Dawn Whitehand: Visual Artist
Sunday Studio Visit
Sunday Studio Visit – Or Sunday Studio Visitors!
It has been a quiet one in the studio today…. there has been a bit of tidying up after the fray of the renovations, and I have fired the kiln with student works, but that is about it!
Although it didn’t happen today, I did get two mentions in the May Clay Blog Review under the headings of “Process & Technique” and “The Rest”. This review is a great resource for everything clay and I highly recommend checking it out 🙂
Apart from firing the kiln, the other cute thing to happen was our resident possum visiting the studio tonight. This area has been his territory for over over a year now, and gradually we have been getting to know him, even while he was mating during Spring. We have been feeding him apples and carrots quite consistently for about six months.
They tend to have quite a large territory, so he is usually near us for about 2-3 days in a row, then he seems to be somewhere else within the property and surrounds. We do however, know where he sleeps during the day… so cute!
Anyways …. chat during the week 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – Renovations and Birthday Parties
Today in the studio I am putting finishing touches to the new renovations in the studio, and having a kids 11th birthday party!!
I had to extend the studio due to increasing class numbers, and so my partner & I did this over the Easter school holidays. The extension is 99% finished, now it is a matter of re-organising my space, which is also about 99% done. The studio feels so different now, and is such a functional space for both classes and myself.
We built the extension using mostly recycled materials, which is great, not only for the pocket, but also for the environment – there is so much waste in the world – I love to re-purpose things in my everyday life as much as possible. More pics of the finished studio to come 🙂
The other happening in the studio today was a birthday party. As well as offering classes and workshops, I also offer birthday parties, corporate teambuilding, school holiday programs and pretty much anything to do with clay!
Birthday parties are always successful and a great alternative to some other sugar filled options. This party was for an 11 year old, and included twelve kids – it was pretty busy and noisy!! We made treasure boxes by hollowing out blocks of clay and painting them with coloured slips.
And after such a busy day I am now relaxing with a wine!! Oops. but I’m writing a blog post – is that relaxing!?
Oh well, have a great Sunday evening everyone 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – new sculpture
Today in the studio I am creating a new sculpture. It’s been a while since I created new sculpture – not sure why, it seems so many other things get in the way!
So why am I creating a new sculpture – some motivation, I guess!! Recently I was invited to create a work for a micro exhibition for the Lorne Sculpture Biennale in response to the bushfires that occurred on Christmas Day in the Wye River area. The brief was positivity and regeneration.
I was really pleased to be asked, as only a month before I had experienced a large scale bushfire near my home where some close friends had been affected, but thankfully had kept their house and business, though unfortunately many other homes were lost! And three years ago the mount I live at the base of had been on fire. So, in a way, making a sculpture for the Wye River bushfire also allowed me to communicate the emotions I had felt in response to the other two fires.
Mount Warrenheip fire 2013 Photo: Dawn Whitehand – View from my backyard
Photo : Dawn Whitehand Scotsburn Bushfires 2015
So with these thoughts in my head as a starting point I started out in the studio with a pre conceived concept, but – of course – ended up with something completely different.
Now, this above thought is not be taken lightly, and I am intending to write a post about this in the future Why was I able to change my concept/design on the run? I believe the arts cultivates dynamic thinking which can drive innovation and be flexible upon need…. this is why STEM needs to be STEAM in our education system (*see below).
But back to my sculpture… I am not going to post a completed picture of the work, that will come at the opening or after, however, I will post some progress pics from the studio today …. cheers 🙂
*STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
*STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, Mathematics
Sunday Studio Visit … new jewellery designs AND saving the World!
This Sunday did not start out wonderfully!! I did not sleep a wink last night so am a bit behind the eight ball…. or am I? It actually meant I got alot done!
The weather is cooler today, which is also good… I think if I had been tired AND hot I would have been grumpy, maybe.
Yesterday I fired the kiln for classes I teach in my studio – you can check out some pics of classes and finished student masterpieces on my ClayMotion blog here.Today I unloaded the kiln and everything turned out wonderfully, except I forgot to take a photo…. I put it down to no sleep!
This evening I have been playing around with some new jewellery designs. While I do make jewellery from handmade ceramic beads and pendants, I like to combine them with other upcycled materials, or make jewellery completely from upcycled materials.
