West End Weekend + Workshops

The weekend began early when I attended Lesa Hepburn's 'Upcycling' workshop @ Redcliffe Library ... lots of info and goodies using recycled materials and natural fibres
.

Friday night @ The Little Market
.

Little Brown Dog's stall had some new eye-catching eco-goodies (I LOVE the Jacaranda tree pillows!)
.

And after all the trouble I went to making a specialised display for my eco-jewellery, I left it at home! Argh! Lucky Reverse Garbage was open nearby ... so my earrings ended up hanging on a metal bike bag holder in my stall (up the back). He he!
.

Saturday was a treat ... a bunch of women huddled over coffees and chai lattes, making our own sanitary pads with Momo and Youk. It was such a great workshop, lovely company, great chats, recycled materials ...

.

And the prospect of colourful pantie parties!

workshop weekend

  

Yesterday I ran a Recycled Sculpture Workshop @ The Cottage's first Family Fun Day, sponsored by Brisbane City Council.

Adults and kids alike dug through a huge box of recycled materials I'd gathered from Reverse Garbage, eager to make sculptures of native animals, birds, bugs and butterflies. What a great way to reduce landfill and get creative!

There were caterpillars made from bottle lids ...

Possums created using discarded vinyl, carpet off-cuts, fabric and ice-cream tubs ...

And lots of fantastic flying creatures!

Hundreds of kids game through ... some donating their artworks to be hung, others taking them home to show off to proud family members.

I couldn't resist a crazy pic amongst the sculptures hanging from the recycled netting roof.

meaningful art therapy moments ~ uni work

My group's gifts to each other in collaboration

.

My luggage journey in collage

.

A student's response to my art therapy presentation

.

Meaningful moments, shared through plasticine

.

Silent group collaboration

.

My poem: 'Like fish in a three tiered sea'

We swam in together,

yet separately sang

As women with bubbling tunes.

Intuitively, playfully ...

Respectfully, simultaneously ...

Rowing our boats to a colourful song

Using paintbrushes to oar us along.

.

Another meaningful response from a fellow student

.

A gift of response

.

What a beautiful journey! I love my art therapy course!

NEW calendar of creative events

.

As you'd probably know if you're a regular here, I've usually got my finger in loads of yummy creative pies ... Sooo, I'm excited to announce that I now have a Creative Events Calendar page right here on my blog!

It's an easy way for me to let you know what arty things are coming up and how you can get involved.

.

Excited too? Wanna check out what's on offer? See the little tabs under my header? Click on them!

C xx

blog face lift

Do you have a Blogspot blog?

If you do, there's a cool new way to design funky new templates for your site. Yippee!!

Blogger in Draft TEMPLATE DESIGNER is a free to use with your existing Blogger account, and it enables you to customise your blog in hundreds more ways than before (hence my new bloggerty face lift).

Check out the Youtube vid here to see what you can do ... and click on the Template Designer link above for a step-by-step guide through to set it up on your blog. 

How exciting! Happy blogging!

Powerkidz 2010

Brisbane Powerhouse presents
ECO GARDEN POT WORKSHOP
Thu 8 - Fri 9 Jul 2010
with Chrissy Foreman C
.
.
.
Get recycling!
Young participants will learn how to use recycled materials to create a unique garden pot & edible plant for their home garden.
A great way for kids to learn about recycling and growing their own food in a creative way!
Duration 1 hr. $15
Bookings here
See the full POWERKIDZ menu here

recycled poetry

Once upon a time there was
A piece of vintage cloth
Folded up in granny’s drawer,
With balls that smelt of moth.
.
Came the day that Granny said
“It’s time for me to move;
I cannot keep all of this stuff
I’ve piled up in my rooms”
.
The piece of cloth was bundled up
Along with sheets and covers
They found their way onto the shelves
Along with vintage others.
.

.
Along came an artist who loved to make
New things gleaned from old.
She saw the vintage piece of cloth
And valued it like gold
.
She took it home, washed it new
And sat down at her desk
With scissors in tow, machine ready to go,
She stitched it to her best
.
So here it is, a unique piece
Of Art that you can wear
Made with love, like a gift from above
To keep, or give or share
.
Made with ♥ by Chrissy Foreman C
** Thank You for supporting Australian, sustainably made, recycled wearable art {and poetry!}

little market

.

Ooh, lucky me ... my eco-jewellery is the feature pic for the upcoming autumn Little Market At Avid!! Yay!

