New ideas in November

This is the last behind the scenes of Restoring! November has turned into a month of restoration, recovery and finding my love for creativity again. I needed this long break after publishing issue five because it is honestly a really huge task, and I’m doing the editing on my own! From putting together the content, designing the theme, editing the pages and the written work, as well as posting regularly on social media (which is not my strong suit) whilst working two jobs - it’s tough. So, I’m glad I made this blog, it keeps me accountable to keep posting and honour my readers, but also because there’s no algorithm to try and catch up with, and I’m not competing for your attention. Thank you for being here, it means so much to me!

Alice Watson in the studio...

I noticed Alice Watson as she worked in a pop-up studio down a lane of shops that I walked by everyday on my way to work. She was in the space for a couple of months so I decided to reach out to her. She was super excited to work with me, and she invited me into her main studio just upstairs from the pop-up.

We had some really wonderful chats about art, nature, and being an activist for preserving natural landmarks in the region. I was blown away at how many works she had sitting in the old apartment studio. The space is small, and the windows painted shut so the room was ecstatic with oil paint fumes. It left me with a buzz, and when I returned to see her to get some nice photos, it felt like we had known each other for ages.

Alice Watson’s artworks can be found on pages 9-12. Her works have beautiful, bold colours of fruits and flowers, and my intention with her work and other’s was for the reader to print, cut and collage the artworks into something new! Issue five doesn’t need to be precious or kept in its original state once it’s in your hands.

Sophia Smithwick and spirit pastels

Mystic Rose and Auric Cloaks

My lovely friend Sophia holds a space in the Restoring section because she is such a beautiful light. Her work is so strong and spiritual that I needed to hold space in this restorative section. Her work Mystic Rose and Auric Cloaks can be found on the final two pages of Restoring, page 17+18.

Her art practice is really special, and I will share more about it in the future because we are working on a secret project! The next zine! And once we pin down a theme, I will share more details.

In issue five you will see the way she honours her art practice, her art space and more of her artworks later in her introduction to the Progress topic.

Exhibitions

What exhibitions have you seen lately? I would love to hear about more art experiences around the world and in my local region. Working in an art museum, I get to immerse myself in art almost everyday, but I want to see what’s happening outside of my work bubble!

Bush Medicine by Gloria Petyarre

My favourite artwork at the moment is Bush Medicine by Gloria Petyarre, on display at MAMA in their permanent collection Dividing Range. Gloria Petyarre is a First Nation’s Australian artist, and her artworks have a beautiful flow in movement and colour, almost an optical illusion on the canvas. She was born in Utopia, Northern Territory from the Anmatyerre community. Bush Medicine is her personal depiction of the Kurrajong tree and how her community uses its leaves for medicine. I’ve had a lot of discussions with visitors and school students about how this work moves, and what the leaves look like to them, including animals. The colour choices are really bold, and I think that’s what makes this work so enigmatic.

Newsletter

A brainstorm

November seems to be a month of brainstorming and sitting on fresh ideas for the new year. I would really love to create monthly hand-drawn newsletters to hand out to people and have sitting inside galleries and cafes in the Albury region. My idea is for the newsletter to share what upcoming workshops and clubs are on in the month held by other creatives and private spaces, maybe an artwork, a short poem, highlighting a specific local business and any other Dwelling related information.

What do you think? I’d love for you to use the comments below to share your thoughts!

Artists and writers can submit their artworks and short poems for me to share, so if you or someone you know loves writing or illustrating, send them my way!

Thank you for being here 💛
Danielle J. France
artist, writer, editor