Creative Art Festival
As part of Creative Gippsland’s program, Come and Play All of May, the Baw Baw Arts Alliance has a number of exciting art workshops at the Trafalgar Railway Station. The workshops are designed to enable the creation of art by members of the public and encourage the sharing of ideas and skills between artists.
Kay Lancashire, a remarkable creator of wearable art, has planned carefully to provide a stimulating workshop in metal etching. Kay’s workshop on Saturday May 6 will teach participants how to etch copper and brass using chemical and electrical methods.
Prue Barridge and Jess Mclennan, both experienced art teachers, have planned an exciting workshop for kids. rue and Jess ran a series of workshops over the summer period using materials from the National Gallery of Victoria. The workshops were so successful they decided to provide similar during May. They plan a number of work stations where kids can experiment using paint, print and fibres. The workshop is on Sunday, May 7 and designed for kids to have fun with a wide range of art materials.
On Saturday, May 13, local mosaic artists, Barb Gogerly, Elisabeth Smoorenburg, Dot Thorne and Viv Horden want to share their mosaic skills in their Memory Mosaics workshop.
They ask participants to bring along a special piece of broken china, beads, buttons, old jewellery, metal keys so that you can create a mosaic from these pieces that have significance for you. A two-day workshop on Encaustic Painting will be conducted by Nonie Sutcliffe.
Nonie will introduce participants to this exciting method of layering hot wax on board to produce abstract colours and shapes onto which images can be collaged and textures added.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about tools and techniques in an art form you may not have tried. The workshop takes place over Saturday and Sunday, May 27 and 28.
More details about these workshops can be found on www.creativegippsland.com.au/ and www.bawbawartsalliance. org.au
While the workshops are running take time to visit what will prove to be a bright, cheery exhibition by members of the Baw Baw Arts Alliance at the Station Gallery, Yarragon during May. The exhibition, Colour My World, is a chance to see what the artists of the Baw Baw Shire are currently creating.
Also at the Station Gallery is the demonstration by Meg Hayley of how she paints her still life works on canvas; Sunday, May 28, 1 to 3pm. Meg will be able to answer questions about her techniques, tools and subject matter as well as explain her own works of art on The Wall, a section of the Station Gallery, Yarragon.
You may remember making a linocut at school and cutting your fingers due to blunt tools and tough old lino. So why would you want to try this art form again?
Local artist Helen Timbury is holding a series of one day linocut printmaking workshops throughout May. This versatile form of printmaking has wide appeal due to its immediacy, and the fact that it is cheap and easy to get started.
Put simply, a linocut is a relief print made from a block of linoleum where any unwanted areas are carved away, the block is then inked with a roller. The ink is only transferred to the uncarved areas. It is then pressed onto paper. The block is then re-inked before making the next print.
Helen's four individual workshops focus on the many ways of making linocut prints. Design, technique, materials and equipment are covered in each workshop.
Helen says: “The workshops appeal to beginners and advanced printmakers and are a great way to learn a new skill. They are ideal for personal development for teachers, designers and illustrators or for artists wanting to expand their art practice. Secondary and tertiary art students find the workshops great for folio development."
The workshops are being held in Drouin, Yarragon and Trafalgar, class sizes are kept below eight to enable ample space to make and dry the prints. More information is available on Helen's website or the Creative Gippsland website. Bookings for the basic prints workshop in early May, are due to close shortly.
Call Helen to book on 0408 527 943.