Hope to see you there ~ come over and say hi :)

footprints of hope ~ community art project with kids

.

.

I've just come from working on a community art project with a Nundah State School year 5/6 class, as part of our World Environment Day festival preparation.

.

.
I began the morning by talking with the students about our 'Carbon Footprints' and identifying the various impacts individuals, families, schools and businesses have on the environment. This led us to explore these ideas further creatively, using recycled materials.
.

.

On one side of their card, the kids traced around their footprint and filled it with collaged images of things they considered both good and bad for the environment. They then filled the outer edges with tips and slogans which compliment their collaged messages.

.

.

On the other side, the students drew their 'Ideal Future Environment'

.

.

On World Environment Day, we will install the artworks dangling from the trees at Kalinga Park, and finish the day by planting trees together.

I Love my work!!

C xx

green street

.
So, by now you'd probably know:
If it's GREEN, I'm KEEN!
So imagine my joy when I stumbled across a totally cool website called 'Green Street'!
Aussie based + Loads of eco-coolness + Green business directory = 1 happy me (and maybe now you too!)
Check out the website by clicking on the pic above.

a play with display

.

I've found a few second-hand bibs and bobs lately to add to my eco-jewellery display {for markets, workshops etc} ... It makes sense to me to create the display using recycled/second-hand materials, since that's what my work is about as well!

.

As I marvel at how arty folk display their lovely hand-made wares at markets, festivals etc ... I realise that so often, the display ideas are as unique as the items!

Merchandising really is an art in itself ... not quite my specialty, but it sure is a fun process!

birthday PRESENT

.
This weekend, I'll be facilitating an over sized, 'surprise', FREE community art project @ Brisbane Powerhouse.
.
Why, you might ask? It's their 10 year-old-birthday!! Yaaay!
.
There’s stuff to see and do for kids and adults alike, with interactive art installations, circus performers, musical acts of all kinds including Regurgitator & Bananas in Pyjamas for the kiddies.
Check out their website for more details. www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/
.
Come and find me when you get there! {Here's a hint: Look for something BIG and CREATIVE!}

upcycled luggage

Wanna know why I LOVE my art therapy course so much?
Cause I get to do cool things like this!
.
BEFORE: Drab and deflated

.
AFTER: My very first piece of upcycled luggage!

.

.

.

Throughout the year I'm required to transform a piece of luggage and build a 'relationship' with it as I transform myself through art therapy processes ... So, here she is: her name is 'Woven Fabric' and she's pleased to meet you!
.
I must admit, it was a bit of a bitch to wrangle the bag through the sewing machine, but I got there in the end! Now I really do love her!

LAST MINUTE MOTHERS DAY SALE

So … have you left Mum’s pressie until the last minute too?
Let me be your knight in shining … errr … art-mour, cause guess what?!

I’m having a LAST MINUTE MOTHERS DAY SALE!

There’ll be some serious penny saving until Sunday only, like ALL hand-made necklaces are reduced from $42 down to $25! And hand-woven brooches are down to $36! Yippee!!

They’re made from quality upcycled materials, so you can feel good about your purchase!
To take advantage of the sale, pop over to my Chrissy Foreman C Facebook page, and check out the full range on offer!

And to all you fantastic Mum’s out there …

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!

I hope you have a great one!

{Purchases available online via secure PAYPAL}

new mixed media artwork ~ 'blue musing'

Blue Musing. Mixed media on board. 45 x 46. Chrissy Foreman C

ladies business eco-workshop

FYI: Momo (Kurashi) & Yukiyo (Youk) are holding a 'make your own organic cotton sanitary pads' workshop on Saturday 29th May 1-3pm.
.

image source : youkvintage
.
The workshop will be held at Cup Coffee, 85 Russell St, West End, Brisbane.
Cost is $22 which includes first drink, fabric, pattern & instructions.
.
You will need to BYO your own needle, thread and scissors.
Instructions are available in English or Japanese & bookings are essential as only a limited number of spaces available.
Email: kurashi.brisbane@gmail.com to reserve your place.
*Please do not call Cup Coffee for bookings*
.
... Sounds great to me ~ might see you there!

a look at nook

.
Yesterday I went to my favourite artisan store in BrisVegas and bought some special little treats just for me! (Pssst: you can find more of this goodness over @ Nook + loads more handmade aweseomeness!)
.
Top: 'Nook' hand-made blue button earrings
Bottom: 'Be Proud' hand-made fabric 'Merit Badge' by Lee Weszaros