Exhibition Visit

As part of my research for the craftLIFE project (Studio 1B subject), I visited some exhibitions. Here are my notes and thoughts on them.

No Vacancy QV Gallery - MSFW RMIT Student Exhibition
Almendra Basurto had a lovely glowing, ruffled tunnel made up of clear plastic strips and LED lighting. Called "Atmospheres", it was really beautiful. It looked soft and ethereal, but was actually quite a solid, structural form.

Alana Hersh had a mannequin crashing through a wall of fabric which was made of knotted crepe.

Cristina Pomohaci-Ham had a some interesting laser-cut textiles.

Anisha Bhoyro had a jacket entitled "Precious Threads" which was made up of jigsaw-like pieces. All the pieces were cut at 90 or 45 degree angles with threads removed to create a grid structure. These pieces, once put together created a jacket with zero waste. A really lovely dress and jacket also accompanied this work. This is such a clever idea and the pieces of cloth that were removed made lovely patterns.

Whindu Setiawati showed some constructed jackets with box shapes and splatter marks on the concrete-like colour. I loved the subtle colour and stitching that was almost hidden in these garments.

Li-Anne Kuek had some playful pieces that resembled soft toys. These could be tried on by visitors and their photo would be added to the exhibition. This was a popular piece.

Hannah Chamley had a piece that had multiple layers of laser cut cloth that made topographic lines. These were hung and you could step inside them, so it made a cocoon-like shape. I found this piece quite eerie and it reminded me of a cloth-made coffin.
http://no-vacancy.com.au


RMIT Gallery - Space Invaders
This exhibition was made up of street art stencils, posters, stickers and zines. I really loved the two pieces... one was made up of two figures facing each other. They had faces, but their bodies were silhouettes with shapes cut out. It was a very effective paper cut pattern. The other piece I loved, was made up of many pieces of paper that had been spray painted in reds and purples with bits of pattern on some. These pieces were stuck to the wall with thumbtacks allowing the piece to sit out from the wall and create shadow. When you stood back you could see that these also made human-like shapes.
http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=dzuj63yix9pw



Craft Victoria - Catherine Bowman: Locutions
I was intrigued by Catherine Bowman's work which was made up of drawings with collage, pencil and watercolour. She also had some small items that were made from copper and other media and these shapes were 3D forms of the drawings. As you looked closely at the work, you saw a glitter or sand like substance that had been used in varying degrees on the drawings and also then sat in the final object, inside a bird cylinder. Szu-Ting and myself were trying to work out what this substance was and after some time we asked the Craft Victoria people... it turns out the artist is a jeweller and the substance is probably all the shavings from her work, copper, silver, gold and dust particles. I loved how it sparkled and was so fine, but also had a greyness to it. Very unique!!
http://craftvic.org.au/whats-on/exhibitions/katherine-bowman-locutions-the-loved-object