Overwhelm-ment should be a word

Because that is the state we are in right now, overwhelmed just isnt strong enough!

Its been a knockout beyond our dreams! Oohs and Aahs, so many laughs and so many smiles.  Just what we wanted.  And thats just the first day. 

The library is a fascinating building, after all these years I  properly saw and realised  the concept of the vaulted ceiling in the  library area, so appropriate for a studious space .....You can see it at the back of this photo taken from the exhibition peacocks eyeview.

Our pristine cupcake draughtboard/checkerboard has been interactive in a way we never imagined. 

 Designed for adults to have a serious (?) game, we discovered the bonus that even quite small children knew straight away they were playing white icing and strawberries against pink icing and cherries.  They also got right into the touching feely thing that textiles just bring on in a serious  way.  One young man, maybe of about three, visited twice in the morning then dragged his Mum back in at 5 just so he could hold a cake again! 

If photos made you a millionaire, we'd be billionaires.  Never seen so many, all round the exhibition, so good for morale.  Even better when you've been busting your boiler to make it just the best happiest exhibition you can imagine.

And all the while this little chap has been watching, he's looking for a good home on October 7th.

Who Needs Permission - Woo Hoo We're IN

We started the day in the usual  organised  way that you install something different to the last thing you did. Railings finished, most of the poles covered, time for bunting!

Despite  the tempting smell of coffee drifting in from the cafe down the corridor we persevered.

After raising Hung Out to Dry there were  many bicycles.....

And  they were hung quite quickly, lots of fun deciding which one to pick first, or second or......

More on the bikes another time.....its enough to say the laughs and delight from library visitors cheered us on as our hearts sank looking at all the rest to be done.

And we did it!!!!!!!  Many thanks to Joel and Isabelle, not only their help but their good cheer made it a pleasure to get through all our stuff!!!  Chairs, banners, peacock, sewing machine, The Birds (lots of them), cushions and of course a draught board .  

Some of you will remember "There Goes the Neighbourhood", Margarets  shortlisted piece for the Nillumbik Prize in 2013, its here , not in the photograph, YOU have to come and find it,  take a seat to look at the video inthe shade of the palm tree, then get a little exercise playing draughts  (handle the pieces gently please, cherries and strawberries bruise easily).  

Who Needs Permission, Eltham Library Community Gallery until October 6th.

Who Needs Permission? - day one of the install

The afternoon of day one installing, a beautiful empty space just waiting....for  ......

Yes waiting for us to start yarnbombing  - and once again its a warm and friendly way to go.  People wandering in and out of the library just couldnt help smiling and laughing.  Just wait til tomorrow night!

But then we had to take a break, the rain got louder and louder and turned into hail.....we patted ourselves on the back.  This time we're installing indoors  - in Dandenong we installed in icy wind and we de-installed in the rain. Indoors is such a luxury! 

It got heavier and darker and heavier and the gutters were overflowing like waterfalls...

But back to work,  then a quick rest to decide our dinners before we left....

You might be getting a bit of an idea of what we're up to - just wait til tomorrow night!!!

Who Needs Permission?

Only twelve months ago Margaret and I started discussing what to do with the skills we'd developed during our Artists Residency at Montsalvat in Eltham.

Who Needs permission? Margaret said!  Of course, what gallery? Well the Eltham Library Community Gallery of course!

So here we are, the day is nigh.....

Panic levels are high, in a very calm sort of way.....

We start installing tomorrow afternoon , then more on Wednesday.....

Here's a clue 

No its not really a pie but it does relate to a day of domestic virtue - as you will see later...

Remember the Montsalvat Wedding Tree - well any good idea can be developed into......

You'd better come to the library and see...this is just the corner of......

Then there's a little bit of this

Then more domestic virtue

Take a good look, there's more than one exhibition piece in this cute little Hursbridge almost bakery.  

The icing is not yet on the cakes, and here's a clue to their interactive role in the exhibition - we need twenty four so you can come and play.

And so the best of friends talk about settling into their new habitat...

They look forward to showing it off to you from Thursday September 11 at the Eltham Library Community Gallery.  They might even reveal a little bit more tomorrow.....

Peace, love and welcome

Five workshops and five pillars, three workshops and four seatcovers , fourteen bike racks, a bicycle, a railing or two - and the  response from the people of Dandenong has been  truly awesome.

They were invited to use any words and symbols in any language to decorate the recycled knit projects.  In every workshop with no prompting from us far and away the favourite word was peace closely followed by love then welcome, caring, friend. 

Margaret and her partner Rod in the evening just before the launch of Cultural Threads

Thursday morning   at  Vision Australia  was amazing.  Their craft group was making 
 some of the most exquisite crochet and knit.   A word we should all take note of raised a cheer  - equal. These women did not muck around - straight into it and by the time we left we had five tags, two of them incorporating braille.

Thursday afternoon a

 group from all over the community....

Ling chose to write in mandarin and to stitch a koala in a gum tree on Thursday, finish it on Saturday and helped to install one of the seat covers (she also stayed to do the railings).

The warm and fuzzy pillars are being hugged, photographed and now added to.  It was such a lovely surprise to discover an addition by the  indigenous basket weaving class . Another lady has added flowers to celebrate the relationship between herself, sisters and their mother who was a CWA president in NSW.  

the three pretty flowers next to the "A ''

We met so many lovely and interesting people and shared their stories. What took us by surprise and what we are truly thrilled by, was that it should be such a strong  means of self expression for the community.   To be involved in a public art  project that is decorative, fun to do and yet means so much to so many people when its finished has to be the best job in the world!

More to come on two workshops that have not yet been mentioned and the hair raising day of the installation ..........
  

Tired but happy!!!!!!!!

Actually very happy - we pulled it off.  How ?, well we finished  very cold, and very tired  so the "how"  can wait til tomorrow.  Meanwhile take a look at this.

Those two little figures on the orange seats are us.  The five pillars, bunting, bicycle, and both bike racks -  all put up  over the last two days.....with help.  It has to have been the aabsolute coldest and windiest day for this winter!!!!!!!!!!!

Details in the next couple of days. 

I love street art !

Well today we started the installation of our public art project for the City of Greater Dandenong.  Street art is definitely a social occasion - next project I am going to dress appropriately for the occasion - that is when I work out what "appropriate" is!

Meanwhile we started on the small scale stuff....

then as we worked we chatted some more

Many conversations later the bicycles started to arrive as fast as we could stitch

And the finished rack proved really popular

Deceptive sunshine - the wind was freezing!!!!!! It stole the yarn every time we threaded a needle - but like good little street artists we soldiered on.

But we did it - added my best (so far) yarnbomb bicycle 

And left - watch out Dandenong, we're back tomorrow and this square will look very different!  Just a clue :  weather permitting we will have a man on a scissor lift to help!

postcript.  Just to make a fun day perfect, by the time Margaret left me at the end of the drive the wind had dropped, the sun was out, and  a friend broke off from ant eating to  greet me.