I opened my inbox to publicity galore this morning.
An interview I did a while ago has been featured in Knit Today. (I'll post a pic when I get hold of a copy.)
And a video of my talking about my work for Crafted Creatures has been posted on youtube. Can't watch for squirm factor, but you might like to.
Thankfully there's no pictorial evidence of my appearance on RTE's Elev8. Shaking like a leaf on children's TV anyone?
Yes, I know that I'm a crochet artist, but I'm honoured to be included in Lela Nargi's new book, Astounding Knits.
book cover ©lelanargi
So if you want to see knitting and crochet like you have NEVER seen before. (These are not your average knitted penguins. There are master sculptors at work here.) Head on over to Amazon and get yourself a dose of fibery goodness. Seriously, people, sticks and string don't get better than this.
I've been working on some love tokens for a show we're putting on.
I Caught Your Eye.
Your Kiss Is Infectious.
A Simple Love Token
All are going to be on sale at our pop-up gallery on Saturday night.
Firsty? I hear you ask. What's that?
The seaside town of Bangor is a smallish place, often over shadowed by Belfast.
But do you know, it's got THE most creative bunch of people living here.
Thirsty for a lively arts scene, we thought it was about time we had a proper voice, just like all those places me and MyTarPit are lucky enough to visit on our travels.
So along with a few like-minded souls, we garnered our creative minds and set up a group back in October.
We have over 70 members already! They're out there busy networking, skill sharing and promoting each other.
And our first show is on Saturday, with 30 of us taking part - many of whom are established international artists.
If you're in Ireland, come along. If you're not, find us on facebook and check out our albums. Join us virtually. Or better still, set up your own group. Take the creative minds of Bangor as inspiration to get out there and make things happen. You never know where it might lead......
So no, I didn't die totally. Although I thought that I might with the nerves... Here's how my piece panned out.
Take one board.
Lay down base colours and drips.
Remember to wear gloves, Kiddies! Or you'll end up with a numpty finger like mine!
Add a torn map and some linen.
Sand that baby back.
Stencil lace over certain areas.
Gives a cute effect.
Add a song sheet and wood-blocked image I'd printed previously.
Rub away the damp layers of the paper to trap the image.
Iron on cheesy embroidery transfers.
I like the bits that got stuck in the paint best.
Glue down Eastern-European birdie stamps.
Drill holes for a branch and three flowers. Spray highlight drips.
Tie on flowers that I'd made previously.
And bind the branch on with ribbon.
Add a tag & a paper-sculpted bird to the branch.
This angry little fella's created from old books and found papers.
Punch a message.
Or two.
Hang the blummin' thing on the wall, have a glass of wine, and swear off art for life.....
Until my knees have recovered, that is...
For a perfectly surreal Halloween you will need:
One chunk of Jimbo genius, carved into a HUGE crochet hook.
A dolly mix of me.
A splash of Crochet Liberation Front.
Mash liberally in a Twisted Yarn store.
And what do you get?
So what are you waiting for?
Come join us!
I've my first crochet pattern in print. Whhhheeeeeeeee. Can't wait to see it. (Can't get hold of a copy in Northern Ireland, so the rest of the world has seen it, except me!)
And I've another pattern next month, as well as a feature about my studio. Ooh, I'm like a bad rash.
For those of you who can't make it to the Turnpike, you can watch my (rather clunky) youtube video of me winding my ball and then crocheting the monster bacteria. It didn't turn out as big as I'd hoped, due to lack of stuffing, but hey, it ain't no granny square.
Oh, and who would you want watching you shed blood and sweat for your artistic practice? Well the UK Minister for Culture, Andy Burnham, of course.
Stay tuned for my next Cor Blimey Crochet! installation. This is just puppy feed.
I'm getting ready for the UK DIY show at the Turnpike Gallery.
You'll recognise one of my white reefs on the cover there (and Alabamawhirly's gorgeous gloves, Miso Funky's emo-broidery, Ildiko Szabo's freeform and the odd bit of yarn bombing, too).
But I'm not installing coral this time. I've cooked up a plan with Ildi to install micro organisms.
All are larger than life.
