Craft City Northcote - Catherine Campbell Solo Exhibition

Click the image to enlarge


The wonderful Ms Campbell's exhibition opens THIS Friday night - 7pm - Kick Gallery in Northcote. Why don't you take yourself along?

Craft City CBD - Melbourne Open House 2009

via

The Melbourne Open House 2009 will run again soon (on July 19th). Lots of amazing places will be open to the public for a one-day only poke about. If you want an extra good peek at places like the Mission for Seafarers, Fifteen Restaurant's Kitchen, Donkey Wheel House, The Manchester Unity Building, The Capitol Theatre or back of house at Fed Square this is your lucky day.

And if you have an eye for design, architecture or shuffling people about peacefully, well, you might like to become an Open House 2009 volunteer on said lucky day. Sounds like a good idea, right? So off you go... volunteer. You know you want to. Don't you?

xx Pip

Candystripers Installation - Bus Gallery - Melbourne CBD

The Candystripers Stripe Again!


The Candystripers is a collaboration between two Melbourne artists: pop-artist Gemma Jones and installation artist Lauren Brown. Their latest project is in the entrance to Bus Gallery, an artist-run space in the heart of Melbourne, and is the third in a series of projects based in Melbourne.

Seeking to create hyper-real spaces that walk the line between exterior and interior experiences, The Candystripers project at Bus transforms the foyer into a cross between Victorian wallpaper, an over sized minimalist painting and a helicopter landing pad.



What : A Candystripers Project: Bus Gallery
Where: Bus Gallery, Melbourne
When: 9 June - 26 June
Opening: Tuesday 9 June, 6 - 8pm

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Bus Gallery
Level 1, 117 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne
Opening Hours :: Wednesday to Saturday 12pm - 6pm

Letterpress Printing Workshops - CBD

Letterpress workshops at Idlewild Press
via Girlprinter


Learn how to set and print metal type on both a cylinder proof press and a hand-fed platen press. We'll cover the minutiae of handsetting, locking up and makeready. You'll leave knowing how to recognise a tight tympan, how to check roller height and all about the finer points of good inking. You'll learn how to feed the press, maintain ink levels, avoid offset and maintain registration. You'll learn how to make a good impression.


Dates:
June 13 & 14, 2009


August 22 & 23, 2009
October 24 & 25, 2009


Time: 10am – 5pm.


Location: Sixth floor, Room 10
Nicholas Building
37 Swanston Street
Melbourne 3000.


Instructor: Carolyn Fraser. Press maven since 1996. Shipped a 20-foot container of equipment from the US in 2005 before settling in the Nicholas Building, breaking the freight elevator in the process. Her books are collected by national and international institutions including the State Library of Victoria and the New York Public Library. She has taught letterpress and bookmaking at the San Francisco Center for the Book, the Cleveland Institute of Art and Monash University.



Cost: $400. Includes all materials.


Maximum four students per workshop.


..................................
Idlewild Press
in the Nicholas Building
0401 409 325
..................................

SAVE THE Melbourne Museum Of Printing - Fundraiser - This Sunday

Let me preface this post with the plea that you GO TO THIS! It's an amazing place - and must be seen to be believed.

THIS Sunday May 17

Fundraising Event

From 2pm and 6pm

All Welcome

Melbourne Museum of Printing

36 Moreland St

Footscray

Live music by The Primitive Calculators,

letterpress and typesetting demonstrations and

a print exhibition and fundraiser –with works created by some of Melbourne leading contemporary artists and design studios

Melbourne Museum of Printing (MMOP) is a working museum of typography and printing. Since 1993 the museums focus has been on the retention of traditional printing methods and equipment. Initially established as the Australian Type Company – containing a comprehensive collection of printing presses, typesetting machines, types and other print-related artefacts in addition to its Monotype-based typecasting machines and matrix collection. In due course, it became the last remaining typefoundry in Australia and should, by commercial norms, have closed in the early 1990’s when proprietor Michael Isaachsen turned the whole collection into a non-profit museum.



The museum has hosted numerous workshops, tours and events including studio visits for hundreds of students of Visual Communication from Swinburne, RMIT and Monash universities. High profiled designers such as Tobias Frere-Jones and Patrick Thomas have visited the museum.


Over the past 2 years the MMOP has come under increased financial pressure and at this point is in a perilous position. Consequently a volunteer committee of artists and designers has been formed to undertake an extensive campaign to try and save the museum, and thus increase patronage and use of the museums print workshop facilities by artists and students. The committee is made up of designers, artists, students and print enthusiasts.