I believe that repurposing is important for the planet and try to incorporate this as much as possible into my everyday life as well as my art practice. This philosophy, in my everyday life and jewellery making, helps to offset the carbon footprint within my ceramic practice. While I recylce my clay as much as possible and also finish alot of my sculptural pieces using pit firing, I do purchase factory processed clay which requires transport = carbon footprint; and use a gas kiln = carbon footprint; and throw using an electric wheel = carbon footprint. So, you can see why I try to neutralise this footprint within other aspects of my art practice and life in general.
Well, after that bit of philosophising I’ll leave you with pics of what I have been playing around with this evening. In a nut shell I have working on combining a handmade heart shaped ceramic bead (made by me) with other upcycled beads and wire.
I also love stones, and have collected many over my lifetime both in Australia and overseas. I like to create pendants with them using wire wrapping materials, and find them to be very strong statement pieces.
I have also been experimenting with fabric beads using some of my own old 90s dresses. The wound fabric strips are securely wire wrapped with upcycled cake decorating wire. These beads I am then combining with other upcycled materials such as jewellery components I bought a few years ago in a bulk lot from a jewellery chain who was throwing stuff out because it was out of season. I take this jewellery apart and put it back together in different ways combining it with handmade beads and pendants of my own making.
And onto the pics…. have a great week 🙂
PS : Click on them to make them bigger!!
Sunday Studio Visit – bits and bobs
There’s not much happening in the studio today – I still feel a bit (guiltily) in holiday mode because my teaching hasn’t resumed – but that will all change this coming week, with classes resuming.
And that was was one of my tasks today – doing some last minute promoting of the classes by sharing on Facebook and creating a blog post for the ClayMotion classes… that’s the name of my teaching business. Classes are almost full, but a few more would be great!
Blog Post
Despite not teaching and doing a bit of January relaxing I have kept myself a bit busy and creatively motivated by participating in a couple of challenges over on Instagram. I shared a few of my pics in an earlier post and intend to share some more soon, but in the meantime you can visit my IG account to check out my pics HERE.
I managed to write a poem and complete an accompanying drawing too, which you can check out on my POETRY BLOG
I also packaged up a a couple of ETSY orders so that I can post them tomorrow … I like to take care with my packaging, make it attractive – I think this shows the customer a level of care which is important for customer relations, I think.
And speaking of ETSY, Valentines Day is only a few weeks away and I have some great gift ideas for him and her, plus some gorgeous tableware for that intimate romantic dinner … later on today I hope to list a few more goodies 🙂
Well, that’s about it for this Sunday…. see you during the week 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – custom orders and bits and pieces
Hope everyone’s New Year has been great I am still trying to get back into routine, so a Sunday Studio Visit is a good place to start!
Today in the studio I am making two custom orders, plus a few beads for jewellery making, just for fun!
The custom orders are for an Etsy customer and for my hubby!
The Etsy customer requested that I make a pair of earrings based on a set that his wife loved, but which broke. Of course, I advised him that while I could duplicate the design and colours it would vary as the item is handmade and my interpretation of the original makers artwork may therefore differ – he was happy, so this is the resulting work in progress. The earrings have been made and underglazed while green, so once bisque fired they will need a clear glaze and jewellery findings attached. I am pretty happy with the results.
Whenever I have a custom order I always make multiples – pottery can be so unpredictable – so to make it less labour intensive to hand carve each piece I made a stamp which I used to duplicate the design on each bead. The bead was mapped out by hand and then carved into slightly hard leather hard clay. I used the stamp successfully while about 90% dry, but will bisque fore for future projects. Leaving it green will mean it absorbs water and if you are stamping a large quantity of pieces the stamp detail will deteriorate.
The other custom order was delivered by hubby who does 90% of the cooking. So, if he requests tapas spreading knives who am I to question? Of course having him make kitchenware requests is also a great way to experiment with different shapes, glazes and firing techniques.
Well, that’s a wrap for today – see you during the week 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – or studio visitors!
This Sunday I was not in the Studio, being at a friends place instead for a catchup lunch, which turned into a long lunch… so studio time eventuated.
So, I thought I would share some of the visitors to the studio and surrounds I have been enjoying lately.
It is Spring here in Australia, so that means lots of active wildlife, some easy to photographers, other not so much. Rosellas, for example, are very skittish and bolt at the slightest movement or sound.
