Sunday, August 03, 2014

The Homemade Exchange is alive!

pencils2
Check out The Homemade Exchange! The online exhibition went live with all the final art works last Friday.  My sister, Demelza Sherwood came up with and executed this wonderful idea and I was thrilled she asked me to be part of it.
Each participant was asked to provide a photo of a 'domestic setting without people.' Demelza then redistributed the photos, each one to be used as inspiration for a piece of creative work in any medium. The picture up top is the one I submitted - my first idea didn't work well and I ended up racing around the house one sunny morning, close to the deadline, looking for something interesting. Those pencils have lived on my windowsill for ages. I really should get them down and draw with them some time.
Above is the delicious image I received back, which came from the lovely Stephanie Hicks. Lots of inspiring texture, and I do love a nice stone wall.
P7291979 e 6_6 crop
And this is my (untitled) vessel in response. I made a square sided vessel in pieces and appliqued the stones/bricks on separately. All the pieces were just lightly felted before being sewn together, and then I felted the whole piece thoroughly.
P7291990 e 5_6 crop
A couple of in-progress shots below - after sewing together and before final felting. It was only after I finished felting and was contemplating how to photograph it, that I decided to turn it out the other way and have the applique on the inside. I just liked it much better that way.
P7261703 e P7231662 e
The Homemade Exchange is part of Craft Victoria's Craft Cubed festival and will be available online until 31 August. The participants are located in Switzerland, Israel, Canada and Australia, and as Demelza explains in her Craft Cubed interview, she was inspired by the experience of sharing images in Instagram and wanted an exhibition idea that would be a playful collaboration, and also manageable for friends living overseas to join in. 
P7291988 e 5_6 crop
I loved being part of this, along with a lot of really talented artists and makers, including sister Emma and Rozalie Sherwood too. The absolute best part was late at night on Thursday when I finally got to see all the work in place. I love seeing the different ways people took something from the original photo, whether it was colour, composition, subject matter, or even using the photo itself as source material, and made something extraordinary. The works are so diverse and yet it seems to belong together.
P7291980 e 5_6 crop

5 comments:

Wens said...

Wonderful piece Olivia! I just love how you worked with Stephs photo! The texture looks amazing! It really was a fun project hey? I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Demelza said...

Liv it's great to hear your thoughts about the exchange and process of making your sweet stone felted vessel. I was imagining something different at first - knitting around the stones?! I suppose the 2nd felting process is like the grout! I love those shifts that happen when you get a different view (from inside out..to right way out) My drawing changed orientation and things flowed from there. Thanks for joining in! I agree somehow all the responses fit together though they are quite different. It was really exciting to see how people responded.

Donna Lee said...

What a gorgeous piece you made. I really liked seeing how each person interpreted the photo prompt. Some photos really suggest persons. It was a great idea.

Michelle said...

I so love this idea! And I love the inspiration photos and the work that has gone on around that! Wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

Helen said...

I have kept meaning to bring this up with you when I see you, because it's all so clever and fascinating and I adore the result of your efforts.