Today, my mum, myself and my little boy all headed off into the sunshine to visit Appleton Street Studio's in Richmond for a little slice of Sunday art-iness :) Excellent I thought- what a great opportunity to meander through 16 different studios to see some amazing artists work including painters, designers, textile artists and printmakers.... John and I lasted 10minutes....however it piqued my incessant interest about this type of thing, so of course somehow I managed to return (albeit briefly) later on....
So since, it was such a beautiful morning we continued for a wonderful Autumn walk down by the Yarra river. The sunlight dappled in John's copper hair and cast itself amongst shadows and between golden tree leaves.... people walked and talked, kids played and the brown, murky yarra flowed ever onwards. Photography opportunities galore, shame no camera on hand....We climbed hills, played with leaves, sat on little wooden jetties and eventually 2.5 hours later managed to make it home.... Autumn really is truly a beautiful season to walk in.....
Anyway back to Appleton Studio's - what an inspiring place so full of talented individuals and all their art! Co-founded by Jeff Martin and Sandra Bardas, it is a place for emerging and professional artists to well CREATE :) and create they have. Of particular interest to me, was Jeff Martin whose studio was full of culinary delights.... walls covered in huge painting of kitchens, and a side table covered in olives, bread and wine and yes a glass I did but have :) This man had some amazing visual diaries and after looking into his work- I highly recommend a look.
Other artists of interest to me were Sarah Louise Rickets (a lady inspired by the medium of felt and hello runs workshop & yes I am going to sign up), Jacqueline Tiepermann whose beautiful symbolic paintings showed so much color and movement, Jonathon Fletcher whose paintings of lips and eyes were incredibly luscious and
Katrina Carter who plays with the idea of recycled things (well this is always close to my heart!).... All were amazing, all were different and I highly suggest you check out Appleton Studio's website : http://www.appletonstreetstudios.com/artists.html
Not only did I go for a long walk and visit Appleton Studio's today, I also paid a quick visit to "Off the Kerb Gallery" to see Kirrily Anderson, another beautiful and talented artist who I can also say proudly is my friend. She held her first solo exhibition at "Off the Kerb" and has also recently been part of a group exhibition there by the name of "El Dorado". Today was "El Dorado's" last day and a celebration was afoot with art, music, people and cake...
The purpose of "El Dorado" was to reflect on the idea of "an exotic place of fabulous wealth and opportunity which unfortunately is always short of discovery". It featured a variety of artistic mediums, including animation, interactive-media, text based projection, painting and photography. Of course I would highly recommend Kirrily Anderson (I & the Other) and was also hugely impressed by an artist who did some beautiful industrial images using black fine liner pen on paper (his name I will find out by tommorrow).
And that was my Sunday- full of artistic discoveries, autumn delights and family goodness..... I feel I can go to sleep happy! :)
Written by Briony
