The Exhibition launch - 12th February 2009

On the 12th February I went to the launch of the exhibition, DVD and book. It was a great night and amazing to see the work of all the ladies who participated in the project. We were all presented with a copy of the DVD and a book which was signed by the authors Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace. The exhibition ran from the 11th to 27th February 2009.

It was special having my mother, my sister Sue and her husband John, my niece Melanie and great nephew Lachlan and two friends from TAFE come to the opening with me.

It felt surreal seeing my craft work in glass cases and the quilt, my penguin and Jim's Bowl of Roses hanging on the walls. The curator did a great job presenting every one's craft.

On the last day of the exhibition some of the ladies were able to meet together for drinks and we're planning on catching up again in about a months time. Even though we had not meet each other before the opening night it was like we had a bond in our craft work that drew us together.

Participating in the project has been a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I was chosen to be part of it.

The book

Description taken from the Vulgar Press Website

" Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace
It keeps me sane: Women, craft, wellbeing
$29.95
9780977504787 (pbk.)

This book is has its origins in the The Everyday Creativity of Women Craftmakers, a narrative research project exploring the roles and meanings of craftmaking in women’s lives. This research aims to document and communicate contemporary women’s stories of their engagement with craftwork; and to explore the links that women perceive between their engagement in craftmaking and their wellbeing. The research was funded by Victoria University and Spotlight Pty Ltd, a large Australian retailer of fabrics, wool and craft supplies.

In the book we explore the meaning of craft and craftmaking to women and the key themes that have emerged from the research including: creative and self expression, wellbeing, community and intergenerational links and pleasure and passion for the craft itself. There are 15 individual women and one group highlighted in the book with images of their craftwork and their stories and ideas about the meaning of craft to them."

The DVD - ...it keeps me sane...

The DVD which runs for around 15 minutes was filmed by Daniel O'Brien abd Monica Liu and shows extracts of the interviews conducted with the ladies who participated in the project by Marty Grace and Enza Gandolfo.

The DVD focuses on how we view craft, what it means to us and the role it plays in out lives.

The thing that stands out the most in the DVD is how we all have different crafts that we are interested in we all do it for the same reason.

The DVD will be used as a training tool by the lecturers at the Victoria University.


My craft hanging in the gallery

Here's a small video of some photos from the exhibition..




Pages of me in the book..
(just click on photos to enlarge them)