NEWS - Mexico 2014

I am so thrilled to have been awarded a month long artist residency in Mexico in August this year.  I am one of 8 artists selected out of 180 applicants from around the world for a residency in the idyllic central Mexican location - "The 360 XOCHI QUETZAL Artist and Writer's Residency Program is located in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico on the shores of the largest lake in the country where the perfect year-round climate and stunning Lake Chapala and mountain views have long established the region as an international artist mecca."  The aim of the residency "… is to support artists, writers and musicians who would benefit from having uninterrupted time to devote to their creativity….and make artistic progress without the stress and distractions of daily life."  This unique opportunity is courtesy of the generous patronage of North American artist Deborah Kruger and the Juror for the summer visual arts residency was Jeannine Falino, Museum of Art & Design, New York City. 
I also need to acknowledge Janet De Boer from Textile Fibre Forum through whose newsletter I discovered the residency program.  Janet has continued to support my work through publishing since 2009.  (Images below are from the residency website: Deborah Kruger - Fiber & encaustic Artist / Xochi quetzal Art Residency in Mexico).

One of the residency studios

One of the residency bedrooms

One of the residency courtyards

Lake Chapala by day and by night

Grandiflora is coming along...

My Magnolia grandiflora - reinterpreted from Georg Dionysius Ehret 1743 is coming along, slowly but surely… 

Day 11 - today I worked on the top left corner and I embedded several letters within the white/greys - a "G" for Georg (Ehret) and Georgia (O'Keefe); a "D" for Dionysius (Georg's middle name) and an "L" for? … see if you can find them… they were all embroidered on scraps of linen sent to me from France! I am yet to find an "E"...

Day 14 below - with the chaos all around

for more information see http://www.louisesaxton.com/journal/2014/3/1/magnificent-magnolia

Vintage find at Ratty & Mole's...

Yesterday I took a country trip to the lovely town of Warrandyte with my friend Suzana (that's if a half hour drive from Thornbury is country but the air certainly felt fresher and with trees all around and river running through the centre of the town we felt transported!)  I wanted to return to the local op-shop and to "Ratty & Mole's Antiques", where I had found an exquisite Madeira appliqué table setting, when we visited four years ago (there's a link to their Facebook site at the end of the blog).

I remember at the time, what a big investment it was buying this unique set of domestic needlework, which was still in its original box with the gold labels stating it was "made by hand on the Island of Madeira" but, the beautiful blue/grey appliqué seemed destined to become something else, something that would celebrate it's quiet beauty and painstaking creation.  

In 2010 it was embedded in the second work in my Sanctuary series, becoming transformed into the central lyre in the tail feathers of Madeira's Lyre (a lyrebird after John William Lewin c1815) - see detail below and link to the full work on my website at end of blog).

And, yesterday's trip to Warrandyte was just as fortuitous as I found another (not inexpensive) treasure at Ratty & Moles - an exquisitely hand embroidered shawl on black silk, said to be Victorian Era most likely made in China or Manila for the Western market?  The price reflected this fact but was also cheaper than it could have been as the stunning black fringe was damaged in places - otherwise it's in beautiful condition. Not sure what this will become, but I am sure it will have a new life eventually - hopefully as part of my next solo show with Gould Galleries in 2015... 

 Ratty & Moles Antiques

 Madeira's Lyre 2010 - after John William Lewin c1815