We are sooooo excited (again)

There's nothing like a new community project for workshops and a public art installation to build excitement, maybe induce a touch of meglomania, but certainly to create new challenges for Margaret and myself.  

We had an amazing  time yarnbombing the City of Greater Dandenong Civic Centre with the community for the month of Cultural Threads last year.  We are really looking forward  working with the community there again on a new project .

This is a rough representation.............. 

Together we will create oversize poppies to be installed in the Civic Centre lawn as a tribute by the community of the City of Greater Dandenong for this year's centenary of Anzac Day.

 We aim to install forty poppies, one  for every  volunteer who died for King and Country in the Great War from what was then a small but important country  town, Dandenong. 

Prototype flower, fourth attempt, more refinements have been made since- after all they have to be easy to put together and relatively quick to make. 

The inspiration for materials and style came from cards my grandfather sent to my grandmother when he was stationed on the Western Front in France. The cards feature embroidery with  net  and silk decoration.  

The poppies are made from satin, tulle and synthetic knitting wool - more details as we go.

The subject may be serious but creating it is going to be lots of fun.   Making something beautiful is always fun, but sharing the experience is just so much more fun. 

And the challenge?  Well we start next week and the installation will be during the week of April 13th!  Wow, so soon!  Will the two of us and the wonderful and welcoming community of Dandenong make it?  Betcha we do.  You'll just have to watch and see. 

And we make three more prototype poppies this weekend - whoopee!!!  


Postscript
 An explanation for all our wonderful bloggy audience  outside Australia,  the 25th of April,  Anzac Day, is a national public holiday which  commemorates a First World War battle on the Turkish coast.  Troops from Australia and New Zealand fought a dreadful  battle for the British Empire. Their courage and losses are legendary.  Over the decades it has come to represent the moment when Australians and New Zealanders took pride in having a national identity.  The poppy symbol came from the Flanders poppy which has long been used for Remembrance Day, the eleventh of November, in the UK and Australia.  Many, many more Australian troops were lost on the Western Front in Europe. In Australia the poppy has become a tribute symbol for both days. 

 This is a simplistic description, to really understand what it means  to Australians today, especially on the 100th anniversary, you need to explore "Anzac Day Centenary"on the internet.