Some crocheted and felted.
And some gigantically, ridiculously, arm crocheted (as let's face it, hand crocheted doesn't apply to this monster!) I'm calling it Cor Blimey Crochet!
If you've ever wondered what a listeria bacterium would look like enlarged to the size of a car, then the Turnpike will be the place to visit.
Thanks to the lovely Jacob Semko and my one and only hub, MyTarPit, shaking their tail feathers for the last 3 days and helping me construct this filament, I've got 300m of the stuff to drag across the Irish Sea and tame on site. I'll not know if it works until we're actually in the gallery, so fingers crossed.
And so why am I doing this - because, let's face it, it's not for the fun of picking glitter out of my undies for the rest of the year! Well, I want people to think about who really rules the world. Here's a sneak preview of my wall text.
MICRO POWER
I've often wondered why the Human Race thinks itself so superior. By taming other creatures and bending them to our will, we assume that we have the greatest intelligence of any organism.
But I'm not so sure.
I'm beginning to think that micro organisms truly rule our planet. We rely on them to keep us alive, all the time hoping that they don't kill us. Meanwhile, they're mutating and evolving, making our defenses ineffective.
At only a few nanometers long, some of these microorganisms are so small that they don't even reflect colour. (Humans can see colour waves between only 400 and 700 nanometers long.)
Under a powerful electron microscope, scientists have to fire electrons at the microorganisms to 'excite' them and make them glow to be visible.
MICRO POWER lead me to enlarge these monumentally powerful, yet microscopic entities using crochet and felting. Featured here are the common cold, bacteria, micro fungi or other viruses.
As you visit the gallery, think about how you're trafficing these micro organisms unwittingly and look out for new clusters.
Not convinced of their dominance?
•Millions of Prochlorococcus can live in a drop of seawater, quietly making oxygen. They made one in every five breaths you take.
•About 100 trillion microorganisms live in your gut. Most of these bacteria and viruses aid your digestion.
•Some viruses use mind control. Rabies, which is fatal in humans, enrages its host, making it bite, just to pass on the virus.
•Then there's body control. Dengue Fever turns your immune system against you, so that you're attacking your own body from the inside.
•Myxamatosis, found in rabbits decides just how long it needs to keep its host alive to be bitten by enough mosquitoes in order to move to new hosts.
•And there are micro fungi that lasso roundworms before devouring them.
My advice? Think small.
So come down, help the viral spread of artwork both in and out of the gallery and rediscover your love of craft.
There are a few extra classes going on. I've tried to photograph the details. Hope they come out. If not, just go to the Turnpike site.
Yep, this Aussie flu, which was so kindly packaged up and shipped over to the UK by my fave antipodean nation has kept me busy this holiday and seems to have taken up residency for the new year. Cheers Oz! I'm onto my FIFTH (yes, fifth!) bout of the lurgy.
For those keen of eye, you'll spot that cheap gin has made its way into my cure pack now. I'm trying to sterilise myself from the inside - and no, I'm not using the beloved Hendrick's gin, as I can taste NOTHING, so it would be wasted.
Now the gin has no medicinal qualities, but I could call this research, as I'm actually working on a piece about micro-organisms at the moment. I can't show you the piece until it's ready for the gallery, but here's a blurry tease.
It's all for the UK DIY exhibition at the Turnpike Gallery in Feb. If you're in the UK and don't know about it yet, well you're going love this!
We'll be celebrating just how fab the new wave of craft is, how wonderful, versatile and all-encompassing it can be and how ACCESSIBLE.
Not only will there be sculptural pieces, (provided by yours truly and Ildiko Szabo) but a myriad of cool things going on, including chances to learn to crochet, a craft fair on the opening day, and....
......Coolest of all, the first official public showing in the UK of Faythe Levine's special promotional edit of the film Handmade Nation.....
Yep, you heard me! What a coup! We've all been waiting for it and I for one will be at the front of the queue.
The opening is on the 14th of Feb and the film will be on show throughout the UK DIY exhibition at the Turnpike Gallery, Leigh between February 14th and April 26th.
See you there for lots of crafty shenannigans.
