Artisan goes Steampunk

What:       The Antipodean Steampunk Show
Where:    Gallery artisan, 381 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley
When:      Friday 26 October - Saturday 15 December
  
After what feels like an eternity of waiting, it's finally the opening week of The Antipodean Steampunk Show, our biggest and final exhibition for the year.

The exhibition will launch this Thursday evening, and will be open to the public from Friday.

So, what is Steampunk?

Born in literature in the 1980s in response to the sci-fi ‘Cyberpunk’ genre, 'Steampunk' merged Victorian styling with contemporary technology and invention to create a genre so visually rich, it soon transcended the page.

These days, the influence of Steampunk can be found in film and fashion, as well as in the workshops of scores of hobbyist tinkerers and professional artists alike. 

The Steampunk movement rails against the modern obsession with upgrade and improvement by using elaborate craftsmanship to transform mass produced - and easily discarded - contemporary products into unique objects of desire.

Even if this is the first time you have heard the word 'Steampunk', you have probably seen its influence in films such as Sherlock Holmes, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stardust, Hellboy, and The Illusionist to name a few.

The Antipodean Steampunk Show is bursting at the seams with fantastical items such as ray guns, tea bag jigglers, time machines, jewellery, rocket packs, and even a Victoriana peepshow. 

To attend Thursday night's opening event, please RSVP to info@artisan.org.au. Otherwise, we hope to see you at the gallery during the duration of the exhibition!

 

Shin Koyama at BCM's Crucible Gallery

Opening Night ‘Emaki-Modern’ by Shin Koyama

BCM Crucible Gallery

4 October 2012

BCM recently welcomed guests to the Opening Night of the latest exhibition in Crucible Gallery. 

Crucible Gallery is a unique gallery space, come meeting room housed within the offices of Brisbane-based advertising agency BCM. 

Artisan formed a partnership with BCM in 2011 which involves the curation of a number of exhibitions in the Crucible Gallery space to showcase the best of Queensland craft and design artists, as well as an Emerging Curator program.  

The Emerging Curator program develops the talents of an emerging arts curator under the guidance of the artisan team, and the program was recently recognised in the Australia Council’s Young and Emerging Artists category of the AbaF Queensland Awards.  The program will now compete in the AbaF National Awards later this month.

The artisan/BCM partnership is helping to develop future arts leaders, support Queensland’s craft and design community, and also provides exhibition opportunities for Queensland’s talented artists. 

Miriam Carter recently took up the role of BCM Emerging Curator and ‘Emaki-Modern’ is the first of the exhibitions that she has curated in Crucible Gallery on behalf of artisan. 

Drawing on the Japanese traditions of ‘Emaki-Mono’ (picture scrolls), ‘Shunga’ (erotic woodblock prints), ‘Manga’ (comic animation), and themes of historical events, cultures and people, Japanese born, Brisbane-based artist Shin Koyama transforms these art forms into distinctive and dynamic artworks for contemporary times.  The collection of ceramics, scrolls, paintings and print work on show in Crucible uniquely showcase the artist’s cheeky sense of humour and mischief.

Dr Craig Douglas of QCA and the artist provided BCM’s Opening Night guests with an entertaining insight into the many themes and inspirations behind Shin’s vibrant and uniquely individual artworks. 

Visitors to BCM, their clients and agency staff will be enjoying the ‘Emaki-Modern’ exhibition over the next month.

All works on display are courtesy of Shin Koyama and Jan Manton Art.

Crucible Gallery hours are by appointment.  

Photographs kindly supplied by BCM.

South Bank Visitor Centre souveniers

We are excited to launch a special project in partnership with South Bank Corporation for the design of a collection of souvenirs for the South Bank Visitor Centre. 

The first range of products is now available in South Bank’s Visitor Centre and includes: striking black and white mens and womens tees and caps, kids tees and bucket hats, soft toys, eco jute tote and laser-engraved metal keyrings. 

This project involved intensive site-specific research and close collaboration with South Bank and the manufacturing sector. All pieces in the collection make for great, affordable gifts which are connected to the South Bank precinct through design and story. 

Congratulations to designers KT Doyle, Dan Cox, Jess Dabro, and Roz Fenson for their great work on this project. 

The Visitor Centre is open daily from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (closed Good Friday and Christmas Day) and is located on the ground floor of South Bank House, on the corner of Ernest Street and Stanley Street Plaza, South Bank. Feel free to visit in person, call on (07) 3867 2051 or email at visitorcentre@south-bank.net.au. 

Recollected Patterns: The botany of Walter Hill

KT Doyle has launched her latest exhibition at the Redland Art Gallery's intimate Capalaba venue.
Recollected Patterns: The botany of Walter Hill explores plants cultivated in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens during colonial botanist Water Hill's curatorship (1855-1881), through a series of paper and textile works. 

The selection of plants were chosen by Doyle for their form, potential for patternmaking, and the artistic merit of the botanical studies. Patternmaking is used in the letterpress and giclee prints, and embroidered textile works to create a new visual language based on these plants. 

The show features all of the stunning black and white works from the original Collected Patterns exhibition, first held in March 2011 at Myrtle Street Studio, Brisbane, along with new work developed since then.

KT will be giving a special floor talk about the concept for the exhibition, the processes involved to create the works, and the selection of the plants.

Exhibition duration

8 October to 28 November 2012

Artist floor talk 

12noon, Tuesday 23 October. 

Venue 

Redland Art Gallery

Capalaba Place

Noeleen Street

Capalaba  QLD  4157

Exhibition opening hours 

Monday, Tuesday Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm, 

Wednesday 9am - 5pm, 

Thursday 8:30am - 7:30pm, 

Saturday 9am - 4pm. 

