Free Art Workshop and Introdction to the Artist in Residence at Darebin Parklands

I have been officially doing the residency for nearly a month now, so it is about time for an introduction. You can find out a little bit more about me here on this blog by clicking The Artist above. But better yet, come down to the parklands themselves, introduce yourself and join me for an Artist Picnic from 1pm, or come to my Drawing om the Darebin art workshop. The first of many I hope, this first one is FREE :) It will be lots of fun, come and make some art with me, bring your kids. Everybody is welcome, no experience needed, just come along and play!

Next Sunday 1st June from 1-5pm at the studio.

The leaf map

The first large work of my residency has begun, its a bit like things I have done before and its a bit experimental too. At the moment I am calling it the 'Leaf Map' but I expect that's a working title only.

It's a work in progress and will be for a while I guess, so here are some photos of its development so
far.

Environmental Inspiration

If I ever doubted the value of an artist residency, I do not now.

As an artist, just as many others may, I have questioned the value of making work on site. Yet the first few days of making work at Darebin Parklands have reinforced for me that this is of central importance in my artwork.

It's happened twice so far there. I have been making work and suddenly been drawn to the materials around me in the environment. First time it happened was down by the rocks when I started my watercolour painting of the creek, stepping stones and the rock face on the other side.

The moment of inspiration came when I decided to fill my water jar from the creek rather then from my water bottle as anticipated. Then I looked at the rocks across the way and was really temped to use the water and the rocks themselves as materials. I have done this before and will explore it here. 

After all pigment comes from stones and rocks, dyes come from plant matter, in fact everything derives from materials which can be traced back to their natural state.

But for now, I just dipped my jar in the creek and so the first watercolours I made, paintings of the creek, were painted with creek water and paint.

***

Last weekend I went for an artistic adventure with a friend into the hills of Melbourne to see the open studios of the Dandenong Ranges. It was a lovely wet, raining, misty, muddy day perfect for going up mountains. There were two artists studios in particular I wanted to visit. Jude Craig was the first.

Jude Craig's artwork can be viewed here.

I had seen this video featuring Jude Craig's beautiful work leading up to our visit, but nothing prepared me for walking in a seeing the shinning face and hearing her warm voice, which made me feel like I had always know her.

We walked down the steep stairs and into her fabulous studio (which was once a sewing factory), and we were greeted by the warm smells of mulled wine and eucalyptus leaves and sticks brewing on the stove. Seeing her artwork and talking about her process literally made my mouth water as it connected so well with what I was discovering in my own art practice. Jude uses native plants, rusty metal and other materials found in her environment to create the most magical dyed silks and other recycled materials. The subtle earthy colours and patina these leaves and dyes impart to the fabric, echos so closely the colours and feeling of my own work that I just wanted to spend as much time as possible sharing stories, ideas, methods, listening to her lovely voice, feeling her beautiful silks and looking out at her stunning view.

Jude Craig's work specially resonated for me as just the week before while I had been working on the large map like piece in the studio at Darebin Parklands I found myself gathering piles of leaves from just outside the door and in using them to shape my artwork. I found myself thinking about whether they would leave a stain on the paper or not, an idea that really appeals to me. I am yet to fully explore this idea, but it is definitely something I would like to experiment with and to that end I hope to invite Jude to join me down in the studio one day to play with that environment and see what art it wants to make.

Katie Roberts 'Leaf Map' (early stages) Ink, watercolour, leaves.

Official Start of Artist Residency

It was an exciting week, on Thursday I officially started the Darebin Parklands Artist Residency properly. Yay!

Here's the story:

I went in today to catch up with Peter Wiltshire the Ranger there (he has been for thirty years and transformed the park completely!) I was hoping to get a little artwork done as I had that urgent urge to make work. I was greeted warmly by Peter and he told me the news, that the committee agreed to my residency. Apparently they really liked my work and approved the proposal rather enthusiastically!

It is so wonderful that these people, councils and committees have cared for the creek and its surrounds so well for the last thirty years, virtually restoring a lost landscape and habitat. A fantastic testament to human powers of creativity and healing.

Anyway, I got chatting to the Rangers and looking at all the amazing resources in what I think of as their mini-museum, including stuffed birds, rock samples, maps and even olive oil from the harvest festival of 2001. But what really interested me was the huge areal photograph of the parklands that was printed at a banner on a stand.

So I borrowed the map and took it into what I am thinking of as the studio (variously called the Gleeson Centre or the Environment Centre) and began to properly start to work. It felt great to finally got started on the large map like work that I had brewing in me, and really lovely to properly begin my residency! :)

It was so fabulous to actually be in studio within the parklands which are my subjects, surrounded by the photographs, resources and research materials as well as 'real life' examples of the park.

I have been back the last three days and being in the parklands itself has led me to experiment in ways I would not have at home and with materials that are in the environment.

I am very excited about this and will post photos and a further update about this work soon...

***

Meanwhile, here is some more backstory.

Even though I had not 'officially' started, over the last couple of weeks I had began to make work at the parklands. Although I became quite unwell after my first couple of hours down at the creek, struggling with the watercolours and didn't get back for a week. The week after I got back on my bike and rode along my favorite trail up a fantastic boardwalk where you get a great view of the trees and creek. It was a gorgeous day and I popped my watercolours in my bike basket and started this piece. It too is a work in progress, but here is a photo of me working in situ. I am still not convinced watercolour is my medium, but this is a good chance to experiment and hopefully get a handle on them.