Latest collage on the Paper Chain

Fiona Roberts to Paul Moncrieff, April 2011. (Chain 11).
Photograph courtesy of Paul Moncrieff.

A wonderful textile collage by Fiona Roberts to Paul Moncrieff on chain #11. For more Paper Chain goodness visit http://thepaperchain.tumblr.com

in progress

It's been a little while between blog posts but I guess that is pretty normal for me!

I've been busy working on a website for myself. It's been quite a learning experience, to say the least. A lot of swearing at my computer screen has gone on but I think I'm almost there.

I've also been painting and wanted to share a peek at what I am working on. This picture is just a section of a diptych. If you came to the studio open day a few weeks ago you would have seen it sitting on my easel but it has changed a hell of a lot since then.

Best wishes for a lovely Easter break, my friends!

Paper Chain Update

Belinda Gittos to Melanie Diss, March 2011 (Chain 4)

Photograph courtesy of Melanie Diss.

There is a bunch of new collages on the Paper Chain. 
March was a very prolific month!

Speaking with Kristi Chua

This month I had privilege of interviewing a very talented painter, Kristi Chua.
I'm also lucky enough to be able to say she is a studio neighbour of mine. So I get to regularly admire her work on the walls of our shared hallway and sometimes get a sneek peek at what she is working on in her studio.


Tell us a little about your background and the kind of work you make.

I've spent a good deal of time working in and around the Aboriginal community of Perth, and I think my work reflects this, often inspired by landscapes I've experienced, people I've met and things I've learned along the way. I'm homeschooling my son and I often find my smaller works reflecting ideas and thoughts around the natural learning process (using observation and exploration as the creative process is also a learning process). My early works were with found objects and acrylics primarily, I have since moved to oils and a combination of graphite and oils after two years playing with watercolors.

Are you self-taught, formally trained? Acquired skills from family/friends?

Although I attended Kalamunda Senior Highschool which had a very comprehensive art program, I am primarily self taught. I am interested in pushing the boundaries when its comes to combinations and techniques for expression. I apply what I have learned from one medium to another, for example my current work with oil and graphite employs techniques and observations I discovered while working with water color. I am also learning much from other artists through conversation and observation, I feel very lucky to be working with Bibbulmen elder and artist Toogarr Morrison at the moment on a tile mural. I find artists to be very generous with their knowledge and I hope to work with other people more in the near future.

Did you always want to be an artist, or did it come later in life?

I have always wanted to be an artist, although it was never seen in my family to be a "career" choice. It's only recently that I have made the commitment to my practice, ensuring I make it a priority in my life. My mum reminds me that when I was younger I told her I didn't need to go to school because I was going to be an artist when I grew up, funny enough thats exactly how it turned out. I left my masters in Education last year because it was interfering with my art!

What is your earliest creative memory?

Making pictures with colored spagetti at a family day care. I still think its fun.

What drives you to do what you do?

I feel like when I am painting or drawing, I am being authentic to myself. I am happy in my own skin when I am creating, and to "not" create usually results in me feeling unwell and depressed. Its just something I have to do, like breathing.

"Boab"

Who/what are some of your creative influences?

I don't have to look too far for creative inspiration. Country and family and friends inspire me, my own bioregion, my garden, my son, all inspire me and influence my creative process. In terms of other artists I love the work of Jo Darbyshire, Toogarr Morrison and Peteris Ciemitis. Lyn Franke, Julie Dowling and Kimberley Kohan are also some of my favorites.

What are some of your creative goals?

I really want to travel and paint, particular up to the Kimberley, our homelands. I would love to just go and observe and explore, and create a body of work based on my experiences of place there. Another goal of mine is to move into public art, I have a great interest in how people interact with their environment, particularly children and young adults, how they explore and move in spaces. I'd love to be involved in creating public art that not only has people reflecting on what it means to be in "place" but also art that gets people moving and exploring these spaces.

Are there constant themes you are attracted to in your work?

