More than just faces.

More than just faces: Companions from Bread of Life.

This is the title of an exhibition I am going to have for the paintings I'm currently working on. The body of work features portraits of people who go to a free breakfast that my church runs every Sunday morning. The people who come generally make up a part of the poorer and marginalised residents of the area, and so this project of painting a number of them looks at both presenting them as humans - valuable, precious and dearly loved (certainly by those who serve them) - and also as a fundraiser for the free breakfast, with any funds raised from the sale of works being donated to this. Over my time going to the church and volunteering at the breakfast I have been honoured to come to know a few of the 'companions' (name used for the attendees), and seeing the enthusiasm of some of them for this project has been a real joy and encouragement for me.

My church is St Michael's Anglican, in Surry Hills, and the exhibition will take place in their hall, where the breakfast is held, at 196 Albion St. As the hall may be rented out during the week to another group, unfortunately this exhibition will be a two-day show, with the opening night being on Saturday the 28th of November from 5-8.30pm, and the works being also available for viewing the following Saturday, 5th of December, between 10am-4pm. 

As I am also finishing the painting part of my Fine Arts/Arts degree this year, two or three of the companion's portraits will also be exhibited in the COFA annual, which runs from Tuesday the 24th of November through to Sunday the 29th, opening hours 11am-6pm each day, and the opening night on Tuesday being 6-9pm. Do check it out! 

Davina:together we can make a difference

Shall I put my hood on?

Kudos Award

Some news! My concertina book, Ivy's leaving: a conversation in the kitchen, has just been selected to be part of the Annual Arc Emerging Artist & Designer Award exhibition. This will run from October the 13th-24th, and the opening night is from 5 - 7.30pm Tuesday 13th October, at Kudos Gallery, which is at 6 Napier st, Paddington. I don't know yet if I've won anything but I do know my work will be in the exhibition! All will be revealed on opening night...

Concertina artworks

Last semester (semester one, 2009) I created a series of concertina books that each formed a portrait of one (or two) of my house mates. The drawings in each book explored not only images of the person, but of things and colours that I associated with them. 

You may be wondering, why concertina books? Good question, and there are a number of reasons. One of them was that I wanted to create something with a sequential narrative in it. Another is the interesting sculptural element that the books create - I originally displayed Mia with the pages tumbling out, suspended in mid air with the front fixed to the wall and the back resting on a table, and the dream sequence of Meg folds out in a spiral. The textiles dimension to the works is also a fun bonus for me, the choices of which tie in conceptually with the first two portraits.

This first one is of Mia, and is done using pencil and watercolour (the cover is cloth):

This second one is of Meg (using water colour pencils - the cover is a pair of old jeans I owned). Unfortunately though, I was working in pencils and the drawings have come up quite faint in these photos.

This video shows the progression of a third book, called, Ivy's leaving: a conversation in the kitchen, and is a dual portrait, recording a conversation between Ivy and Karis about two weeks before she moved out (drawn in conté crayons). The topic? her departure.