Opening at artisan tonight - Thursday 25th August

Image: Peter Walker, Spitting, 2010. Synthetic polymer paint on Paulownia. 6'6". Artwork by Phil Hayes. Photo: Grant Hancock.

Tonight (Thursday 25 August) from 6–8pm at artisan we have two brilliant exhibitions opening. In the main gallery, superbly crafted wooden surfboards ride the wave from sport and recreation into art and design in One True Religion: Peter Walker Surfboards. 

Meanwhile in the Crucible gallery space we have Matt Dabrowski and the Many Hands of Glamour bringing us the captivating Crystal Grinder.

Photo: PHOTOCO JO&CO Image: MDATMHOG Videocuts: MR WICKES Sound Control: PEETGARDNER

Both shows continue until Friday the 23rd of September 2011. A slightly shorter display time on these shows so don't miss out! See you at artisan soon!

Just Installed! Tony Mott : Rock'n'Roll Photography is the New Trainspotting

A sneak preview of our just installed wham-bam first exhibition of 2011 - Rock'n'Roll Photography is the New Trainspotting by Tony Mott. 

The official opening is this Saturday, the 19th February 2011 from 5:30 - 7:30pm, all are welcome, no rsvp is necessary and admission is free. 

Also opening on the night is Simone Tops' mysterious exhibition, Beautiful Beast in the UAP sponsored Crucible space.

And for those absolute enthusiasts - Tony will be hosting an exclusive, highly entertaining tour of the show, sharing some backstage stories of international rock superstars from 4:30pm - 5:30pm on Saturday the 19th of February. Following the tour, Tony will be available to sign copies of his limited-edition publication Rock ‘n' Roll Photography Is The New Trainspotting - A Retrospective of Work from the Last 30 Years by Tony Mott which will be available for sale in the artisan shop ($65).  RSVP to attend the tour is essential by 17 February 2011 to info@artisan.org.au.   


See you there!

How to Design a Car

Bryon Fitzpatrick's public program ‘How to Design a Car’ on 29 October at Toowoomba Motor Museum for artisan's touring exhibition Industrial Desire.

In it's last days - Tinsmith: An Ordinary Romance

This Saturday will be your last chance to view artisan's current exhibition Tinsmith: An Ordinary Romance (pictures of the exhibition above). This stunning exhibition by Brisbane designer, Barbara Heath, reveals the fascinating forgotten history of tinsmithing in Southeast Queensland and launches her collection of extraordinary new objects, inspired by the lost craft of the tinsmith.

Rediscovering the simple skills of tinsmithing, of bending, folding and tinning, Barbara Heath has made striking candlesticks. She has also created Hausgeisters and Hanging Crowns -  magical protective objects for the home or garden – as well as a Japanese-inspired rain chain,  a downpipe substitute that creates a water feature from roof run-off.
With their sophisticated rusticity, and redolent with history, these beautiful objects will enhance the interior or exterior of any home.

‘New tricks from old trades’ is how Barbara describes this new work. Best known for her superb precious jewellery, this is an exciting new direction for her.

This exhibition also gave Barbara an opportunity to research in-depth the history of the trade. “I had no idea tinsmithing had such a colorful local history,” says Heath. “Tin was once as common in our everyday lives as plastic is today. There were many tinsmiths in Brisbane and the R.C. Verney & Sons factory in Fortitude Valley even combined tinsmithing with jam making.”

Early tinsmiths used a few simple tools to produce utilitarian wares such as downspouts, kettles and bath tubs. Later they produced architectural detailing including window-hoods and delicate roof finials. Tinsmith : An Ordinary Romance exhibits a collection of old tinwares from private collectors, and even the tin patterns of Graeme Gillespie, one of Brisbane’s last working tinsmiths, alongside Barbara’s new objects. This reveals the link between her work and the techniques, shapes and forms of the early Queensland metalworkers. 

 “The very word ‘tinsmith’ evokes nostalgic, romantic connotations; nomadic fixers of things, outsiders, tricky, silver-tongued salesmen who charmed the farmers wives with their glinting wares” comments Barbara, and she cleverly captures this mystique in her work.

