SHOW OF THE WEEK part deux

tester.

Has anyone checked out Handheld Gallery here in Melbourne Town yet? We are heading there today to see the new show by Chloe Vallance. We've always been a sucker for art that incorporates those paint chips you get from the hardware store. If you are anything like us you have piles of them around the place just waiting to have something happen to them - and its never about picking feature wall colours.

GIFT OF THE WEEK

Buying a friend ART is one of the nicest things to do. I was thrilled to receive this Xmas present from my lovely friend Miss J - who has the best taste of anyone we know.

Of course she knew I loved LA artist/genius Megan Whitmarsh. Mainly because Beck and I blab on about her all the time here on HML and we interviewed her for our book

to now be the proud owner of not one but two of her prints is such a great start to 2010. I'm taking it as a sign of big crafty things to come.

Do you feel like buying a friend some art? you can do so here. The rule is one for your friend and one for you. I'm off to the framers...

SHOW OF THE WEEK

It would be too easy to call Adam Cruickshank's new work the ultimate Ikea hack. But it's obvious to us from the press release that he's thinking about all this mass consumerism and generic design on a much deeper level and so should we. Investigating the cargo cults of the pacific - where indigenous tribes would recreate modern technologies using ancient craft techniques, Adam has created something 'ancient' out of materials resolutely modern. Who could say no to a necklace created using those little Ikea pencils? Opens this Thursday at, you guessed it, Craft Victoria.

newfashiontodayblog is moving :)

Hello, darlings,

I hope you are having a fabulous and happy 2010! I've got to tell you something... I have been thinking about it and the final decision felt very right.

newfashiontodayblog is moving to http://newfashiontodayblog.wordpress.com :) It's just a click away, so you can always find me and I will be so happy to see you as my lovely guests. I must admit, I adore the new layout and the colours, as well as the fact that I can reply to every comment personally. It's going to be such a great and enjoyable experience.

So.... Please visit my new baby and tell me what you think of it. And if you follow, please, don't forget to change the link.

New blog (and me) can be found here. You are all invited to my housewarming party (ops, housewarming post :) )

Lots of love,

LittleRus

xxx

CRAFT OF THE WEEK

have you got a square to spare?

We love to fold paper here at hml, so when I got the hot tip from craft mag about the online origami club in my inbox today I sure 'nuff whooped it up.

Whether you want to whip up an ark of animals, a city of buildings or indeed a group of odd foodstuffs that includes everything from a soft serve ice cream to fried egg, this website has the goods. We especially liked this waste paper basket made from... (wait for it)...waste paper.

And as you can see, each design even comes conveniently graded for difficulty and with both diagramatic and animated instruction options. What better way to fill in some downtime in the office. Nimble up those fingers people and get folding.

SHOWS OF THE WEEK

hey ladies...

Look we're not going to pretend we've actually seen any exhibitions for the last couple of weeks, we've been too busy playing house and hangin' out... after all we're on our summer holidays people! That being said today is officially the day we go back to work. Sigh. Still it also means that we're starting to get it together again to make it out of the back-yard (or botanical gardens in Ramona's case) and into the galleries. Of course with the impetus on new years resolutions and their resultant make-overs we've been thinking about how to oufit the new decade ... and what better way to get to where we're going than to look at where we've been. So. This weeks shows are all about FASHION.

Over at the NGV international theres DRAPED, an exhibition drawn predominantly from the NGV collection, in which fashion, sculpture, painting, decorative arts and photography from antiquity to the present day explore the practice of draping cloth on the body in two modes - clinging drape and elevated drape. While the gallery defines 'Clinging drape' as being reliant on a direct interaction between the body and cloth, we see it as being reliant on super hot bods and buns of steel and therefore not on the current hml wardrobe menu. "Elevated drape"  however is defined as "showing drape theatrically animated away from the body as in the festooning of fabric over crinolines and bustles..." in other words a gloriously dramatic way for all women who have had children and/or who no longer have either hot bods or buns of steel to hide the not so fabulous bits while celebrating the rest. Just one reasonwhy we love the designers like Rei Kawakubo and her lbd outfit above.This exhibition also features works by some of our other personal faves here at hml - Vivienne Westwood, Gianni Versace, Christian Dior, Balenciaga and Hussein Chalayan. Tops.

Until 27 June 2010

Fashion & Textiles Gallery, Level 2

Free

Closer to home and more recent in focus is the TOGETHER ALONE exhibition over at the other NGV

(Ian Potter) this exhibition mulls over the common ground shared by our trans tasman affair with New Zealand and expresses the antipodean aesthetic through a group of what we shall now refer to as "the usual suspects" Akira Isogawa, Toni Maticevski, MaterialByProduct, Romance Was Born, Doris de Pont, World, Nom*D and Zambesi. Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt so it's nice to see all this stuff together in a gallery setting to remind you that this stuff, made locally is actually pretty damn good - and for the most part, unlike the stable of stars in the Draped exhibition, still within reach. Well ok, maybe not for us any longer, but those of you not actually trying to make a living from craft or publicly funded little arts organisations or without small people eating through your personal expenditure budgets might still be able to afford it.

Until 18 April 2010

Fashion & Textiles Gallery 12, Level 2
Free entry

Happy New Year

under a blood red sky

This is always a weird time of year for anyone who makes things. The lead up to Christmas has usually been such a frenzy that we all collapse a little which we think is a really good thing. Here in Melbourne the weather has gone weird (storms, hot, then cold, more storms) and there has been some time for reflection. This all ends for many of us this week as we prepare to make new work for Valentines Day stock (big time for jewellers we're sure!)

In the meantime I've been baking crackers to go with the perfect hunk of Watsonia cheddar cheese.

They kind of look like Jatz crackers but taste a lot better. Especially with that pink sea salt. Baking is all the making we want to do at hml HQ, at least for now...