There are definately themes that I return to regularly. Interaction with the natural environment and how we process our understanding of that. Sometimes this is something that isn't explicit in my work ( for example most people would just see a landscape) but other times its more obvious, well I think it is. My work based on my synesthesia I think is more "out there" for people, I get asked more questions about my process with that particular body of work. I'm also interested in how people interact with our shared history, although I have not produced a large number of works in that theme, it is on the cards.

"Synesthesia"

What do you like about Perth? How do you think living in Perth has influenced your work?

How can Perth not influence my work? While my mob come from the Kimberley, I have primarily grown up in Perth and surrounding areas. So I am most family with the plants, animals, people and places of Perth, our bioregion, our country. The small things of home, like the candle banksia flowering, or the bigger things of our home, like the shifting of our seasons influence every aspect of my life, including my art work. As they do for all people living here, just some seem to have forgotten the importance of it.

Do you listen to anything when you are working? If so, what?

I love to listen to music while working, although I can loose track of time this way! I listen to JJJ or Noongar radio most of the time, but I have a varied taste in music depending on my mood, anything QOTSA, prodigy to Joanna Newsom gets played. On some rare occasions when I'm completely alone, I prefer just the sounds of what is going on outside, birds singing, people walking past.

Any future shows coming up?

I have put my hand up for a few things this year but am patiently waiting for news back. Hopefully a show in Ellenbrook and I hope to be involved in the heritage week in Perth.

Where can people find out more about your work?

The best place to keep track of me is on my facebook group Kristi Chua Art, any events I am involved in or shows will be posted on my page. People can also track me down through Artsource WA.

A PDF version of this interview is available on Artperth.com.

Latest collage on the Paper Chain

The latest collage by John Parkes to Natsu Power 

Head over to thepaperchain.tumblr.com to see more images.

Open Day at Midland Studios

The latest collage on the Paper Chain

Claire Bushby, Australia to Alusha Newnham-Kell, Australia. February 2011 (Chain 8).

Go to Paper Chain on tumblr to see more images.

Creature Comforts on Art

Speaking with Laura Williams

Tell us a little about your background
I grew up in Australind, an hour and a bit south of perth. We had a beautiful house that was surrounded by bush and looked out over the estuary.

Did you grow up in a creative environment?
Yeah, my family is pretty creative but in different ways. There is a lot of quilting and sewing and cooking and gardening and music and generally making lots of things - everyone has their projects and we are a fairly practical family. We have always been encouraged to follow whatever we were interested in and I was always making stuff and had little projects on the go all the time. Papier mache bowls, necklaces, paper clay, paintings, sewing pencil cases in the shape of elephants...

One of my brothers is a graphic designer too (also with lots of painting and screenprinting and other projects on the go) so we often bounce ideas off each other and get another opinion on things. It is great having a family with lots of skills in different areas because if I am unsure of how to do something, someone else usually knows!

Who/what are some of your creative influences?
I get inspired by lots of artists, movies, books, music and often just things i see or come across. In terms of artists, I really like artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Cressida Campbell, Margaret Preston, Clarice Beckett and lots of others. I also have a general love for patterned fabrics and papers. I recently realised that I collect a lot of things too (having had to pack it all up!). I have a lot of postcards of reproductions from exhibitions, fabrics, buttons, jewellery, beads – elements of these things inspire me , even if it is just the colours.

I also have a couple of lever arch files that are filled with pages that I have ripped out of old magazines or just general images that I have found. They are mainly of places and objects - gardens, plants, landscapes, animals, all kinds of things, but I've found this is a really useful resource if I am feeling stuck. I like to be surrounded by stuff that relates to what I'm working on, so at the moment there are a lot of photos of plants and gardens everywhere.

What do you like about Perth? How do you think living in Perth has influenced your work?
The lifestyle and the weather in Perth is pretty great and I really like looking at all the beautiful gardens in the streets around the house I have been living in. I do like the beach too – I feel pretty lucky to be able to go swimming at the beach in the morning and see a school of fish swimming next to me. I think that in some ways I am usually more influenced by other places i visit though or the photographs I have brought back with me. I get inspired in places where there is a lot of natural space and I feel like I need to get out of my current environment every once in a while for a bit of a refresher.

