Marianne's clianthus - headed for Alice Springs

Flights booked for Alice Springs - to attend the opening of the 38th Alice Prize, at the Araluen Arts Centre on Friday May 9th. My work is one of 66 selected out of 490 entries and as I've never been to the desert it will be a wonderful opportunity to visit a place where this "glory flower" Clianthus formosus grows in abundance (unfortunately not at this time of year).

'Marianne's clianthus, 2013 - after Marianne Collinson Campbell, 1800's'

(reclaimed needlework, lace and beading pins, museum board 145 x 65 cm)

details showing the head of the pea (the black 'eye' is referred to as the 'boss') and the leaves

Marrianne Collinson Campbell's original drawing in the a National Library of Australia publication

'Women of Flowers'.  The original drawing is held in the NLA collection.

Deep Water...

Please see my website:   www.louisesaxton.com 

for the latest journal entry "Deep Water" about a new 3-dimensional work;
'Deep Water / hanging garden'.

Reclaimed vintage silk velvet, silk embroidery and fringe. Dimensions variable.

John & George find a new home...

'John & George 2013 - after John Hunter 1789' was sold by Gould Galleries yesterday - four hours after I collected it from the framer and delivered it to the gallery. 

My Sanctuary Collection, which began with Queen Billie and Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2012, and its reiteration as Sanctuary Too at Gould Galleries in 2013, has now been completed by this reinterpretation of Captain/Governor John Hunter's King parrot, painted in 1789. Hunter copied the bird from another first fleet artist, the more proficient George Raper, whose Emu I have also reinterpreted in reclaimed needlework.

I'm grateful that my gallery are not only able to sell my work, but also love it and while I'm excited that 'John & George' have found a new home, I'm also (slightly) sad that I may not see it again.

Here is a shot of the work installed in Rob Gould's upstairs gallery yesterday in its beautiful frame built by the fab team at Chapman & Bailey.

continuing the journey ...

There is a new journal entry on the website: 'the wild flower journey continues'

and if you scroll down to 26 December you will find an earlier entry showing the wild flowers when they are first extracted from the book:

thank you for reading!

Unearthing the past #'s 1 - 3

In the process of setting up louisesaxton.com I was drawn back to my early days at art school - Canberra School of Art in the early 1980's and RMIT in the early 1990s. I discovered in the archives of my studio a folio of small drawings and photographs of lost paintings.  Not worthy of a gallery within the main website, but worthy of documentation none the less, I have decided to post some of the images in three journal entries. 

The interesting thing for me to remember is that my engagement with the domestic, with a sense of home, goes back a long way.  It has transmogrified over the years but, it is there as a constant thread.  

The first journal entry shows drawings in pencil and charcoal from a group house in Canberra and an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts, in the early 1980's.  The second shows drawings in oil stick and pastel from the early 1990's and the third journal shows charcoal drawings and paintings from the mid-late 1980's.

Please head to the website for full viewing of the journal entries and photos:

http://www.louisesaxton.com/journal/2014/1/16/unearthing-the-past

Heart Garden - ready for framing

'Heart Garden' 2013 is ready for framing!  The human heart motif has become a garden, filled with the exquisite hand-work of many anonymous makers and also, some belonging to family members of friends and acquaintances - I thank them all for their contributions! And here it is in the studio….

below a detail...

the negative form which is left after the 

backing motif has been extracted

 being pinned to the backing board

being pinned to the final mount-board for framing

and below the final work photographed by Gavin Hansford

Inspired firstly by my time at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2012 (where there is a heart garden in the form of the romantic symbol) and by my time at the Palliative Care hospice in Kew, 'Heart Garden' was made during my artist-in-residence at the hospice in 2013.

It will find a permanent home in the Cardiac Centre at St Vincent's Hospital in Fitzroy - also known as the Heart Centre. I will keep you posted on the installation of the work once it's framed and hopefully some of you will be able to go in and see the work in-situ.

Sanctuary Prints on louisesaxton.com

The final touches have been made to the website with the inclusion of an online shop, selling limited edition Giclée (pigment) prints selected from my Sanctuary collection. My web designer and I had fun 'setting up shop' yesterday.  

The prints are made from a high resolution photograph of the original reclaimed textile work, and printed on archival paper from a limited edition of 100 per image. Each print is signed and numbered on the back and comes with an information sheet about the original artwork.

See website for full details:

http//:www.louisesaxton.com/shop