site did and I should have some new, as yet unseen, ones up there soon. Wish me luck!

My jewellery shop is still at the same place, by the way XD (shameless plug is shameless)


http://www.etsy.com/shop/Selvaen

:D

Intro to Painting at Griffith QCA

Some of the painting works I've completed for my mid-semester critique (and the reason I've been neglecting poor blog).
The smaller works are based on my parents Chilean Cafe at Hope Island on the Gold Coast, the larger ones are abstractions of boxes, buildings and a local park.
Eeeeh, acrylics are so different to watercolour!

I'm not much of a painter normally, (my housemate says I was a cranky biatch the whole time I was painting these ^_^) but lately I've found myself getting the urge to paint more...


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Matisse, Kusama and Not Getting the Photo

A short while ago I made a trip down to the QLD Art Gallery, followed by the Gallery Of Modern Art in South Brisbane.
I had a whole bunch of ideas about this post, photos, information about the artists I saw etc etc.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and when I went to use my camera phone instead, I was told off by the overworked looking gallery staff :/
So here's all I got.

Taken covertly at the QAG when gallery staff weren't looking.

Only photo taken of the Yayoi Kusama exhibit (because I wasn't allowed to take photos of the Matisse exhibit, which was wonderful, by the way).

 Yayoi's exhibit was an amazing explosion of colour and installation that you really should see. I walked through her vibrant exhibition with a smile on my face and my mind ticking over with thoughts on consumerism, interactive art and what art is today. Great stuff.
She's 80+ years old and still making beautiful art.
For those interested: http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/e/information/index.html


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