There is a resident koala who emerges every year looking for a mate – I am pretty sure it is the same koala as he is quite large (as opposed to a younger male having challenged him) and they are very territorial. The picture I got of the koala last week is quite funny – he is sitting in a magpie nest from last year!
We also have brushtail possums on the property. Last year we had a mum with two babies on her back. I am not sure if this years possums ( I have seen two so far) are the same mother, or the babies or a combination of both.
Every year we also have a family of magpies. Magpies mate for life and are also territorial, so I like to think we have the same family yearly. This year the parents have produced three babies, and are quite a noisy bunch now that they are out of the nest. Over the years we have rescued three baby magpies, two of which we successfully re-introduced to the parents, the most recent being last week! The third had a broken wing so needed a longer recuperation period, so that re-introduction was not possible. The picture in this post is of the baby we successfully re-introduced a few days ago.
I’ll keep an eye out for some more visitors for a future post… in the meantime enjoy the pics 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – out and about
Today, again, I was not in the studio, but went on a little Sunday drive with hubby to Ballan – a sleepy country town only about twenty five minutes from where I live, but which I never really visit. Its a bit like like that isn’t it… places just around the corner we don’t really know very well.
Being a Sunday most places were closed, but there were a few gift shops and cafes open, and it was a gorgeous 25C, so perfect for a stroll. We parked at one one end and walked the circuit. We checked out the gift/vintage/opp shops that were open, but the one opp shop we did want to check out was closed, though I did manage some pics of their front garden! You can see why I wanted to check out the inside of the shop.
We did however manage afternoon tea at a very cute cafe with a gorgeous garden which was great considering what a beautiful day it was…
On the way home we bypassed via local artist Robert McLaren’s studio to pick up the marbled paper I created at a WORKSHOP I attended a few weeks ago, and I must say I was happy with the results now that they are dry. I’m not sure what I am going to do with the finished works but I am enthused to explore this method further, including on ceramics!
Dawn Whitehand Marbled Paper
So whilst not ‘in’ the studio for today’s Sunday studio visit, I was out and about informing my arts practice, so that counts too – right?
Have a great week everyone 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit
I missed last weeks Sunday Studio visit – sorry about that, excuses abound – ummm
Anyway this Sunday I am unpacking a bonfire tin saggar firing I did yesterday, and am happy with the results.
It is Spring here in Australia, and living on a rural property means cleaning up undergrowth and debris before the bushfire season, and it needs to be done before fore restrictions come in – so a bonfire it is. Whenever we have a bonfire I always make a few things to put into tin saggars – small pots, beads, pendants. You can check out some previous posts about this firing method here.
I use mostly sawdust in the saggars, so that most of the surfaces carbonise into a silky black colour. I also add copper and salt, and sometimes wrap things in copper wire – this can create subtle red, blues and greens on the surface… and this time I was lucky enough to achieve this on some of the beads.
I will be cleaning and polishing the beads during the week, and will share some detailed pics of the end results then. Eventually these beads will find their way onto my Etsy shop as necklaces, earrings and bracelets.
In the meantime here are a few pic of the process 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – Paper Marbling
Todays studio visit is about visiting a fellow artists studio…
I have recently made contact with an artist group in my area called MAGNET – Moorabool Artists Group Network. I live on the cusp of Ballarat Shire and the Moorabool Shire and do most of my networking on the Ballarat side of where I live, so when I heard about this group – through an exhibition they held which I visited – I made contact, and have since met with them a couple of times. The group aims to hold regular meetings and dinners, organise exhibitions and workshops, and generally provide support.
Today, one of the members, Robert, who is a marbler on paper and ceramics, and experiments with other materials, generously held a free workshop for fellow group members. He is at the end of a workshop period and needed to use up left over ink and sizing…. what a great offer and professional development opportunity for the group!
I had never experienced paper marbling before and thoroughly enjoyed it!
As with the ceramic process there is an element of randomness and chance, but as with ceramics, the more practice and experience you gain the more ability you develop to control the randomness – well not really ‘control’, but you have more foresight about being able to predict the outcomes. Perhaps this affinity with the ceramic process is what I found appealing… I’ll have to do more and find out!
I think I have found another passion (I am running out of time to pursue all my passions) and am interested to experiment with this process on the ceramic surface, and also some of my own handmade paper.
Following are a few pics of some of my finished pieces taken in situ – some are a bit blurry, but you get the idea – I hope.
This work by Dawn Whitehand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.