A new lease on Lifeblood

Hello, in super arm-azing news I was recently invited to design this new bandage for the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood!

Very happy to be selected to work on this project alongside artists Beci Orpin, Gemma O'Brien, Georgia Perry, Chris Nixon and Brian Robinson!

Lifeblood has partnered with myself and these five fantastic artists to create a vibrant range of limited edition bandage artworks, that will be available to all blood and plasma donors nationwide during the next six weeks.

Here's a photo of me wearing the bandage I designed after having just donated, and enjoying a free Nippies iced coffee (one of the many perks of donating!)

If you'd like to see if you're eligible to donate, or to book in your next donation, visit donateblood.com.au.

In other news, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Linden Postcard Prize held annually at Linden Gallery in St. Kilda, and to celebrate Linden are presenting an exhibition featuring work by the past winners.

Here's my painting which was the lucky recipient of the Linden Postcard Prize in 2013, titled Slime Balls and Misery Guts.

As well as myself, the other exhibiting artists are, in alphabetical order; Abdul Abdullah, Penny Byrne, William Eicholtz, Sarah crowEST, Robert Fenton, Prudence Flint, Josh Foley, Anna Hoyle, Helen Johnson, Michael Kluge, Robert McHaffie, Scott Miles, Jennifer Mills, Grant Nimmo, Greg Penn Louise Rippert, Hedy Ritterman, Valerie Sparks, Richard Stringer and Steffie Wallace.

You can view the full exhibition catalogue by clicking here.

My new work in the exhibition is this ceramic sculpture titled The Ticket.
A ripped ticket stub is a permanent record of a fleeting experience. The Ticket is a reflection on how, despite Luna Park having been closed for most of 2020, the year itself has felt a lot like a roller coaster. At times it’s been a scary ride with many unexpected twists, turns, ups and downs. 

This work is the latest in a series of hand sculpted replicas of items that are only very temporarily considered important, such as improvised bookmarks, discarded shopping lists and lost lottery tickets.

The online opening for the Linden Postcard 30th birthday exhibition is tomorrow evening, (Wednesday October 21st), from 6pm to 7pm. 

The event is free and will include live captioning. You can register to attend the opening by clicking here. Hopefully see you there!

In the meantime, in the spirit of celebrating postcards, please feel free to send me a postcard addressed to my P.O Box, which is P.O Box 232, Batman. Victoria. 3058.

Thanks for reading, hope you're having a post-ticularly nice day!

Well this is orchid

Hi, here's a new series of ceramic sculptures of orchids playing classical music, called the Symphony Orchid-stra.

Whilst we've been in lockdown the natural world has carried on, and as we slowly return to busyness this piece is a gentle reminder for us to continue listening to what nature has to say.

In exciting news, these works will be showing in Canberra's biennale public art festival Contour 556, showing alongside heaps of great artists including Louise Weaver, Richard Lewer, Kerrie Poliness, Tony Albert, Connie Anthes and many more.

Contour 556 opens this Friday October 9th and runs until October 31st. If you're in Canberra hopefully this plants the seed for you to have a look, so put the petal to metal and I truly be-leaf you'll have a lovely time.
Contour 556 would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal People, the traditional custodians of the land on which this festival takes place. I'd also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I created this artwork, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respect to their elders past, present and emerging, who've been creating art here for thousands of years.

Baci to the future

Hi, the Hawthorn Town Hall Gallery is hosting a live online panel discussion at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday the 3rd of October). The talk is all about the value and power of using text and language within art.

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On the panel will be 5 artists from the current group show 'Do I Have To Spell It Out For You?', including myself alongside great artists Kate Just, Benjamin Aitken, Nasim Nasr and Shevaun Wright!

The discussion is free to watch and will include live captioning as well as Auslan interpreting. If you'd like to register to watch the discussion please click here!
Speaking of things you might like to watch, here's a new video workshop I made with the Shepparton Art Museum where I show you how to sculpt and glaze a ceramic sculpture of an apple.

The workshop's aimed for primary school aged kids but all are apple-solutely welcome to enjoy.

You can watch the video here!

Big thank you to the Shepparton Art Museum, and also a big thanks to Emmy Clifton for filming and editing.

In other news, I haven't just been sculpting fruit, here's a new ceramic sculpture I was recently commissioned to make of Baci chocolates.

Perhaps the best part of making this sculpture was afterwards when I got to eat the chocolates that I based it off. And so if ever you're thinking of commissioning me to make a sculpture please note if you propose something yummy it will certainly sweeten the deal!

And in other news, I'm super excited to share that my recent ceramic sculpture series 'Life Is Like A Box Of Crayons', which I originally created for Cement Fondu gallery, has just been acquired into the Artbank collection!

I've been a huge fan of Artbank for many years and am so thrilled that this work has found such a wonderful new home.

Thanks so much for reading, hope the rest of your week is bright and colourful.