PRINTS / EDITION OF 20, $200 EACH OR $3000 FOR A BOX OF ALL 22

Artists:: Jon Campbell, Anna Ephraim, Emily Floyd, Greg Fullerton, Matthew Griffin, Lucas Ilhein, Susan Jacobs, Callum Morton, Rose Nolan, Alex Selenitsch, Richard Tipping, Ronnie van Hout

Designers / Studios ::3 Deep Design, Alte,r Chase & Galley, Fabio Ongarato Design, Hofstede Design, Studio Pip & C, Studio Round, The Narrows, John Warwicker, Yanni Florence


More images of the Museum here and here

Craft City Brunswick - Exhibition - Heirloom by Penny Walker-Keefe

Heirloom by Penny Walker-Keefe
Runs from : 8.5.2009 - 23.5.2009

Fresh experimental textile works exploring sentimentality and sustainability.

Thurs and Fri 3 to 7pm
Sat and Sun 12 to 5pm

Brunswick Arts Space
2a Litttle Breese Street
Brunswick

Craft City Camberwell - Nice Yarn At The Camby Market

Camberwell Market Yarn, originally uploaded by meetmeatmikes.

I'm not sure if the Yarn Man is there every week - but a little birdy told me this is the same nice stuff you can get at The Yarn Barn. Does that sound right?

It comes in SO many lovely shades - and at only $3/ball you'll be hooking or knitting yourself stupid in no time.

Craft City CBD - Studio Sale - Nicholas Building

click to enlarge


Kate Boulton
Peta Pledger
AnnaLaura
Lil Misfit
Jodie Nicholson

Craft City Bendigo - Madeleine Stamer at Bob Boutique - from May 2

click to enlarge
Madeleine Stamer at
Bob Boutique

Blythe Exhibition - Friday 1st May - Robio

Robio exhibition 1st May, originally uploaded by Purple_Tiger/ Jam Slammington.

Mixtapezine Issue 8 : Out Now

Have you ever found a discarded sewing box in an op shop? One of those ones that's completely FULL of someone else's creative stuff? Beautiful and useful and fascinating all at the same time... Some of it is neatly arranged, some of it is kind of eccentric and messed up... but all of it is interesting and crafty... a different spin on a familiar theme that just makes you want to MAKE stuff!

Well, that's a bit like this locally produced CraftyZine. A truly DIY labour of love, it's a mish mash of articles, advice, images and insight from a whole range of people... neat and not. This issue's cover artwork is by the very excellent Madeleine Stamer and features articles on heaps of great crafty/creative pursuits by some really ace local and further afield people.

Produced in Melbourne by Justine Telfer and Nichola Prested - Mixtapezine is totally worth a look - and a mere snip of a read at only seven bucks!

Vintage Fabric, Patterns and Craft Book SALE!

International Literature Conspiracy Week

Perhaps on Valentine's Day, you're tempted to stalk those people who sell roses wrapped in plastic betwixt the tables of tourist restaurants? Perhaps on Valentine's Day, you're tempted to take a bottle of gin to bed and watch 'My Best Friend's Wedding'? Perhaps on Valentine's Day, you're tempted to sit at a table for two with your beloved whilst he watches the tennis under the table on his iPhone? Do none of these!

Instead, plant a smile on your face, pack some lunch and go to the Degraves St Subway (under Flinders St - also known as the Campbell Arcade). The clever people at Sticky are holding a huge and excellent event, as part of their first ever International Literature Conspiracy Week - with zines from all over the world - and cupid taking love letter dictation... and heaps of other cool stuff! Check this link for the full festival program - and go meet some people and check out how great the DIY Artsy Crafty Culture is in Melbourne (and beyond). If writing or illustration are important to you, you will love this.

We salute you Sticky. You always do great things. The following details are from Sticky's website. I just borrowed them, so don't be cross.

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SATURDAY 14TH FEB

Zine Fair and Festival Launch
12pm – 5pm – Degraves St Subway

Launched by Minister of the Arts Lynn Kosky at 2pm, the Zine Fair will take over the subway underpass with hundreds of local and nationally produced zines, comics and independent press, as well as featuring Sticky’s inhouse official Valentines Day cupid (complete with bow, arrow and typewriter) who will take love letter dictations on Sticky Institute stationary to be instantly issued to your Valentine.

The zine fair will also be launching the efforts of the Target144 initiative, where zinesters and comic artists will release their creations made in the last 144 hours, and be host to the legendary ‘You’ zine bag making marathon where the aim is to create as many YOU bags as possible, to package the zine, in the one afternoon. The bags will go into circulation containing the following week’s zine. Everyone is welcome to come along and take part. ‘You’ is a free, Melbourne anonymous zine issued weekly since 2001

2pm – official launch of zine fair, Sticky’s new back wall, and speeches
12-5pm – Fair & You bag making marathon

via meetmeatmikes

Vox Pop with Tania Nally from The White Studio

1. Where did you go today?
To my studio then to Wabi Sabi on Smith St, Collingwood for lunch Part 1 and then Trampoline Brunswick St, Fitzroy for lunch Part 2.

