Album description:
Living as lightly as I can on Mother Earth, my home is my art: hand-made, hand-me-down, recycled, op shopped and organic.
Image 1 - wall, hand-made, mat
The Ngarrindjeri have taught me much about making a home in Ningkowi Ruwi: Mother Earth. I wove this mat in the traditional Ngarrindjeri style under elder Aunty Edie's watchful eye. While we first gathered sedges together, I ran out and am slowly completing the mat as sedges grow in my garden. It's too precious to put on the floor!
Tags:
wall,
hand-made,
mat
Image 2 - kitchen, jug, lamp, hand-made
My grandmother's 1920s jug is brilliant for carrying water in from the rainwater-tank. I've crocheted a cover for it from op shopped cotton and weighted with the wooden beads from an old necklace. The lamp was a serendipitous find in a 2nd hand shop up north. The luminous ball hides an energy efiicient globe.
Tags:
kitchen,
jug,
lamp,
hand-made
Image 3 - bedroom, umbrella, japanese, organic
An old Japanese umbrella, draped with a silk shawl hangs over my bed. Tis a magical bed: not just because I made the sheets from organic fabric, but because it began life with my grandparents and at least three souls have been conceived in it! I love the dolls on my bed-head. Made by my daughter out of recycled materials, they are colourful company. (And they remind me it's important to ligthen up and play.) The green hanging is the work of an Ernabella artist. Probably, the most expensive item in my home, I purchased it on lay-buy. Glad I did: it just oozes with chlorophyll freshness! Just the thing to restore the spirits after a busy night.
Tags:
bedroom,
umbrella,
japanese,
organic,
bed,
purple
Image 4 - bedroom, clothes
Clothes that I love because of treaured memories don't hide at the back of my ward-robe. They decorate my bedroom walls. Here is a Nuiginian Meri bluse and an Indonesian altar cloth that I remodelled to wear as a tabard.
Tags:
bedroom,
clothes
Image 5 - room-dividers, insulation, quilt
My hande-made quilted hangings not only act as room dividers but they keep out the heat and cold. Prettier insulation than pink-batts, there was no danger in their installation!
Tags:
room-dividers,
insulation,
quilt
Image 6 - room-dividers, insulation, found objects, birds
Above more hande-made quilted hangings, are the wings of feathered friends found dead on the road. The process of dismembering these beautiful creatures was very emotional: makes me think twice before driving and then very carefully! The wings spent some time in the freezer to kill the bugs and then were salted and dried.
Tags:
room-dividers,
insulation,
found objects,
birds
Image 7 - silk-hangings, ventilation, recycle, silk
My dance group and I painted these silk hangings for performances at a folk-festival. When windows are open they dance in the breeze. A recycled bookshelf is draped with a scarf and colourful sarong to hide things stored within.
Tags:
silk-hangings,
ventilation,
recycle,
silk
Image 8 - rug, recycle, rocking chair
The rocker was broken, saved from a trip to the dump and repaired by a kind local who turned a piece of matching drift wood. The rug is crocheted from old dresses, t-shirts, and table-cloths. A saorng hides a collection of records stacked on a redundant school library shelf.
Tags:
rug,
recycle,
rocking chair
Image 9 - curtains, lamp-shade, artwork, op shop
This op-shop lamp-shade was plastic but I loved the inlade base. So I made a new shade from lace left over from my mother's curtains. It's just a cylinder pf fabric gathered at the top with a fringe on the bottom. One of the artworks is a collaboration: a Scotts German weaver, sent me two samples of her beautiful felting. I embroidered them together, backed them with Nepalese paper and found an op shop frame.
Tags:
curtains,
lamp-shade,
artwork,
op shop,
lamp,
art,
painting,
recycle
Image 10 - op shop, recycle, shells, organic
The bowl began life as a gourd grown in a friend's garden. I lined it with recycled hand-made paper and decorated it with latticed leather, weighted with wooden beads, again from an old hippy necklace. The cloth beneath it was sewn from fabric found at an op shop.
Tags:
op shop,
recycle,
shells,
organic
Image 11 - bathroom, mirror
This hand-me down woven-rimmed mirror holds a Niuginian hand-carved comb that works well on my tangles! The original painting by artist Moona Nookenba was acquired in an exchange of artwork. The dream-catcher is authentic: a gift from a Ngarrindjeri friend after a weaving conference with First Nations in the US.
Tags:
bathroom,
mirror
Image 12 - paint, gecko, painting
Painting can be such a bore and a health hazard! So, I used almost non-toxic bio-paint, which lent itself tohaving some fun with some gekkos. You never know where they'll appear next!
Tags:
paint,
gecko,
painting
Kap007, 2010-03-06
A unique and organic Mother-Earth style. I particularly like the japanese umbrella and the gecko's at the end. It's nice to see traditional Australia art and design in modern homes.