Visit KT's website

Visit KT's blog 

Steampunk at the Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair 2012

Michelle Murray, Flying heart pendant, 2012. Mixed metals.

The Antipodean Steampunk Show, our final exhibition of 2012, will be opening on 26 October. However, we can't quite wait that long, so we are excited to announce that we will be presenting a preview of the exhibition at the 2012 Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair!

Running from 17-21 October, the Craft and Quilt Fair will be held at the Brisbane Convention Centre. We will be presenting a selection of fantastical pieces from The Antipodean Steampunk Show, including jewellery, shoes, lamps, ray guns and tea bag jigglers. 

Tickets to the Craft and Quilt Fair can be purchased at the door during the fair or from the website, and discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

We can't wait to reveal the world of Steampunk to the circa 40,000 expected attendees, so if you plan to attend the fair, please drop by our stall to say hi!

The very next week, The Antipodean Steampunk Show will huff and puff its way into the artisan gallery, where it will remain until 15 December, 2012. Stay tuned for more info...

Blog design workshops at artisan

 







 

We are excited to announce that we will be joining forces with Simone Madigan of States of Nature and My Blog Workshop to host blog design workshops here at artisan.

These classes over two half-days and one full day, and are aimed at both recreational and professional bloggers who want to learn the basics in blog design, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

All classes will take place in the artisan boardroom on Level 2, 381 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley.

Blog Design for Crafters
Thursday November 1st
(Half day) 1pm - 4pm $89
More information and bookings

Illustrator Basics
Friday November 2nd
(Half day) 1pm - 4pm $89
More information and bookings

Photoshop for Bloggers
Saturday November 3rd
(Full day) 10am - 4pm $189 
More information and bookings

 





 

About Simone

Simone Madigan, blogger, designer and dreamer behind States of Nature will be your teacher.

Simone has worked with Photoshop and Illustrator for a long time, designing everything from logos and websites to fabrics and homewares. She is also an experienced teacher, and has taught at design colleges in the areas of Graphic Design, Textile Design and Digital Illustration. 

You can read profiles about Simone's work on the States of Nature blog by Craft Victoria, The Finders Keepers, Peppermint Magazine, and indie.com. Her work has been featured in magazines and newspapers including Frankie, Real Living, House and Garden, Inside Out, Good Weekend, The Age, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Simone's philosophy towards these workshops is simple:

"Focus on learning the techniques that are relevant to your work as it stands right now. Leave all the rest until later. It is very easy to be intimidated by this complex software, but if you learn the basics you have so much power to improve your visual style and be a better designer."

Simone has a Degree in Graphic Design (B.A.), a Diploma in Education in Design and Technology (Dip. Ed.) and a Masters in Printmaking (M.Phil).

We hope you can join us for these three fantastic workshops!

Artisan at the 2012 AbaF Awards

We are excited to announce that on Tuesday night, artisan in partnership with BCM won the Australia Council Young and Emerging Artists category at the Queensland AbaF Awards! 

L-R: artisan CEO Liana Heath with Victoria Reichelt of the Australia Countil for the Arts and Paul Cornwell of BCM. Photograph by Sarah Keayes.

The Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) annual awards night gives businesses the chance to showcase innovation in their support of the arts. 

The Australia Council Young and Emerging Artists award was given to artisan and BCM in recognition of the Emerging Curator Mentorship Program created by the partnership.

Established in 2011, the Emerging Curator Mentorship Program aims to support the development of future leaders within the arts. With financial support from BCM, artisan's Gallery team is responsible for selecting an emerging curator and providing guidance throughout the mentorship. The Emerging Curator is responsible for curating three exhibitions per year within BCM's Crucible Gallery and presenting curator talks at each exhibition opening.

The program has been a fantastic initiative and we are proud to have received recognition from  AbaF. Thank you to our wonderful partner BCM and the great team here at artisan, particularly our dedicated Gallery team.

We will now go on to be finalists at the national AbaF awards in Melbourne this October.

Read more about all of the AbaF Queensland winners here.

Public Program: 'Connection'

Flying Arts will host a forum as a part of the upcoming Queensland Regional Art Awards exhibition launch.

Connection, the touring exhibition of the 2011 Queensland Regional Art Awards, opens in Brisbane on Saturday 29 September. The exhibition, to be launched by the Hon Ros Bates MP, Minister for Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts, will be preceded by the public forum Creativity and the Power to Connect and a floor talk by exhibition curator Michele Helmrich.

Saturday 29 September

2:00pm  Public Forum: Creativity and the Power to Connect*
State Library QLD - Auditorium 1 - FREE

• Yen Trinh: designer, writer, public artist
• Melissa Lucashenko: novelist, essayist
• Lenine Bourke: arts producer, director, manager
• Jay Younger: artist, curator, educator
• Robyn Daw: artist, writer, director, manager

3:30pm  Connection floor talk

State Library QLD - The Studio - FREE

• Michele Helmrich: curator

4:00pm  Connection: Exhibition lauch

State Library QLD - The Studio - FREE

• To be opened by the Hon Ros Bates, Minister for Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts

*Each speaker will address the following statement from the point of view of their own work and experience: "Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected."

For more information, contact Gabriella Szablewska on (07) 3216 1322 or projects@flyingarts.org.au

JUMP Mentoring - Applications now open!

JUMP aims to make an impact on the early stages of a recipient’s career, help them gain networks, be inspired and exchange ideas, whilst working on an applied mentorship and creative project with a mentor who helps them jump to the next level.

JUMP is open to creative practitioners, producers, editors and curators who are in the first five years of their professional practice; in any of the Australia Council supported art forms.

Applications open: 3 September 2012
Applications close: 19 October 2012
Decisions advised: December 2012


Are you ready to JUMP? Do the quiz and find out

Jump to it! Apply online