{ kass } an artistic journey

I should be packing

but I am not....but I should be. It's less than 48 hours from departure and I haven't started packing. I guess I have all of tomorrow....

so I handed in all my Uni work and now I wait. I dont get results til July I think so I need to be cool with putting it out of my mind. But I want good marks. Killer marks actually. Because I worked so hard.

I can't believe it is really only 2 days til I go to PEI now. It has come around so fast!! They have broadband internet where I am staying now so I hope to be able to update regularly. It will be a busy time but I am excited now! 

Last night we had my sister's engagement party. She looked lovely and my nephew, J-Man, said a little speech and then sang us the A-B-C song, Bob the Builder (twice) and Hi-5 theme. Who knew they were engagement party anthems?!?!?! It was a lovely night and it was good to catch up with people.

So yeah - watch for updates form Canada and everyone stay well while I am gone!

plus size?

This is Whitney Thompson. She just won the latest series of America's Next Top Model. I saw a story about her on E! today and almost choked on my own breath.

You see, the selling factor for young Whitney here is that she is a size 10 (US - that's a size 12 here in Australia). And apparently this makes her a PLUS SIZE MODEL.

Are.You.Fucking.Kidding.Me?

Size 10 is PLUS size???? Now I know the standard US model is a 2-4 these days (insane...) but really, do we really want to label women who are a standard, healthy size - the same or even thinner than me (and I don't pretend I am thin here either folks) PLUS size? To me, a plus size model is, these days, probably a 16+. Is that unreasonable?

I refuse to be party to something like this - making young women think they are FAT because they are a size 10?? It's insane. And "plus size" is just the PC term for fat, we all know that. And size 10 IS NOT FAT.

I really urge you to let magazines an advertisers know that this kind of bullying - yes it IS bullying - is not OK and that we are not going to raise our daughters to be anorexic crack heads in order for them to think they are beautiful. This kind of stuff really pisses me off. It's up to us. Let's reclaim our right to be recognised as beautiful and healthy.

meet my new friend

This is Viv. She's named after Vivienne Westwood.

I bought Viv today at Lincraft for $120, which I was pretty happy about as most I had seen were significantly more expensive. Now the real fun begins!!

lots of photos

lots of photos of what I have been making...

Tartan cushion

Made from tartan, black painted canvas, a zipper, button-up lace and I added a kilt pin after I took the photo.

Brat Bag

I saw a painted illustration recently of black on black and I loved the effect so I reproduced it on this bag, and I am so happy with the results. It has black painted canvas, black denim sides/gusset and black "liquid" vinyl strap. Here's a detail shot:

Mini Bag
Again using the liquid vinyl and tartan material (can you tell I like those?!), this bag is 6x4 inches.

Then I added a wooden skull thing which I painted and covered with dimensional adhesive and beads. I can't remember where I got the wooden thing, I think at a scrapbooking thing maybe? I attached it with Liquid Nails!

post coming soon

...hopefully with some photos and news....

mother's day

mother's day is this sunday and is always stressful for me. My mum is the world's hardest person to buy for - she says don't buy her something, but if you don't buy something, you just know she is shitty. What's worse is that she has everything - knick knacks, perfume, she's had enough Bunnings vouchers to last forever. It's hard to buy something.

So this year I have made her a gift - a handbag. She has seen what I have been doing for Uni and has been impressed so I thought I'd make something specially. Here it is...

Materials: Canvas, muslin, vintage inspired lace and ricrac, thread, cotton fat squares (brown fabric inside), zipper.

The bag

The back

Inside

I now just HOPE she likes it!!

you cannot understand how much

I want to attend THIS....

Art Fiber Fest

*praying to the Tattslotto gods*

photography work this week

I was really lucky to be asked by the University to photograph some events this week, including three graduation ceremonies. All I had to do was take photos of the guest speakers, then afterwards photograph the VIPs upstairs. It was a pretty easy job really, but I wanted to do a good job so that I might be asked again.

The Uni have produced 3 media releases which include my photos:

http://www.acu.edu.au/media/media_releases/repository/death_penalty_abolitionist_acu_nationals_newest_honorary_doctorate/

http://www.acu.edu.au/media/media_releases/repository/juvenile_justice_advocate_receives_acu_national_honorary_doctorate/

http://www.acu.edu.au/media/media_releases/repository/acu_national_welcomes_cross,_icon_and_message_stick2/

so I am really thrilled about that. Another exciting fact is that one of the honorary doctorates, Lex Lasry, is a good friend of my Mum's and was involved in the release of our friend Peter from Sierra Leone a few years ago, so it was especially nice to see him recognised with the honorary PhD.

Some snaps:

The Hon. Lex Lasry, QC

Mr Eugene Cullity

where it's at

so I dyed my hair black. I don't know if it looks THAT black - tomorrow when I get to Uni I'll find out (if people notice!)

Things are crazy busy right now but in the best possible way.

I have 2 weeks of Uni left but I have an extra week to finalise my Urban Brats stuff so things there are going well. I am pretty happy with how things are going although the photos I am showing don't do justice to how good some of it looks. I've really outdone my own expectations on this and it feels GREAT - it's not often that happens because I usually set myself goals that are not realistic.

I am also starting work on an exhibition which I am going to curate in 2009 (hopefully March) showcasing the wearable art of recently graduated and unrepresented artists - hopefully to coincide with Melbourne Fashion Week. I have got several interested and extremely talented artists so now the work begins to secure funding and a venue. But it's exciting and I think could be a really innovative addition to what Fashion Week offers to Melbourne.

It's now less than 4 weeks until I go to Canada. My work visa cam through so I am all set there. I cannot wait to go honestly! AND I will be able to see the Sex and the City movie over there so that's exciting too - I am busting to see it! I'm hoping to buy a camcorder to record my experiences while I am there, especially in the setting up of the exhibition and opening. What a wonderful record that would provide! I am hoping to pay for that using money I am earning doing some photography work for the University.

Otherwise, everything is well and happy - crazy busy but I love it! I am reading comments and replying when I can - thankyou to everyone who keeps reading even when I am slack in updating! And also thankyou for the kind emails and messages I've had recently about my uni work and all the encouragement. It means more to me than you can know!

And hey JESS - it was ace to see you today at DFO! I did eventually find some black pants that aren't for anorexic models!!!!