You are moving to Melbourne soon! Will you be continuing your practice there and what creatively are you looking forward to most?
Yes, I’ve actually just arrived! It’s quite exciting and I am planning to continue to paint and draw and make things but I’ll probably have a little break from exhibiting for a while and just focus on the making. I find going to new places really exciting: working out where things are and what I find interesting and how everything operates. I guess I am just looking forward to taking everything in and I’m planning to see as much and learn as much as I can too.

What are some of your creative goals?
I tend to look at everything I do as a learning curve, whether its how to use a material better or just hopefully improving my skills and techniques as I go. Every so often, I have a little bout of extra enthusiasm and start entering works in lots of exhibitions and putting ideas together for possible shows. In reality though, my goals are more about what I am working on at one particular moment. It always feels as if there isn’t enough time for everything. I guess this is a good way to be as I always have the next project or idea waiting in the back of my mind. It is more a matter of trying to get these ideas and images that I have in my mind onto paper as best I can - that is always the main goal.

What are some of your favourite materials to work with?
I have been working on paper for a while now and most recently with watercolours. My favourite part is putting the first wash of colour onto the paper. I like the way that painting of any kind always feels like something that you gradually learn more and more about but there is always more to know. I also did quite a lot of video and animation work while I was studying and I am quite keen to do some more. I like the way it challenges me to bring time into the equation and the ideas are no longer only about 1 or 2 images.

Any medium you would like to explore that you haven’t done yet?
I would like to try using oils sometime soon as I haven't really done much oil painting before. I have also been experimenting with resin recently and I'm really enjoying working out how to get different effects and seeing what it can do so that is definitely something i would like to explore a little bit more

Are there constant themes you are attracted to in your work?
I am usually drawn to natural themes - gardens, plants, insects, water, weather - i find these things endlessly fascinating. Over the past year or so I have mainly been focussing on gardens and plants and most recently, I have been doing some mini watercolour works in the shape of windows looking out into gardens. I guess I'm trying to make the works have the same effect as a nice window - a view into a calm sanctuary. I do also like drawing cute things too so every so often I do a bunch of drawings of tiny smiling snails or checked pigs or something!

Do you tend to work in a studio, from home or both? What is your workspace like?
I just work wherever I can but I have usually had a dedicated corner to work in with a table or a little bit of bench space. I have had a beautiful studio in Subiaco over the last few months and I think this was really good for my work. Prior to that I had always worked at home, so it was a good way to see if I could work somewhere else. It made me a lot more disciplined (no web browsing!) and probably a lot more productive too. Having said that though, I need a lot of things around me to be able to work effectively: paints, other materials, books and images that relate to what I'm working on - I always seem to surround myself with stuff. Hence, wherever I am working is also always a really messy area!!

Do you listen to anything when you are working? If so, what?
While i am working I usually listen to music or audiobooks depending on what I am working on. If I am doing really detailed and repetitive work, I find that listening to books really helps me work longer and not get distracted. Most of the time I listen to music though, and i like all kinds of things so it really depends on my mood. For some reason, Joanna Newsom's music and the Ys album in particular instantly inspires me but lately I've also been listening to Arcade Fire, Laura Marling, LCD Soundsystem, The National and Dan Sultan amongst lots of other things.

Where can people find out more about your work?
I have a blog: http://laurajwilliams.blogspot.com/
and an etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/laurajwilliams

Any future shows coming up?
Not in the near future. I'm just planning to concentrate on the making side of things for a little while and then see how i go, check the blog for updates on this one though!

New on the Paper Chain

There is something new and lovely to see on the Paper Chain blog. It's by Kristi Chua Pinjes, sent to John Parkes on Chain # 9.

Check out a slideshow of this work here -http://thepaperchain.tumblr.com

and while you are there, why not have a look at some more of Kristi's work at Kristi Chua Art on Facebook