2. Favourite Melbourne suburb or area ...
Ah, I think the last question gives that away. Fitzroy/Collingwood – Particularly the corner of Gertrude and Smith Sts. That zone has really got a great energy at the moment.

3. If Melbourne was a colour what would it be?
Rubine Red

4. Last exhibition you saw in Melbourne ...
The Golden Age of Couture: Paris & London 1947-57 at the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Bendigo isn’t quite a suburb of Melbourne yet, but the exhibition is worth the trip! On until 22 March 2009. Most interesting were the true to life dolls created at the end of the Second World War to show off the Paris fashions in England and to generate interest in new styles after the restrained fashions of the war years. Amazing attention to detail and craftsmanship.

5. Favourite Melbourne meal ...
Nyonya Mee Hoon at Malaymas, 320 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North 3068/ $8.90
Malaymas is one of those restaurants that hides in a quiet part of town but have great cheap eats. Eat in or takeaway, they never fail to please. The Nyonya Mee Hoon is a slightly spicy vermicelli noodle dish with chicken, egg and a bunch of asian vegies thrown in. Ask them to hold the fish cake... Their laksa is equally delicious.

6. The perfect Melbourne outfit ...
Anything made 40+ years ago. The majority of duds available in the stores at the moment are too poorly made to do justice to Melbourne’s innate style and architectural form. Something as simple as a beautifully crafted 50s dress jacket with a pair of jeans makes me happier than the latest fashion trend. I’m particularly fond of the fabric produced in the 40s and 50s as it’s geometry and sense of experimentation is inspiring.

7. Top 5 must-go Melbourne stores ...

Lost + Found Market, 12 Smith St Collingwood VIC 3066
Great collections of clothing, furniture, music and bric a brac from the past 60 years. Dangerous shopping

Hortons Books, Smith St Collingwood VIC 3066
Fantastically good range of end of line design and art books and fiction and non-fiction novels carefully selected for your drooling pleasure. Also highly dangerous shopping. I never fail to buy a book. Happily, all stock is generously discounted. Friendly staff too. You can’t go wrong.

Outre Gallery, 249 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000
OK, so you know about this one already, but it’s always good here. My walls are full for the minute (thanks to Outre) but I always head here first for presents for friends and fam.

Casa Iberica, 25 Johnston St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Attention foodies, this place is full of delicious things. Last Christmas Eve I spent an entire hung-over hour in this tiny deli trying to find out the spanish words for quince paste from other distracted shoppers. I waited for 30 minutes at the deli counter while watching dozens of people scramble for delicacies and lunch breadrolls filled with Spanish deli goods ( Mmm... jamon... ) to keep them shopping. And I didn’t mind a bit. In fact, I loved it! If like me you get a thrill from looking at mysterious international food goods and packaging this is the shop for you. And it is conveniently located off Brunswick St. It’s a shot of authenticity for those days when you just can’t bear the crush on Brunswick St any longer. You know the ones.

Speed Boy Girl, 5 Degraves St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Good quality vintage gear without the over inflated price tag. A good range, they cater for the ladies and for the gentlemans.

8. What inspires you about Melbourne? (creatively or otherwise)
I love Melbourne’s essential structure. It’s logical city grid appeals to me. That combined with 15 or more decades of layers of buildings has me swooning. We’re damn lucky. I am reminded of that every day in our grand dame of a town. So many of these buildings, especially those from the 19th century and start of the 20th, were built by people who came here with nothing but ambition and a dream to make it. And they did. And this is still happening. We live in the land of opportunity. That’s all the inspiration I need to make the most of every day.

9. How do you like to get around town?
I prefer my bike. It’s the right speed for Melbourne. You have enough time to take in what’s happening on each street. But not too slow. Why walk when you can glide down a hill?

10. Your favourite architectural part of Melbourne?
The 270 degree view from the corner of Swanston St and Collins St makes me giddy with happiness (put your back to the Westin peeps).

The Manchester Unity Building is divine.

As is the interior of the Capitol Theatre which is next door. If you get a chance during the Film Festival to get inside this building do it. Hopefully they’ll have the honeycomb lights in full display for you.

11. Anyone you would like to nominate for a Craft City Citizenship Award?
Well duh. Gemma Jones.

12. About you?
Tania Nally. I am one half of The White Studio

Craft City Melbourne - Where to Get Non-Adhesive Plastic to Cover Your Books Library Style

image source thankyou!


Dress your personal library up like a swanky bookstore. Cover your books in non-adhesive library plastic wrap (NOT contact... yick).

If you can actually work out how to get the spine bit right, you'll be laughing. You can get the plastic to cover special books at:


Angelton's on Smith Street, Fitzroy- retail
Nova Library Products - wholesale


Does anyone actually know how to do this so the book will CLOSE?!