Tinsmith: An Ordinary Romance offers an opportunity to rediscover our past and see how it has inspired an artist to take a new direction.

Don't miss out on this fantastic exhibition - gallery artisan is open Tuesday - Friday from 10:30am - 5:30pm and Saturday 10am- 4pm. The exhibition will end on Saturday the 13th November. 

Audio Design Museum Launch

The streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are being transformed into giant gallery spaces with the launch of a new project by Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design.

Object, based in Sydney, has worked with independent curators, local designers and Queensland’s design organisation artisan – idea:skill:product to create two Brisbane guided audio tours that lead listeners on a trail of the best design and creativity.

The tours take in the Fortitude Valley, West End & South Brisbane areas. You can download the tours to your MP3 player at the Audio Design website to discover all the other wonderful places featured on the tours.

The Brisbane tours are presented in partnership with artisan through Creative Sparks, a joint initiative of Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

On Thursday 7 Oct as part of a huge week of design related events around Brisbane, artisan launched the Audio Design Museum. Formally launched by Councilor Geraldine Knapp, Chair of Creative Communities, a dedicated group of Queensland design supporters attended the launch event at the artisan gallery and were delighted to be immersed in the beautiful Barbara Heath exhibition.

After a glass of champagne and some really good conversation a small group of design devotees did the short walk down to James Street to the first venue on our tour, the Francis Leon shop. Thanks to Jo and Cat for a lovely talk about fashion and business in their beautiful retail studio. Tinh was pattern cutting in the studio and Thuong was machining which exposed us to a serious fashion studio in action.

It was then a couple steps to the next venue FIO, a stunning new jewellery gallery recently setup and run by Matt Dwyer. He invited us to access the back of house work space that he teaches his gold and silversmithing classes from. This was a truly unique experience and one that will not be forgotten. 

We then walked around the corner to Chester Street which is the location of Jason Bird’s Objx shop. Jason and his team often collaborate with other Queensland designers with the resulting works being celebrations of both savvy contemporary design and wild colours. Jason also showed us a new chair design that he and his team where working on.

The tour then returned to Brunswick Street and the last stop on our list the fabulous Fallow store. After finding our way up and into Cameron House we approached the black door with a deer horn handle and just knew that we were in for a treat. After being welcomed by the lovely Khatra we discovered a treasure trove of a shop. At Fallow you will find the most desirable of fashion, jewellery and collectable objects all in shades of white, black or gray! 

We then headed back to artisan for the launch of Barbara Heath’s new exhibition Tinsmith: An Ordinary Romance, which was the perfect way to end an afternoon of design discovery around the Fortitude Valley precinct.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Industrial Desire Breakfast at artisan

Last week artisan hosted a special Industrial Desire breakfast event for Parsons Brinckerhoff in our gallery. The breakfast featured a presentation by Bryon Fitzpatrick, leading Industrial Designer and Professor Emeritus of Industrial Design, which included Bryon's demonstrations of drawing techniques in hand rendering concept vehicles (see images above). Bryon's fantastic presentation impressed the guests with their backgrounds in transport design and engineering and the breakfast was a great success! Parsons Brinckerhoff have kindly donated to the artisan foundation fund and we hope to continue our relationship with them in the future.

Unpacking the boxes from Rolling Stone Magazine

Today the gallery staff began unpacking the boxes of magazines from Rolling Stone for our next exhibition - Rolling Stone : The Covers 1972 - 2010. Here is a sneak peak as they unpack the wonderful covers and delve into popular culture of the past :

The magazines yet to be unwrapped (above)
and the unpacked magazines from the 70's/80's laid out on the table (below)

Darth Vader has made it onto the cover.

The cover of the first Australian issue of Rolling Stone - Jan 1972

Artistic early covers featuring screen prints and hand drawn illustrations.

And that was only the start! Another peek into the room after lunch and Rolling Stone magazines are now covering every single centimetre table surface and most of the floor...

Like what you see? Want a closer look? Come along to the show! The exhibition opens here at artisan on the 2nd September 2010 from 6pm - 8pm and will be on display until 2nd October.